Chances are, you’re looking up “barriers to achieving goals” to either be prepared for future barriers or to see if your current barriers are reason enough not to accomplish something very important to you.
If it’s for the latter, the answer is no they are not reason enough.
You are more than capable of overcoming any barriers to your goals.
And no judgment at all here, but the real question is not, “What are my barriers to achieving goals?
The real question is, why am I trying to find reasons why I can’t achieve something?
- Is it because I’m afraid to fail?
- Is it because I have negative beliefs about money?
- Is it because I’m scared of success?
- Is it something else?
Discovering the root issue here is going to be that small change that’ll make the difference.
In this article, I’m going to explain exactly how you can do that and how to overcome it, but first, let’s get into some obstacles to achieve goals that you may or may not encounter.
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Barrier To Achieve Goals
1. Having A Negative Mindset
The first and biggest barrier to achieve goals is your own mindset. Your mindset can hold you back in so many ways:
- Negative self-talk
- Constantly telling yourself you can’t do something
- Overly doubting yourself and your skills
- Questioning and second-guessing yourself
- Staying focused on what you don’t want to do and why you don’t want to do it
- Looking for excuses
If you let it, your mindset can be your biggest downfall, and the sad part about it is that you really can achieve anything you put your mind to.
Two of the biggest advantages of being a human are being able to consciously choose something different at any time in our lives and being able to become whoever we want to be (within reason – no, you can’t become spiderman but yes you can become a millionaire).
If you want to be a doctor, you can.
If you want to be a millionaire, you can.
If you want to be a beach bum, you can.
It’s all about your mindset and the amount of action you’re willing to take to get there.
2. The People Around You
Another one of the biggest barriers to achieving goals can be the people around you. The people around you directly affect your mindset, choices, habits, and direction.
If you’re around someone who is lazy, a slob and doesn’t really care about life, then you best believe their energy is going to rub off on you.
We’d like to think that our energy will rub off on them, and we can change them, and we can, to an extent.
But, usually, it’s the negative person’s energy that has more of a lasting effect on the positive person than the other way around.
I see it time and time again, and it happens every time. It’s even happened to me.
It’s better to be around someone who is of equal speed, or more, so instead of you using your energy to lift up someone to your speed, you use your energy to bounce ideas off of each other or to learn from the other person.
If you’re around 6 broke people, you will be the 7th. If you’re around 6 wealthy people, you will be the 7th.
If you’re around someone who doesn’t have your best interest at heart, there’s nothing they won’t do to sabotage you, your headspace, and your goals.
3. The Way You Look At Finances
Notice how I didn’t say finances can be one of the barriers to achieve goals? That’s because finances are not necessarily the barrier, it’s more so the way you look at finances that’s the problem.
If you have a negative mindset around money including things like shame, guilt, or fear, and think things such as:
- “Money is the root of all evil”
- “I’m just not good with money”
- “Wanting to earn more money is selfish and greedy”
Then usually your financial decisions are going to be more negative.
If you have a positive or neutral mindset around money, then you’re usually going to make better financial decisions.
This could be a potential barrier to achieving your goals because even if you earn an income, you’re not able to keep, save, or reinvest because your relationship with money is not good causing you to be held back from some of your goals.
Pro Tip: I highly recommend The 10 Minute Budget by David Lewis. This has been the best book I’ve read about money so far. It has changed my entire mindset and shown me where I needed to heal my own relationship with money.
4. Your Habits/Choices
Your habits are another one of the barriers to reaching goals that can severely set you back. Things such as:
- Mindlessly scrolling
- Eating junk food
- Smoking/vaping
- Drinking
- Negative self-talk
- Complaining
- Procrastinating
- Consuming unnecessary news/commentary
And other bad habits that overall negatively affect your physical and mental health can and will get in the way of your goals.
This is because they cloud your judgment and can put you in an unproductive headspace causing you not to want to work.
Some of the other habits (such as drinking and smoking) can also make you feel comfortable with doing nothing all day (such as watching TV or mindlessly scrolling).
5. Lack Of Focus
Having a lack of focus can be one of the biggest dream killers because you have everything you need (the resources, knowledge, willpower, tools, and game plan) but you don’t have the focus to get there.
And it sucks because there are so many things we’re surrounded by to steal your focus away and it silently deters your life off track while your dreams just sit there rotting.
The only way to solve this is to actively choose what is healthy and productive for you every single day, or at the very least, most days.
Choosing small consistent habits will take you further than you’d think.
6. Anything That You Allow
Lastly, the biggest barrier to achieve your goals is anything you allow to be a barrier.
Back to the mindset point, if you decide that whatever it is that is making your goals difficult to reach is a barrier, then it is. If you decide that it’s a motivator, then it is.
You are the only person who can make or break your dreams.
You can either choose to let it be the reason why you didn’t accomplish something, or you can choose to let it be the reason you pushed harder.
How To Overcome Barriers To Achieve Goals
Now that we know the potential barriers to achieving goals, let me give you my best suggestions on how to overcome them.
All of this advice is things that I did to overcome these barriers myself, so I know they can and will work, as long as you’re willing to put in the work.
I don’t recommend doing everything on this list at once. Take 2 or 3 things and try them, and if they work keep them. If they don’t work, try something different.
1. Having A Negative Mindset
Overcoming your own mindset is one of the two most difficult things to overcome on this list, but it’s not impossible.
My best suggestion to you is to
- Take time and reflect on your current mindset so you can figure out what needs to change and what doesn’t (how can you change your mindset if you don’t know what the current one looks like?)
- Make a T-chart and put “current mindset” on one side and “new mindset” on the other side.
- Write down everything with your current mindset, both good and bad (be extremely honest with yourself)
- Write down everything you want with your new mindset (including some of the good things you want to keep about yourself)
- Come up with 3 consistent things you can do every day to improve your mindset.
- Stick with it, no excuses.
Here are some things that helped me:
- Read 10 pages of a good book every day
- 10-minute yoga sessions
- Meditate
- Write down 3 things I’m grateful for, every morning
- Write down my top 3 priorities for the day, every morning
- Journal/use journal prompts
2. The People Around You
This one is simple, get rid of them.
Is it going to suck at first? Yes. Are you going to feel a bit lonely? Yes. Will you get over these things? Yes.
You don’t have to even give them an explanation as to why you’re no longer communicating with them. Just be done with it.
3. The Way You Look At Finances
For this, I recommend reading a really good book on finances. Don’t know of any good books? Here you go 🙂
- The 10 Minute Budget by David Lewis
- The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley and William D Danko
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
4. Your Habits/Choices
This was the second most difficult thing to overcome on this list because your habits go deep, BUT again, it is not impossible to change this.
The best way to fix this is to replace your old habits with new ones, and during those times that you’re mind is used to doing the bad habit, plan to have something else during that time to effectively keep yourself busy.
For example, if you’re used to smoking a cigarette in the morning around 7:50 AM, plan to take your shower at 7:50 AM instead.
The best way to lock in those new habits is to stick with it over a certain length of time.
I’ve heard 21, 31, 60, and 90 days. Which one is the best? Whichever one fits you best.
For me, it’s 21 days because my mind is like “Oh that’s not that bad we can do that” and I’m more likely to stick with it.
For others, it may be 60 days because if they only do it for 30 days it won’t actually stick.
To each their own, just get the job done.
5. Lack Of Focus
Last but not least, to solve this I recommend getting very serious with yourself and cutting out ALL distractions.
To cut out distractions I recommend you:
- Start gradually and work your way up
- Set clear boundaries for yourself when it comes to your phone, friends, and family
- Remove unnecessary apps that you don’t use
- Log out of social media platforms and delete them off your phone
- Only get on YouTube on a computer
- Put your phone on grayscale mode
To get serious with yourself I recommend you:
- Lessen the amount of content you’re consuming on the internet (YouTube videos, Tiktoks, IG/Facebook posts, etc)
- When you do decide to consume content on the internet, make sure it’s someone who is motivating, inspiring, or teaching you something about your craft (learning random useless facts that have nothing to do with you don’t count)
- Remind yourself of your reality in the next 5 years if you don’t get focused now
Pro Tip: Start using a planner to plan out your days hour by hour. Not a single hour shouldn’t be accounted for. This will help you get some serious direction and focus.
Other Obstacles To Achieve Goals
I know some of you may be thinking, “I thought we already went over barriers to achieve goals” and we did, but there is something else I want to cover: what seems to be barriers to achieving goals but actually aren’t.
The reason why these seem like they’re barriers and the other ones genuinely are barriers is because these obstacles are usually the first thing people go to when they have failed at something but in reality, it was usually one of the reasons above.
Now, that doesn’t make any of these obstacles less real or challenging.
It just simply means that when you encounter one or more of these things, it’s time to take a step back and go to square one so we can solve the real issue.
1. Lack Of Motivation
A lack of motivation can cause you to not feel like working, but it is not a true obstacle because to be quite honest with you, no one feels motivated 24/7.
Even the most successful people you know, do not feel motivated all the time.
The difference between those who are successful and those who are not is not their level of motivation; it’s their level of resilience.
It’s the fact that they didn’t give up.
You’re not going to be motivated all year round, but you have to keep going, even when you don’t feel like it. That is what makes the difference.
2. Burnout
This one can be kind of tricky because while burnout is real, it’s not what’s causing you to fail.
Whatever is causing the burnout is what’s holding you back, and before you can get rid of the burnout you have to understand what’s causing it.
Is it:
- Your heavy workload
- No support at home (emotionally, financially, physically, etc)
- You keep saying “yes” to things you want to say “no” to
- Neglecting self-care
- Lack of clarity and expectations
- Micromanagement at work or home
Read More: Best 5 Minute Self Care Ideas For Busy Schedules
3. Current Finances
A looooot of people choose to use their finances as an excuse (they would call it a reason) as to why they cannot succeed, and I am here to tell you:
Your finances are NOT the reason why you failed. You are the reason why you failed.
There have been people with far less than you and who started out in way worse conditions than you, who have accomplished incredible feats of success.
So to say that your financial situation is the reason why you can’t do something is a lie, and not just a lie to whoever you’re talking to but a lie to yourself as well.
If you’re going to try to find any excuse in the book then you will not succeed. If you’re going to find any way to make your dreams happen, then you will succeed. Bottom line.
4. Current Circumstances
A lot of people will also use their current circumstances as an excuse.
- “I don’t have the same resources as ____” My response: There are many people with less who have done more.
- “I’m too busy to be able to ___” My response: Make time.
- “I didn’t/don’t have enough time” My response: Make time.
- “I’m not as good as ____” My response: Neither were they at one point.
- “I don’t know how to _____” My response: Learn it.
- “I’m in a toxic environment” My response: Figure out a way to protect your peace as much as possible until you can earn enough money to leave.
We live in an age where you can look up any question that comes to mind and get an answer to it in less than 30 seconds.
That was not possible in the 90s. Think about that for a second.
There is no reason as to why you can’t learn something.
As far as making time for something goes, I’m almost certain that you make time for other non important things in your life such as:
- Tiktok
- Snapchat
- Netflix
- Youtube
And don’t say “Well I could be making money on those apps” because if you’re not currently making money there then it doesn’t really matter.
If you are making time for things that are taking you nowhere, then you can make time for things that will take you where you want to go.
As far as being in a toxic environment goes, sometimes you have to work with what you have until you can make something better. It’s not easy or ideal, but it’s not impossible either.
I highly recommend investing some really good headphones.
I just recently got these Sony headphones and they are AMAZING. They’re really good quality, super comfortable, the noise cancellation is incredible, and they were less than $200 (which is rare for good headphones nowadays).
5. Unrealistic Expectations
Having unrealistic expectations can greatly hold you back because success usually takes much longer than you would anticipate.
And when you don’t see the results you thought you were going to see in 6, 12 sometimes even 24 months, it can be discouraging and you may be more likely to give up.
You may think, “Am I even doing the right thing?” or “Was this all for nothing?” or even worse “What’s the point?”
By having more realistic expectations, though, you can maintain more patience. That’s not to say that you can’t dream big because you should!
Dream as big as your mind can go, but also realize that you have to make those goals into tiny bite-sized actions because it’s those tiny bite-sized actions that add up to amazing results.
Success doesn’t happen out of nowhere. It’s through continuous actions that add up over time.
6. Distractions
Distractions can seem like they’re one of your obstacles to achieve goals but in actuality, it is your lack of focus that is your obstacle.
You can easily get rid of distractions, but it’s building up your focus that takes a bit more effort and time.
7. Fear Of Failure
Fear of failure can be another one of the huge barriers to reaching goals because it can cause you to freeze and take zero action.
Usually, fear of failure is rooted in having a negative mindset/self-talk.
To better understand where this fear of failure is coming from I highly recommend talking to a therapist. They can give you insight that sometimes a loved one can’t.
I also have a 20% discount using the code THERAPY20 with Online Therapy if you’re interested.
Another simple way to overcome your fear of failure is by taking note of the cost of inaction.
Sometimes you have to ask yourself is my anxiety of failing more important than achieving my dreams?
How To Overcome Obstacles To Achieve Goals
Keep moving forward. That’s it.
With the exception of burnout, every obstacle on this list can be overcome simply by choosing to continue to move forward.
No excuses.
As for burnout, the best solution to this is to cut out the unnecessary things in your life, and intentionally make room for necessary things in your life. You need to be making time for your
- Physical health
- Mental health
- Financial wellbeing
- Emotional wellbeing
- Relationships
Anything that is not productively contributing to one of those five things has got to go. I’m sorry.
We cannot afford to be making time for things that drain us.
Conclusion On Barriers To Achieve Goals
Barriers to achieve goals are almost always something within your control.
It’s ironic because you would think the barriers to achieving your goals are something you can’t control, but most of the time, those barriers are something within you.
You could look at this as a good thing (because you are 100% capable of changing it) or a bad thing (because it’s going to take work to change something within you).
Either way it goes, whether you succeed or fail, the choice is entirely yours and there are two things that will always hold true:
1. You always have a choice
2. You are more than capable of succeeding at your goals
It’s all about outlook.
That being said, thank you for reading today, comment down below 1. Which barrier you plan to overcome and 2. Any obstacles to achieve goals that I missed.
I will see you in the next article; peace!
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