Overcoming Obstacles: Why You Always Want to Give Up A Little – But You Don’t

Anyone who has ever achieved anything has had to face many obstacles to get to where they are today. But what defines their success is never how many obstacles stand in their way, but how many they are willing to overcome.

Obstacles are a necessary part of growth. Because if you are never being challenged, then you are never testing your limits, or learning anything new. That means you’re not moving forward.

The successful person tends to view obstacles as a positive sign. They welcome obstacles into their lives. They actively search for new challenges and are eager to dive into them and come out a better person.

The average person tends to view obstacles as a negative sign. They expect the easy road, so when they finally do come across an obstacle, they quickly get frustrated, disappointed, and want to give up.

However, the truth is you always want to give up a little. That feeling is natural and normal. Even the most successful people have their moments of doubt where they want to quit and leave it all behind.

99% of the time when you are working toward a big dream or completing a big project, you feel like it could all fall apart at any second. But it’s that 1% “eureka moment” that makes all that work, effort, and persistence worthwhile.

You have to fight through all that bad to get to the good though. You have to keep going forward everyday, and trust that you’ll eventually end up where you want to be.

When you expect obstacles, when you expect difficulty, and when you expect failure, you’re much less surprised by them and you’re much more prepared to deal with them when they happen.

You stop viewing obstacles as things that get in the way of success, but instead an integral part of the process itself.

And when you cultivate this attitude toward your obstacles, you’re able to respond to them quicker and more intelligently. You don’t try to avoid them, you aren’t afraid of them, because you recognize them as part of the “bigger picture” behind your growth.

This attitude takes practice, but one way we can jump-start it is by using positive affirmations. Here are some positive things to say to yourself when you discover a new obstacle, or you find yourself wanting to give up.

Positive affirmations for overcoming obstacles:

• “I can overcome any challenge life throws at me.”
• “I see obstacles as lessons to learn and grow from.”
• “Everything that happens to me brings me closer to my goals.”
• “Every failure is an opportunity to improve.”
• “I take the positive from every experience.”

Try this exercise: Choose 3 affirmations you like, write them each down on an index card and place them in places where you’ll see them every morning. Use this as a reminder to repeat these affirmations to yourself 5 times each everyday for a whole week.

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