There are few things more maddening than running into obstacles and blockades while you’re working toward an important goal.  You know how it works. You’ll be moving along nicely, feeling great about your progress, when all of a sudden – boom; you’re stuck.  You’ve just encountered an obstacle that you have no idea how to get around.

What you do next might determine whether you go on to achieve your goal or give up out of frustration.  I don’t know about you, but my first impulse is usually to try and find a way to work through the obstacle, sidestep around it, or even force it to move out of my way. Is that your first instinct also?

What if that doesn’t work?

Does that mean your goals are now toast? No, not necessarily. There’s another effective option that is often overlooked when it comes to dealing with obstacles. It’s called surrender. I know that the thought of surrendering to an obstacle can feel like you are giving up on your goal, but is that really the case? Keep in mind that surrender is not the same as defeat.

When you surrender to an obstacle as part of your success strategy, it just means that you are refusing to waste your energy fighting against it.  It means that instead of resisting and struggling, you are using time to get a different perspective on the situation so you can see the obstacle in a new light.

Here’s how to do it

1. Step back and gain some emotional distance. When most of us encounter obstacles, we tend to take them personally and draw conclusions about what they mean.  We throw our hands up and declare that our goals are finished, we’re finished, and we’ve failed.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Instead of drawing conclusions about whatever obstacle you’re facing, step back and observe it.  Then ask yourself a few questions like: Why has it appeared in your life?  What lessons can you learn from it?  Is it possibly an opportunity to stretch yourself more than you’ve been willing to in the past?

2. Stay open to your creative inspiration. Just asking questions like the ones in the last paragraph can get your creative juices flowing like crazy.  When you detach from any need to push through an obstacle, you may realize that there are many other options available to you.  During this time, be sure to write down any insights that pop into your head. They will probably prove useful very soon.

3. Give it time. Even if you see some great possibilities for working around the obstacle, don’t take action immediately.  Give it a few days.  Keep your distance, and you’ll probably notice that your fear and frustration will begin to dissipate.  Before long you’ll feel stronger and more capable about moving forward again. That’s the time to take action on some of those new ideas you came up with.

Leave room for change to occur naturally

When you enter into this process of surrender, don’t be surprised if the obstacle dissolves spontaneously on its own.  It happens frequently, simply because you’ve stopped trying to force things to happen and instead, you are willing to just go with the flow – which creates space for movement and progress to occur naturally.

Have you every stopped resisting in a situation like this?
When you did, what was your experience?
The lines are open!

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My friend Steve Aitchison just released some extremely entertaining free videos in connection with his new program called Mind Alchemy. Even if you aren’t interested in the program it’s well worth your time to watch the videos. He spent a lot of time on them and they are not what you would expect, plus you’ll meet George. Watch videos here!

Have you ever noticed that every challenge also contains a blessing in disguise? If not, perhaps you haven’t been looking closely enough! Granted, life’s challenges usually seem like inconveniences when they interrupt our schedules, or get in the way of something we want to do. Isn’t that part of the reason we call them challenges?

When we’re working toward a goal that’s important to us, the last thing we want is to face some big, unexpected challenge or obstacle. When that happens, it usually means a big delay, added learning curve, greater expense, or some other unplanned complication. When we are focused on results it is hard to appreciate detours.

Reframing challenges

What if we could learn to see life’s challenges in a whole new light? What if we could learn to see them as highly beneficial experiences, adventures in learning, or even blessings in disguise? Wouldn’t that be a welcome shift in perception?

The truth is, with the right mental attitude we can completely reframe the way we experience challenges. And asking the right questions is one of the most effective ways to do that. With a little practice we can come to view challenges as some of our most valuable life experiences.

5 questions you can ask yourself when facing challenges

1) What can I learn from this?
Too often we view challenges as irritating annoyances, when in fact they may hold a great opportunity to learn and grow! If we start by asking ourselves, “what can I learn from this experience?” it immediately puts a more positive spin on the situation. It allows us to discover something worth appreciating about our experience. It makes it possible to recognize true value that might have gone unnoticed, and to see opportunity and possibility instead of inconvenience and annoyance.

2) How can this strengthen me?
One major reason why challenges intimidate us is because we don’t feel capable of handling them. We may have a limited perception of our own abilities, so we automatically believe that the challenge is bigger than we are. If we learn to see each challenge as an opportunity to become stronger and more capable, everything changes. We can use challenging situations to unlock our untapped strengths and abilities. Each time we do this it will increase our confidence until we begin to see most challenges as opportunities to harness our personal power to an even greater degree.

3) How can I use this to my advantage?
More often than not, we tend to view challenges as disadvantages – but is that necessarily true? When something gets in our way, what do we do? Don’t we start searching for a different strategy to accomplish our goal? Challenges often help us discover better ways to do things. Thanks to the challenge, we may be able to replace a flawed strategy with one that works much better. Asking “how can I use this to my advantage” opens our mind to alternatives that we never would have considered otherwise.

4) How can I use this to help others?
Even though we might believe that our goals only affect us personally, that is rarely the case. What we do, how we think and feel, and our course of action has an impact on the people around us. Not only do other people watch the things we do and how we live our life – they often model their own behavior after ours. If you refuse to let challenges intimidate you or slow you down, you just might inspire and motivate others to do the same when they face obstacles of their own. Anytime you experience personal growth, you help the people around you in some way.

5) What would make this a worthwhile experience?
Sometimes, just being willing to recognize that a challenge may not be such a bad thing can be enough to help you realize all kinds of wonderful benefits from it. This question does a couple of things: first, it helps you feel more empowered because it affirms that you always have a choice in how you react to any situation. Second, it reminds you that every challenge holds the seeds for unlimited blessings and opportunities.

How you see them is up to you!

Challenging circumstances are part of life, that’s not going to change. However, that doesn’t mean that you are a victim of circumstances. Your attitude and perception are something that you create. They are not dictated by your circumstances. You always have a choice! So, the real question here is this, do you choose to see blessings in life’s challenges?

Have you had challenges turn out to be blessings?
Have you learned valuable lessons from challenging times?
The lines are open!

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