Thursday, March 6, 2014

5 Barriers To Achieving Success

Don't make it this
The following list comes from direct experience helping individuals successfully re-enter the workforce following extremely challenging life situations - incarceration, substance abuse treatment, mental health derailments, and homelessness. To be clear, success doesn't come about just by re-entering, rather it's a process that takes into account many factors. The list originated from this process.

I have also successfully used an approach based on this list when assisting clients that (fortunately) don't have these heavy challenges. It works - whether in an individual or group setting.

I call this The Success Approach. I realize it isn't rocket science but to a degree that's the point. It's easy to understand and usable in a variety of situations. The goal is to identify and overcome the 5 Barriers To Achieving Success in the following order.
  1. Inability to articulate The Objective
  2. Not being able to decide on the route
  3. Lack of a realistic and firm timeline
  4. Unwillingness to confront obstacles
  5. Lack of principles to guide the journey  
It occurs to me that the list could be presented in a positive manner, such as 5 Things You Can Do To Achieve Your Goals. Perhaps, but no. The point is not to accentuate the positive, just the opposite. It's critical that these barriers be seen for what they really are, blockages and barricades.

Expect these
I have found that starting with the big goal (The Objective) is effective. It may take time to uncover, so be patient and keep things light and "brain stormy" at first. Identifying and labeling what specifically is to be accomplished is quite literally the key to unearthing and overcoming the other 4 barriers.

One more thing, once these 5 barriers are removed what's left are speed bumps - and that's just fine. Speed bumps are meant slow and caution, not stop.

I'll have more to say on all 5 of the barriers in upcoming posts.

Travel well.
John Jeffrey

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