A huge part of amazing success is navigating challenges, limitations, problems and any obstacles that get in the way of your goals and your dreams.  This may include physical limitations or psychological barriers, such as fear.  As you move from one life level to the next, you carry limitations and other barriers.  Part of success is being able to navigate or deal with any obstacle that might get in your way.

In general, people don’t overcome their problems, because problems, like opportunities, change and evolve over time. Most problems or limitations have some psychological aspects attached, and these habits are etched into our psyche over time, and often from a very young age.

There are two categories of goals: finite goals and ongoing goals. An example of a finite goal is to win a championship, make a specified dollar amount in a certain month, get our kids through college or start a family.  Most goals are ongoing. Championship teams are not satisfied with one-year performances, entrepreneurs are not happy with one good year, and parents don’t just want their kids to finish school.  They want their kids to go on and have a happy, productive life.  Along the way, opportunities and challenges change and evolve.  Part of success is being able to navigate these ever-changing problems, limitations and challenges.  Everything that has an impact on your amazing success changes over time.  That includes the challenges that we face.  This can be financial, physical, psychological, insecurities and any factor that gets in the way of amazing success.

Most people grew up watching their parents. Some watched their parents complain about life, their jobs or about the government.  They watched their parents and other adults struggle.  These experiences are the foundation of who we are.  They tell us that life can often be unfair.  They tell us about our destiny, the kind of life we can have and the ceiling of our potential.  As people get older, they fall into habits and routines.  They also develop their own narrative about their lives.  It takes discipline and a real desire to change this narrative.  This is where the work comes in.

Part of creating amazing success is challenging this narrative.  Since the narrative is etched into our psyche, it has the potential to creep up at any moment.  It is almost impossible to overcome and not let this narrative dictate your decisions.

Stacking Limitations

When you choose to go from one level to the next on your way to success, you are not only carrying your old limitations, but you are also inviting new limitations along for the ride. It is a fantasy that you are going to overcome limitations. At every turn along the way, limitations are going to rear their ugly heads, so you have to learn to deal with them.

Going from one level in life to another requires ongoing improvement and an ability to deal with change- both internally and externally.  An entrepreneur has to deal with everything from financial limitations to technological limitations. From how to stay relevant to how to grow. No one will ever completely overcome these challenges. They will just have to keep dealing with them.

When you look at people who battle addiction, they don’t just wake up one day and say that they are cured of addiction.  Often, people who have been sober for years have to deal with their urges for their whole lives.  People who struggle with weight loss have to deal with keeping a good regimen even after they achieve their goals.  If they don’t, they won’t maintain their healthy weight.  Even if an entrepreneur achieves success, they have to deal with a more complicated process, egos, competition and other challenges.  The competition might start knocking off their products.  Their star employees may start to entertain other offers. Their time becomes stretched.

There are certainly situations where people overcome challenges.  A salesperson may overcome a customer’s objections.  A sports team can overcome a deficit to win the game.  However, there are challenges that never seem to go away and tend to linger in your life.  Amazing people know how to minimize the effects and be amazing anyway.

To wake up and realize that one day you have overcome your challenges is a fantasy.  Amazing people recognize that they have limitations, they learn how to deal with them, and are willing to take on the challenge and just go for it.

We have been taught that challenges and obstacles need to be conquered.  We need to beat challenges and limitations to win.  However, most challenges, especially psychological one’s never go away.  However, if you learn how to deal with them then you are more likely to achieve amazing success.  A sports team that wins a championship has to deal with the players entertaining offers, other players wanting more money, dealing with celebrity and complacency, other teams putting a target on their back.  It is imperative to develop a process that can help you be amazing over time.

There is a cycle for people who truly learn to go after their goals. They identify their purpose,  define what they want out of life, plan out the steps and, finally, produce the results.  It is a given that limitations and challenges will pop up along the way.

You may overcome one or two limitations, but you will never overcome all of them.  You will always have insecurities and there will always be other challenges.  Limitations and challenges  are part of us and knowing how to deal with them is part of success.

Limitations and challenges are not something that you conquer or overcome.  Limitations are fluid.  They change or evolve.  A big part of achieving amazing success is dealing with challenges that will pop up. The goal is to be able to deal and navigate challenges along the way to amazing success.

Summary:

Achieving amazing success starts with acknowledging that obstacles and challenges will always be present. It is not so much about conquering these things that give you difficulty on your road to success, but rather about navigating them with expertise to reach your goals regardless. As you grow, both professionally and personally, your limitations will grow with you. Learning to work through and navigate around your setbacks is a key factor in becoming successful. Limitations are fluid and will never fully disappear from your life, but you can choose to navigate them with grace as you reach for your dreams and achieve your goals.