“What must be done eventually should be done immediately.” – Jeremy Foley, University of Florida
At various points in our lives, we all face major barriers that we have to overcome. It could be a new job or career, a significant financial issue (buying a house, for example), marriage, divorce, or any number of other things. Overcoming barriers is our opportunity to grow. It’s how we improve and grow more confident of our ability to handle whatever life throws at us.
Unfortunately, as most of us approach life’s various barriers, our first thought is “I can’t do this” or “This isn’t worth it” or “It’s not the right time” or some variation of that theme. And certainly barriers can be daunting (that’s the point; you can’t grow without challenge). We tend to approach the same barriers time after time and we tend to keep finding reasons not to deal with it.
But with every excuse we make, larger issues and problems come up. These issues are eventually what push you to break through and overcome the barrier. At some point your “pain” becomes so great that you finally deal with whatever is in your way.
The same thing is true for businesses. Barriers come up repeatedly. It could be related to a product, or a process, or a customer, or one of your people. As leaders, we know the barrier has to be dealt with. But we manage to find some excuse not to do it. It’s going to be too unpleasant, or it’s going to cost money, or I don’t have time, etc. But the reality is that we’re simply afraid. For some reason we’ve made overcoming a particular barrier to be so daunting we just can’t face it.
Look at barriers in a new way. They aren’t a negative; they’re a positive. As a leader, barriers are your opportunity to create growth and change in your business. Whenever we break through barriers our response is almost invariably, “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be – why didn’t I do that sooner?”
Ask your self: what barriers have we experienced in the past? When we overcame those barriers, how did we feel? What barriers are we facing today?
“The brick walls are there for a reason…to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.” – Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
Think about the barriers you’re facing in your personal life. Think about the barriers your business is facing. Now…BREAK ON THROUGH!
