3 Overlooked Obstacles That Hold Back Creating Change Successfully

When you want to change something to achieve a specific outcome in your life, work, or business, it is important to be aware of obstacles that could hold back your progress and results.   

However, some of the most common obstacles that impact creating change successfully are often overlooked or not immediately apparent. It is important to know what those things are so that you can proactively deal with them and make sure that they don’t derail your progress and results as you navigate the path of change.

Here are three common but often overlooked obstacles that hold back creating change successfully:

1. Feeling overbusy, overscheduled, and overwhelmed.

Creating change successfully requires time and consistent focus. It requires space to think, plan, and take new actions.     

If you feel overbusy, overscheduled and overwhelmed with everything you already have on your plate, adding a change project into the mix will result in you not being able to give the change you want to work on enough time, focus, and attention. As a result, your chances of creating change successfully are greatly reduced.  

Identify what the source is of why you feel overbusy,  overscheduled, and overwhelmed and take action to proactively address those things.  Look for ways to take back control of your time and schedule. Set boundaries to protect what gets your time and attention.

Make sure that you have enough time and space to give adequate focus and attention to working on the change you want to create.

2. Your current behaviour patterns and habits are getting in the way

Creating change successfully is heavily influenced by your behaviour and habits. If your current behaviour patterns and habits are not aligned with what is needed to create change successfully you are risking not achieving the outcomes you want.

That is why working on change often requires changes in behaviour and habits. Take some time to identify the behaviours and habits that will set you up to succeed. Work on developing those things. On the flip side, identify current behaviours and habits that may sabotage your progress and results. Figure out a way to deal with those effectively so that they do not hold you back.   

3. Your mental and physical energy feel depleted

Change takes extra mental and physical energy in addition to the mental and physical energy levels required for managing day-to-day life and work. If your energy levels are feeling depleted before you start, you are not in a good position to be as effective as possible. Hence, the progress and results you desire are at risk. Put in place things that boost and maintain good mental and physical energy levels. Reduce or remove things that drain them.

The bottom line:

Creating change to achieve specific outcomes comes with many obstacles. There are common ones, like the three above, that apply to us all and there are some specific to your unique circumstances. You can set yourself up to succeed by identifying what obstacles might impact you and proactively put things in place to effectively deal with those things.