- What skills do you have to start with?
- What skills do you need to develop?
- How are you going to get the experience you need?
- Do you have any personal challenges to overcome?
This is kind of a “duh” question; however do we really take the time to evaluate ourselves? It was very important for me to answer this question. We cannot advance towards our goals until we know what our obstacles are. In my experience the hardest obstacles to overcome are the ones in my own head. For a long time (too long) I kept coming up with reasons I couldn’t change how my life was going. When I began to evaluate my personal challenges, I was able to make conscious decisions to conquer them.
After taking time to list my personal challenges, I began to start making rapid progress towards what I really wanted. Everyone will have their own list of challenges. Here are some of mine:
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Procrastination: I would want to do accomplish something and say to myself, “I’ll work on that later.” But later never came. Days, weeks, months, and in some cases years passed by without any progress on a goal. I had known for a long time that that was a character flaw of mine. But after a hard look at all of the things I didn’t do because of it, I decided to start overcoming it. I still haven’t kicked the habit completely, but I’ve made significant progress over where I was.
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Not sleeping enough: Yep, that’s what I said. Not getting enough sleep. Some people might say less sleep is the key to being more productive. Not me. My body needs 7-9 hours of sleep to be recharged enough to be effective the next day. The social atmosphere in your teens and twenties isn’t really made to accommodate that. I’m the first to admit that in the name of school or fun (usually fun), I tried to get by on 4-5 hours of sleep. And in my thirties, I found other reasons to delay going to bed: social media, TV, etc. One of the best things I’ve done to progress towards my goals has been to maintain a regular sleep schedule and get up early (5am) on weekdays to work on my goals for a few hours. If I had developed this habit when I was younger, I’d be way far ahead of where I’m at.
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Getting distracted: There were always reasons I did not work towards my goals: social commitments, social media, TV, etc. Once I got focused on what I really wanted, it was easier to prioritize how I used my time. It’s easier to handle distractions when they come up, because I know what I want. It’s easier to say “no” to things that suck away my time, and “yes” to things that I want to do (i.e. get together for dinner with friends).
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Paralyzed by uncertainty: Even once I got clarity on what I wanted the outcome of my life to look like, I had a few different routes to get there. For a while I was hesitant to do anything. Paralysis of analysis, fear of failure, and not seeing every step along the path were all mental roadblocks that kept me from moving. Some personality types handle this uncertainty alright, but I don’t. Eventually I decided to act in spite of the uncertainty. With each small step, I gained confidence. And I eventually realized a critical fact: it is not as scary to take action as it is to stand still.
Example: I spent nearly a year working towards getting my general contractor’s license. Shortly after it came in the mail, my wife and I realized continuing down that path would not help us achieve what we really wanted. We paused, reevaluated, and began heading down another path. It was scary to start towards the GC license, and it was a little expensive. But do I have any regrets? Absolutely not! I learned things going down that path. I reached my goal of passing the license tests, and that gave me confidence to work towards my other goals. Just cross the starting line. You don’t have to know the entire journey. Just start your journey and see what happens along the way. My wife once told me, “I would rather live with the bad results of a decision, than live with the regret of wondering what might have happened.”
- No financial security: I graduated college about $21,000 in debt (student loans and credit cards). A few months out of school I bought a $16,000 car. The car payment was $350/month. Let me tell you, by the time I realized it was a bad decision, I was upside down on the loan. There were too many miles on it. Let me tell you, I had zero, zilch, nada financial flexibility to pursue anything. I was tied to a job I didn’t like simply for the pay check. It took several years to pay off the credit cards and the car. I let the student loan hang around for a few more years while I was saving money. Then I paid it off.
Throughout the process, I’ve been saving and living on a budget. Since I’ve now got an emergency fund, and have control of my living expenses, I have some financial flexibility to pursue other goals. If this is a barrier to your goals: please, please, please take the time to get on solid footing. Get on a budget, pay off debts, and have an emergency fund before you start making any big changes. Your nerves and your future self will thank you.
It’s never too late to start crawling over your obstacles (I mean, I’m in my mid 30’s). The earlier you start, the better off you’ll be. I really hope this has been helpful to you. What is one of your challenges? How will you overcome it?