Do you want to make your life better? More specifically, do you want to make life better enough to take steps to get there?
Seriously, that is not a rhetorical question. It is potentially a life-changing question depending on whether you pause to think about if for a few moments or if, instead, you make the choice to do nothing and click on to the next entertaining-or-urgent-but-not-important topic.
Because if you want to make life better, there are some hurdles you will need to get over, and they may be different from what you expect. These hurdles are limiting what your life can become. Perhaps, for some of you, they are keeping you trapped in a life of quiet desperation.
The good news is that you CAN make life better!
You will be better prepared to do so if you become aware of what the hurdles are and how they affect you. Because, then and only then, you can make the choice to do something about them.
Below are 10 hurdles to making your life better and some tips for how to get over them:
1. Busy-ness – You have a lot of things going on, many of them good things that are part of what life is all about. But you’re busy, and you may need to adjust some priorities to create margin in your life to give you the space to learn and apply new principles to make life better.
2. Distraction and clutter – Sometimes it’s hard to know what steps to take. You can become overwhelmed by choices and procrastinate doing anything at all. It helps to remember that you don’t have to solve all your problems today; just take one next right step at a time.
3. You don’t know how – Many times, it’s hard to know what to do in real life situations, and there is a cacophony of experts sharing their fads and clever new ideas. How are you to know what to do? One way is to subject each bit of information to a simple test: “Has this step worked for other people, and will it be good for me and the people around me in the long run?”
4. Comfort – We all have a tendency to keep doing what we’re doing if the pain we feel is manageable. It’s easy to keep ourselves distracted, procrastinate, or take the next drink. It’s comfortable. But you need to pause to consider: “Is this what I want the rest of my life to be like?”
5. Lack of awareness – Many of us drift through life without paying close attention to what we do, why we do it, and how it impacts the people around us. Self-awareness is the beginning of personal transformation, so learn to focus more attention on understanding yourself.
6. Denial – The more entrenched we are in a negative, compulsive habit, the higher the odds are that we have allowed denial to cloud our thinking. We develop well-practiced rationalizations for why our behavior is okay so that we can keep doing what we have been doing. You can learn to overcome denial by counting the cost—in detail—of your habit to inspire yourself to change.
7. Fear of change – Sometimes, doing something different from what we are doing now can bring on anxiety: “It might be hard! What if I don’t like doing it? What if it doesn’t work?” But remember that courage is not a lack of fear. It is the willingness to take steps in spite of fear.
8. Inertia – Newton’s first law of motion is about inertia, and it states that a body at rest tends to stay at rest. That’s why taking the first step in a new direction may seem hard, but it is also why that first step is so important. The good news is that inertia can work for you as well, because a body in motion will tend to stay in motion, so do whatever it takes to get into motion!
9. Frustration – At times, you may wonder why all your problems have not gone away yet. It’s hard to see the incremental improvements being made by taking small positive steps to live life better. But if you trust the process, you will see positive results, so keep taking steps.
10. Discouragement – As you are taking positive steps, you will continue to encounter hurdles to your progress. They can take many forms, and discouragement or hopelessness are common. Remember hurdles are normal to help you maintain the stamina to finish the race well.
You don’t have to remain trapped in a life of quiet desperation.
You may face hurdles, but you CAN make life better. In fact, overcoming the hurdles is a necessary part of the race, and doing so will help you move toward the life you are meant to have.
Question: Which of the 10 hurdles is inhibiting your progress the most?
Next Right Step: What is one step you can take to get over that hurdle?
