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Barriers are so necessary to your cause.
If you didn’t have hurdles to overcome, you wouldn’t be staring at a project, you’d be looking at a gift-horse. With any project, service, enterprise, or business to build, the obstacles you will face are the events that will define your character and ability and truly develop you to arrive at completion in a better condition, ready to embrace your sense of accomplishment.
They exist, it’s all about breaking them down
The number of barriers in place are inversely proportional to the number of people who can overcome them. That means that the harder something is, the fewer the people who can achieve it. Success is not for everyone. It’s for persevering and determined souls who apply strategy, creativity, and relentless optimism.
'What if I’m not cut out for it?'
Around 2% of the population have a business, because it’s challenging, exhausting, and risky. Businesses present hurdles and barriers constantly, daily, hourly. How you react to and perceive them will be a large factor in your ongoing success. If you believe the barriers are bigger than you, they will be, but if you see them as opportunities to learn and improve, they begin to look like exciting steps rather than blockades.
Going to the moon
Once upon a time, a child read a sci-fi comic. In the comic, their favourite character went to the moon! The child, inspired said ‘I want to go to the moon one day’. With that thought in mind, the child began learning about space and astronauts and what it takes to be a scientist. The child studied hard and went off to become an astrophysicist. Lo and behold, they met others on the same mission and they worked together to plan a trip to the moon. Then, they got there. They overcame millions of barriers and became pioneers. If ambition and inspiration can take us to the stars, it can certainly be used to help you on the path of your sustainability business.
Barriers come in different forms
- Some are based on overcoming difficult people.
- Some are based on emotions (usually fear).
- Some are based on technology difficulties.
All of these can be overcome. You’ve just got to play the game.
Why, why, why, why, why?
Asking questions is key to overcoming barriers, because the more we understand a problem and open a dialogue about it, the easier it is to navigate your way through it.
When you have a particular barrier to overcome, ask the person responsible for that barrier what they like about it. Keep asking questions. Their responses are often going to be laced with praise, but hidden among the praise are some ifs and buts. When they strike on a flaw, explore. Learn about the problems and ask them what they would do to solve them. You can look at these problems and solutions and try to discover some overlaps with your objectives. If you can present a solution, you’re halfway towards breaking down the barrier.
Barriers can sometimes solve themselves
Have you ever hosted a workshop? A workshop is a fantastic idea for bringing in people who suffer from the problem and then asking them to try and solve it as a collective. If you have a solution in mind already, you can direct them towards your solution and gently bridge the gap between your idea and theirs.
Are you ready to change your perspective on barriers?
This mindset change will serve you well in all parts of your life. Obstacles are opportunities.