When we face an obstacle, we tend to respond with fear, frustration, confusion, helplessness, depression, or anger.

Why is it that some people get paralysed by obstacles and others seem to thrive on them?

In his book The Obstacle Is The Way, Ryan Holiday tells us overcoming obstacles is a discipline of three critical steps.

Perception
Perception is how we see and understand what occurs around us. It’s also how we decide what those events mean to us and how we respond to them.

Our perceptions can either be a source of weakness or a strength. When we are faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, it is our choice to let it overwhelm us (fear, anger etc.) or to see it as an opportunity.

Action
Once you have your perspective and emotions under control, it’s time to take action.
But not all action is created equal. To be effective, your action needs to be directed – dismantle the obstacles piece by piece, with courage, creativity, energy, persistence and with an idea of where you are headed.

Will
Will is our internal power and can never be affected by the outside world because it is completely within our control. Will is not how badly we want something; but is about surrender than strength.

When we are placed into a situation that seems impossible to fix, we can decide to view it as a learning experience or a chance to help others or in the case of abuse, you look for ways to keep safe or be safer. That’s will power.

We can live the rest of our life using the power of the principles Holiday has in his book, or we can continue to allow obstacles to overwhelm us.

The choice is yours – decide today.