Do you want to go back to school, start a business or run a marathon? Maybe you'd like to learn a language or buy a house. Whatever it is that you want to do in your life, it's likely that you will encounter obstacles. What's important is not that you learn how to come up with ambitions that don't have them or avoid them altogether but that you learn how to deal with obstacles that arise.
Make a Concrete Plan
Sometimes, dealing with an obstacle is simply a matter of identifying it and making a concrete plan to address it. Perhaps you want to go to college, but you don't know how you will pay for the high cost of tuition. Once you have identified this obstacle, you can look at ways to solve the problem. For example, one way to pay for your tuition is by taking out private student loans. You can research private lenders easily and quickly online. Other ways to pay for college include savings, scholarships and grants.
Step Back
Sometimes, you have two problems to deal with: the obstacle itself and your emotional reaction to it. Maybe you want to run a marathon, but when you think about all those miles, you are paralyzed with fear. Perhaps you want to pay off your debt, but you can't get past the anxiety of looking at how much you actually owe in the first place. When this happens, you need to step back and get some perspective on the obstacle. Doing this can be tricky.
Try to separate your strong emotions from the obstacle itself. It might help to talk to a friend or have a family member sit with you while you tally up those debts. Meditation, exercise, a religious practice or writing in a journal are all ways that people might gain perspective on something in their life that they are struggling with. Whatever works for you to help you see your issue from a distance instead of feeling as though you as mired in it can help you identify the steps you need to take to succeed.
Make it Bite-Sized
Sometimes, you can identify the obstacle, and you aren't particularly clouded by strong emotions about it, but it simply seems like a huge mountain to scale. For example, if you want to become a doctor or a lawyer but you haven't completed an education beyond high school, you may feel overwhelmed by all the potential obstacles in your path. The key here is to break down the steps that you need to take.
Once you have done that, you only need to concentrate on the next step in front of you instead of worrying about the things that are at the end. For example, if you want to become a doctor, perhaps the first step is to visit a nearby college and find out about their science programs. The next step is to see what qualifications you need to enroll. While you need to know what is necessary to eventually get admitted to medical school, you don't need to worry about surviving a residency when you are planning your first undergraduate semester.