Obstacles, Schmobstacles

I've been thinking about obstacles lately. We have all encountered them. Some are large and looming. Some are no more than small annoyances. The fact is, on the road of life, and on the way to anything worthwhile, they will be there. Don'tcha just hate it? Everything is going along just swell when all of a sudden BLAM! It's there...obstacle. And they are pesky little things, because you just can't ignore them! Oh no, they keep coming back until you tackle and overcome them.

Personally, "overcoming" connotes the feeling of just barely getting by. Do I just want to overcome the obstacles in my life? Are you kidding? I want kick- butting VICTORY over them!

This takes courage.

Easier said than done? Sometimes. I won't lie to you. I've spent some serious time in bed with the covers pulled over my head trying to avoid, ignore, run away from and find another way around some of the obstacles that have confronted me in life. Guess what...I came out from under the covers and those obstacles were still there. UGH.

So here's the thing....Obstacles need to be tackled.

And here's how you do it....Change your mind-set.

Yep. Change the way you look at the obstacle. Obstacles can smell fear and they love it. It somehow helps them puff themselves up and make them larger than they are. BUT, when you stare them down, analyze and learn from them, they suddenly shrink. Suddenly this conundrum that seemed all encompassing, seems manageable. Not pleasant, mind you, but manageable.

So, now we have analyzed our obstacles, and learned what the challenge is all about. The next thing to be done is to strategize. strategy is exciting because it means you're on your way to victory. Think about it. When you get to the strategy part, you can see the end result in sight. You just have to get there. With the covers pulled over your head who can see anything? Strategy is also great because chances are you can dissect that obstacle into smaller, easier to handle pieces. Map out your strategy. Write down the steps to it will take you to get to victory.

The last part of having victory over obstacles is acting on the strategy. This is why I think keeping a written form of the strategy is so important. Each time you complete an item on strategy list, highlight it. Highlighting, crossing off, or otherwise recognizing the completion of the step manifests feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction. Suddenly, the next step becomes less daunting. The momentum built by accomplishing one step pushes us forward to take on the next. Before we know it, we have broken through whatever was blocking us.

So, the next time you're faced with an obstacle on the road to your success, look it square in the eye. Analyze, Strategize and ACT. Victory will be yours!

Blame or Claim

Many of us feel that happiness eludes us, or is somewhere "out there" and we can never seem to grasp it. We spend our days looking to our future "happiness." Our days speed past always looking toward tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow when "happiness" will be ours. We lose the beauty and meaning in each day as it happens.

What we miss is that happiness is ours to create. Isn't that a beautiful thing? We can choose happiness in any given moment. That my friends, is powerful. We don't need to depend on anyone else, or anything else to give us happiness. In fact doing so takes away our power to create our own happiness.

It takes courage to claim our own happiness. It means that in the heat of the moment, when the going gets rough, when we face adversity we make the choice. Blame or claim. We can either choose to blame everyone and every thing for our circumstances, or we can choose to be happy despite our circumstances....and here's the real clincher...choosing happiness is a step toward changing our adverse circumstances.

Happiness does not always mean joy. It does mean being content. It is consciously making the best of the circumstances in our lives. It is knowing that within each of us is the key to not only to just survive adversity, but be victorious over it. It is the unwavering belief that we have the power within us to change our circumstances for the better everyday.

A Little About Me...

Welcome to Wild Woman Writing! I hope this proves to be one of those blogs you just have to read daily! I'll be writing about my experiences as a neophyte entrepreneur, and posting about motivation, goal setting, planning, time management and what it takes to keep all the plates up and spinning!

My business is Wild Woman Coaching - a life and business coaching company started in September of this year. MY background is sales, marketing and organizational development. I've been coaching people and helping to grow businesses for the past 15 years.

Everyone needs a coach. Everyone needs someone to help you become all you want to be. Everyone needs someone to help them focus on the goals and actions that will take them there. Even coaches have coaches! I would be venture to say that The Donald has coaches. Coaching is vital to keeping our visions in focus and our goals on track. Without focus we miss the mark, and there are a myriad of things out there every day to distract our focus!

The first key is to write your goals down and keep them in front of you. The 2nd key is to share your goals with someone your can trust. This keeps us accountable, and somehow if our goals are written down and we verbalize them every day, they start to become part of us. This becomes the 3rd key which is to live your goals. Incorporate them into all your do. If you are doing something right now that is not helping you reach your goal, cut it out!

Today make a list of your goals. Where do you hope to be in 30 days, 90 days, 6 months from now, a year from now. How are you going to get there? If you don't know, if you are confused about the whole goal setting-action planning thing, visit my website at www.wildwomancoaching.net and call me! We'll see what we can do together!

Enjoy your day and make every minute count!