Unleash Your Potential #24 - Motivation and Obstacles

Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog, what question can I answer for you today?

DestinyNavigator: How do I stay motivated when faced with obstacles? 

Douglas: Staying motivated in the face of obstacles can be very challenging. I know that when the road is easy and the challenges are few, keeping focused on a task is very easy and I would wager that is true for most folks. However, when I hit a bump in the road, then I started to lose interest. The bigger the bump, the more likely I am to lose interest completely.

What do we do with those bumps in the road then?

Bumps in the road are opportunities to re-evaluate our paths and choices. It’s about deciding if the effort required to overcome the hurdle is worth the reward of getting over the bump. Sometimes the effort isn’t worth the reward. If that is the case, then you have to make the decision not to move forward and permit yourself to not feel guilty about honoring that decision.

However, if the reward is important enough and you determine the effort is worth it, then you need to reconsider your path. What is the most effective way to overcome the specific challenge and keep moving toward the completion of the task? When the way forward is blocked, how do we get past it? Make a list of potential solutions, weigh those solutions, and make a decision. Chances are once you get over this challenge you will have some smooth sailing.

Or you won’t and you will have to repeat this process. However, you will have new information. You will have just successfully moved past this obstacle.  You will need to evaluate the next obstacle based on its own effort/reward ratio. But be careful, don’t bring memories of past obstacles into future obstacles. Once you navigate a bump in the road, the only thing you should carry forward is the feeling of success, you don’t need to relive the obstacle, you are already past it.

Motivation is all about priorities. If something is a priority for you then you will usually find a way to make it happen. The mind is very creative when it needs to be. Sometimes we lose motivation because we move the task down in priority. So if you are feeling less motivated, the first thing you need to do is ask why. Chances are the obstacle is not really the problem, but it is merely a symptom of something deeper.

For example, when I was an undergrad, a junior I think, I took a physics for non-majors class. I loved it (and I had enjoyed physics in high school as well). I went to the physics department and decided I wanted to double major in music and physics. The next semester as part of the physics program, I had to take calculus. I sat down for my first calculus class. In the first 5 minutes, I realized that calculus represented a significant obstacle for me. In that split second, I decided that the effort required to overcome calculus was not worth the reward of getting the physics major, so I dropped the major. It was not that I couldn’t do calculus. I am sure with hard work and studying I could grasp calculus, but it wasn’t where my priorities were.

When you encounter those bumps in the road, those obstacles that prevent you from moving toward a goal, the first step is to look deeper at what the obstacles represent. Is it just an obstacle that you need to think through, or is it a signal that you need to re-evaluate your priorities?

I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!

Be Well!

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