Overcoming Obstacles

Life is full of challenges. Every human being is going to face setbacks in life. The same way we go to bed knowing that the sun is going to shine the next day is the same way we can be rest assured that challenges will come our way. Alduos Huxley said, "Experience is not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you."

Obstacles can be different in nature; however, when one knows the formula, it does not matter how insurmountable the challenge is. For instance, it is not easy to give the answer to 13245674 multiplied by 3 in a heart-beat but when you know the formula such as 3 multiplied by 4 and you repeat that simple formula painstakingly on the rest of the successive digits, you will notice that it is a different ball game altogether.

With that in mind, there are recommended ways to overcoming obstacles. Three points are going to be analyzed to give a gloss on how to overcome obstacles. These include identifying the problem, confronting the problem, and finally conquering the problem.

Identifying the problem

Before a doctor does anything with a patient, he first tries to identify the problem or source of problem. This is called diagnosing the problem. If you drive, you've probably heard of the diagnostic test when you want your car to be fixed. The mechanic does the test on the car to identify the problem.

Mao Tse-Tung attested that, "Investigation may be likened to the long months of pregnancy, and solving a problem to the day of birth. To investigate a problem is, indeed, to solve it." In addition, when a person identifies the problem, they are closer to victory than when they do not. You cannot solve a problem you have not identified nor does anyone go to war with an enemy he has not identified.

When you identify the problem, it puts you in a position to garner up better ideas on how to tackle the problem. William Wycherley made a profound statement when he said, "Necessity is the mother of invention."

Most people would rather nurse the symptoms of a problem than take the time to identify the root of the problem. The only bad thing about nursing symptoms is that it can be very costly in the long run. Once the problem is identified, then it can be confronted.

Confronting the problem

When the culprit has been identified, it is easy to take him out. There are a few things that one has to put in place before confronting a problem. Planning, having a strategy and resources are cardinal when it comes to overcoming obstacles.

Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Plans are nothing; planning is everything." There is a lot of wisdom in that statement. Without a plan you don't have anything. Anything that is worth having in life has to be planned for. We hear words like financial plan, health plan, career plan and other plans in our society.

We can then deduce that before embarking on any venture in life, it has to be written down. In his book, See you at the top, Zig Ziglar states that thoughts and plans are like fish. When they are not written down, they will swim away. He also adds that when things are written down they condition the mind in thinking that something is achievable because it can be seen.

Planning positions you to succeed. Planning gives you the vantage of seeing a big situation reduced in magnitude when it's placed on paper. Alan Lakein states, "Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now." He also adds that, "Failing to plan is planning to fail."

After having a plan, the next thing to consider is having a strategy. Having a strategy shows us how we are going to accomplish the task set before us. In American football, strategy is everything. All the plays are based on strategy. In fact, in any sport having a strategy is very vital. In wars, armies come up with strategies on how to bring the enemy under subjugation.

Michael E. Porter, Professor at Harvard Business School, a leading authority on competitive strategy and international competitiveness says, "Sound strategy starts with having the right goal." This ensures that you keep the main thing the main thing; moreover, we should choose not to major in minors. He also states that, "The essence of strategy is that you must set limits on what you're trying to accomplish. " This also teaches us the importance of focus. The strategy has to be focused.

A magnifying glass is a good example of what happens when something is focused. When sunlight is allowed to pass through a lens and the focal length is adjusted such that all the rays converge at one point for a while, that surface will start to burn. A good strategy when used appropriately will produce results.

A good strategy will work all the time it is applied. Furthermore, it helps optimize the resources at hand. Morihei Ueshiba, a famous martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido attests to this when he says, "It is necessary to develop a strategy that utilizes all the physical conditions and elements that are directly at hand."

Part of strategy is being prepared all the time. This means you are coming up with better ways to improve your strategy. Trammell Crow said it well, "There's as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something." C.S Lewis adds more flavor to this by saying, "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." When you have a strategy in place it is easy to handle any circumstance than when you do not.

When a plan and a good strategy are in place, the final thing to consider is whether there are enough resources to accomplish the task. Resources vary depending on the situation - some are monetary, physical, spiritual, emotional, and many others. Undertaking any task will cost the individual or the organization something. Jesus of Nazareth said it well when he said, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him."

The resources available to accomplish a task, will determine the individual or organization's success. The best resource anybody needs to have before anything else is the confidence that anything is possible. Emerson Waldo conquers with this, "What lies ahead and what lies behind cannot be compared with the power that lies within."

Conquering the problem

The final thing in overcoming obstacles is actually 'conquering'. The biggest hurdle for most people to conquer is fear. Fear paralyses people and in turn impede them from achieving their goals. Most people do not even know what they are afraid of. The number one fear of the majority of people is the fear of failure. Franklin D. Roosevelt said it like no other, "The only thing we need to fear is fear itself."

What Madame Curie said could not even be truer, "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood." Once we understand that which opposes us, there is no need to fear. Bill Cosby was the one who said, "In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."

This shows us that fear is an opposing force. Isaac Newton states that for every action there is equal and opposite reaction, in the third law of dynamics. In the first law he says that an object will remain at rest, unless a force greater than it acts on it; and will remain in motion unless a force opposes it, thereby bringing it to rest. Thus, since that is a law, it applies to all things. In our case a person will not succeed unless, like Bill Cosby says, his desire to succeed overcomes the fear. In dynamics, that is called overcoming the inertia. Nelson Mandela would give a better gloss on fear after spending 27 years in prison, he said, "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

There is going to be opposition every time we try to make progress. Our attitude is everything. My favorite book has a story of Joshua and Caleb as they went to spy the Promised Land. The other spies thought they looked like grasshoppers compared to the inhabitants of that land. They called them giants. However, Joshua and Caleb saw something different. "We are well able to possess the land," they said, after the other cowards had given their negative report. What was the difference? Their attitude was the difference. The other thing to be learned from this is that, we need to surround ourselves with positive people. John C. Maxwell, an expert on leadership says, "The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up."

When it comes to conquering obstacles, failure is not an option for winners. Many people quit when failure looms on the horizon. I agree with words of Winston Churchill, "Success is never final, failure is never fatal, it's courage that counts." Every person has to have the courage to face the heat when road gets rough. Lance Armstrong who as acumen on endurance as a cyclist says, "Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever." Quitting takes away the passion to live.

Not all opposition is bad. In fact, resistance can be used to our advantage. A plane depends on air resistance. When a plane reaches a high speed, the air resistance is increased. It is this air resistance that forces the plane to rise when the wings are positioned just good enough for the wind to thrust it into the sky. In the same way, resistance or opposition should be used as a stepping-stone. There are lessons that can be learned from opposition. Albert Einstein said, "A life that is not tested is not worth living." It is through setbacks and challenges that we develop.

Even a plane needs fuel to overcome air resistance. What then can cause a man to keep going when he feels he cannot? Passion is the fuel that will cause a man to be catapulted into the sky and soar above the storm. Your passion should burn inside you like an inferno for it to suffice as an impetus towards destiny. The media mogul Oprah Winfrey said, "Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

The other ingredient very vital to conquering is persistence. We cannot talk about persistence without talking about discipline. Everything that is beneficial comes with discipline. Athletes are more astute on the idea of discipline. They understand the concept of 'no pain, no gain' quite well. Muscles do not grow by themselves - they usually develop by arduous weight lifting. There is a Latin proverb that says, "Precise repetition is the mother of Excellence." That is very true because it takes hard work to accomplish anything. The more you practice doing something, you inevitably become a master of it.

Persistence is the key. At the end of the day there is a question that each one of us has to ask ourselves. How bad do I want it? Our persistence reflects how bad we want something. Calving Coolidge made a very powerful statement, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men without talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Persistence will get you what you want if you just don't quit. Keep knocking on the doors perhaps one of them will open.

Finally, you cannot conquer that which you have not confronted and you cannot confront that which you have not identified. Now that we have learned how to identify and confront, we shall definitely conquer.