What’s Holding You Back?

What’s Holding You Back?

I’m teaching an online course called The Art of Taking Action based on my book by the same name.  In the first part of the course the goal is to build momentum.  It doesn’t matter if you only make a tiny bit of progress.  The commitment is simply to work for at least 5 minutes per day.  That’s an easy commitment to honor.  And by doing something daily, even the smallest thing, you build momentum.

Momentum is a law of physics.  Remember:

An object at rest remains at rest, an object in motion remains in motion . . .  unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

But there are always some goals or projects that are thorns in our side and we can’t seem to make progress or get any momentum.

If you’ve been frustrated, stuck or stymied on some project, but you know you need to get it done, please take some time to zero in on the biggest obstacle for you at this point.

What’s preventing you from moving forward?

• Feelings (I just don’t feel like doing this – fear, anxiety, boredom)
• Time (No time to do it — I’m just too busy)
• Other people (obligations, interruptions)
• Money (I don’t have money for what I need to do)
• Laziness (who me?)
• Confusion (don’t know what to do or how to do it)
  
• Poor health (I feel too sick to do this)
• Lack of Meaning/Value (this just isn’t that important)
• Other

Circle any of these items that apply to you and your goal. Can you get a handle on what the biggest obstacle is?

Now come up with one strategy to address this obstacle. Demonstrate that you can overcome the obstacle by taking action for at least five minutes on some aspect of your project. Just five minutes — then you can stop  . . . or continue.

If you avoid spending at least five minutes on what you need to do, it’s likely that your obstacle is either #1, #5 or #6 on the above list.  So perhaps that’s a clue to moving forward.

Post your obstacle (and strategy, if you have one) in the comments section and then I’ll offer an additional post based on the obstacle that is most often the source of our being stuck.

Good luck.