Overcoming Obstacles

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciana13/2294908551/

I was driving home the other day when I heard this gal on the radio talk about her blog, New Dress a Day. She had lost her job and wanted to do something fun, so she set up a challenge for herself: "365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars." And although she still hasn't found full-time work, she  loves what she doing.

Do what you love, what you've always wanted to try. Start small. Because you never know where these things will lead you. The secret is to start.

I hear a lot of excuses, from myself and from other people, defending inaction. "If only I had more money I would ... ." You don't have to invest a lot of money into your Dream of the Week. Look at the example — $365 kept her busy creating for an entire year. Get creative, or scale down the pieces of your dream so that you aren't intimidated to take the first few steps.     

"If only I had more time, I would ... ." Why is it that we don't spend more time on the very things that we say we really want to do? Is it that you do not actually have enough time? Or is there something that you could give up?

I was working full time, in a graduate program, ran for office, took care my house and half acre yard, climbed in my spare time, and still managed to sleep a little and have fun — fueled by only a passion for my work and caffeine. If something is a priority, you can make it happen. I'm not saying this to one-up you, I am trying to show you that it can be done.

Maybe you don't watch that movie for the 20th time. I did have to stop watching TV, and stop drinking beer because it made me too sleepy. But by making small sacrifices you can fit in what really matters most.

Are you doing what you really want to be doing? Are you currently spending your time doing something that drains you and wastes time, rather than working on what you care about most dearly? If you investigate your own barriers, the excuses you make that help keep you stuck, are they real? Or are you creating them so that you can continue to ignore your dreams?

Identifying your own barriers is an important part of the process. I believe it is as important as identifying your dream of the week. Because once you've nailed down what you want to do and what's preventing you from starting, you can start to make the space in your life to start.

Consider talking to your friends or your family or a career counselor about what you want to do. Finding someone to support you and check in with you can help to both keep you accountable and push you to achieve more. I always find it a lot harder to have a productive session at the climbing gym when I am the only person there. But when a few of my buddies are there, we are able to push each other to climb harder and send routes that we might otherwise walk away from.

Tell me in the comments what your dreams are or how you are overcoming obstacles.