Author and businessman Max De Pree said, “The first step of a leader is to define reality.” You can’t move forward if you don’t know what is holding you back. Most challenges that individuals are facing stem from a lack of awareness of what is actually happening. 

The only reason you aren’t moving forward is that there is a problem somewhere somehow. If there weren’t a limiting factor, you would always be advancing. Remember Newton’s law of motion: An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Challenges, big or small, cause an imbalance in forward motion. And the longer the problem exists, the slower you progress. 

The first variable in elevating your success is about engaging your challenges. It’s about identifying what is holding you down from moving up. Defining precisely what problems exist enables you to know just how to fix them. Most people know they have challenges, but they haven’t clearly defined why they are. In order to fix a problem, you have to first know why you have it in the first place. It isn’t enough to know what challenges are in front of you; you have to know where they came from. Anyone can tell you there is a problem, but not many can accurately tell you why there is a problem. 

Dealing with a challenge is one thing, but dealing with the root cause of the challenge is another. Many people put bandaids on their problems, but in doing so, they fail to resolve the systemic issues that caused the pain point in the first place. We too easily settle for a quick fix rather than getting to the heart of the matter.

• What may be holding you back?
• What is keeping you from achieving your dreams?

Truly identify your problems and begin to make a plan to overcome them starting today!