Overcoming Obstacles 

by Andrew Bryant
Executive Coach and Master Trainer

To achieve any measure of success it is necessary to overcome obstacles. The nature of your obstacle may be dependant on your field of endeavor whereas some obstacles are common to all. Sometimes it is not the obstacle itself that holds us back, but the fear of the obstacle. Common fears and obstacles include:

• Making a presentation
• Dealing with authority figures
• Confronting a colleague
• Cold calling
• Doing paperwork/reports
• Being insulted
• Criticism by a colleague
• Asking for a sale
• Speaking to a stranger
• Being laughed at
• Risking investing money
• Learning something new
• Looking foolish
• Doing something you don't know how to do
• Saying the wrong thing

In my trainings and in previous newsletters I explain how we respond not to the obstacle itself but to our internal mental representation - the movie we make in our mind.

If you would like to self-coach yourself to overcome the obstacle, you can ask yourself the following questions to better understand how you have constructed the movie of your mind.

• What movie do you play in your mind about this?
• What does this mean to you?
• What do you believe about that?
• What do you think about this?
• What have you realized about this?
• How is that important to you?
• What is your desired outcome from this?

The words underlined are 'frames of mind' that hold the obstacle firm in your mind. By asking questions about frames, you bring awareness to them and so strengthen or weaken them depending on whether they are useful to your purpose and outcome. The final question sends your mind in the direction of what you really want. By focusing on the outcome most obstacles will shrink to be minor obstacles on the journey to success.

To demonstrate this process let me share an abstract of a coaching session with Jane (not her real name) who had to make regular presentations but always felt physically sick for 3-days prior.

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