4 Common Roadblocks to Success (and How to Clear Them)

Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode 286. Do you ever feel like there's always something getting in your way when you're trying to get things done? If that is the case, I totally get it. And in this episode, I'm going to break down some of the biggest roadblocks that I see people struggling with all of the time. Things like losing focus, getting caught up in perfectionism, feeling overwhelmed, and just plain old physical clutter. I'm not only going to talk about these roadblocks, but I'm also going to share why it makes such a difference when you can clear these roadblocks out of your way. And I'm going to share some simple ways that you can start making progress in your schedule, on your path forward, and in your life. Let's go listen to this episode together now.

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:58]:
Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body, and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve.

Christine Li [00:01:26]:
When you start living within your full

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:28]:
power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast.

Christine Li [00:01:41]:
Hi, everyone. Today we're going to have a conversation about roadblocks. And I chose this topic for today because I see so many people dealing with roadblocks, struggling with roadblocks, talking about roadblocks, and then sometimes not removing the roadblocks. And I would love to just talk about four central or the most popular or most common roadblocks that I see, and then to provide some comfort, perhaps, and some suggestions for what to do if you happen to have one or all of these roadblocks in your way at the moment. What can we do to remove the roadblocks? Because I think in some ways, by definition, if it's a roadblock, there must be some way that we can get rid of it. So let's start now. First, before I list the roadblocks, let's talk about why I think it's important to to clear the roadblocks instead of just coping with them and running around them and dealing with them. I think it's important to establish a clear Runway for ourselves in all the things that we do, whether it is setting ourselves up for bed at night or writing that book and preparing ourselves for that process, or if it's just meeting someone new, we want to, as best as we can, in my opinion, to clear the Runway.

Christine Li [00:03:19]:
The Runway is like, you know, a plane's Runway, the road from which a plane can lift off. We would never want debris on the Runway.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:30]:
That would be ridiculous.

Christine Li [00:03:32]:
It would be dangerous. It would be catastrophic, potentially. And I don't want to be fear inducing, but I do want to use that example as the obvious analogy. You would not let a big old roadblock be on your plane's Runway. You want a clear Runway, you want a long Runway, you want freedom to move as best as you can. And I think the other benefit of having a clear Runway is that you can move more quickly forward. And so many of us are interested in, and not only making progress and being productive, but saving time in the process that we don't have to be saddled with work all day long and all weekend long and all night long. We want to have time for ourselves, time for rest, for relaxation, for recreation.

Christine Li [00:04:28]:
That is my goal for you, to help you just get more of your time and energy back. That is just a constant for me as a wish for you. So let's get down to it. What are the four most common roadblocks that I see? One is a lack of focus. And you might want to say, oh, is that really a roadblock? I would say, yes, absolutely it is a roadblock. Because when we don't even know what we are trying to accomplish, what our goals are, what we need to hone in on, our energy just dribbles away. Our time also dribbles away because again, we don't have focus in hand. And some things that can cause lack of focus are overthinking.

Christine Li [00:05:15]:
We think we're being productive, but really we're just entertaining the floating and fleeting thoughts that are running through our minds, that are making us nervous, that are not really getting us focused in any way. They're just kind of filling the airspace. So we want to try to stop thinking in circles. We want to see what do I actually want to put my attention towards. What would be a great way for me to use this day? Let's just get more specific, let's get sharper, let's get more courageous in terms of focus. Because I do think sometimes we get scared by all the options that we have for the day, for the hour, and then we don't focus in order to cope with that anxiety. Of all the things that we could be doing. But I'm here to tell you that your anxiety will go down when you know what you want to focus on.

Christine Li [00:06:07]:
Because then it gets exciting. You get to see, oh, where is this attention going to get me? What can I accomplish here if I really decide I'm going to get serious and I'm going to get focused here? It's a really wonderful path when you take it. Another thing that can cause lack of focus is when you don't take some time to plan your route forward. All right, sometimes you do have a goal, but you have no idea which pathway you want to take. Do you want to start in the morning? Do you want to have a team with you? Do you want to have food along the way? All of this stuff can be planned ahead of time so you can have better focus. So you can believe, actually, I am going to get to my intended destination. I'm not going to lose time getting there. I know exactly the route that I'm going to take.

Christine Li [00:07:00]:
That can really help boost your focus, boost your success rate, and boost your mood along the way. Another reason we might have lack of focus is distraction. Because today in this modern society, there is so much to take our attention from us. Social media, anything, online websites. It doesn't even have to be social media. And of course, it can be other human beings. Your children, your parents, your neighbors, anybody who interrupts you during the day when you're trying to get work done. These lovely people can contribute to a lack of focus.

Christine Li [00:07:39]:
But the good news is you could always take your focus back. You could also always say, I would love to help you now, but I'm busy at the moment. Please let me text you in half an hour. You can always regulate your time and manage your time in a sharper, more careful way. I will say, and I feel that the better I get at planning how I'm going to use my time, the better my outcomes seem to be. They come faster, they come more frequently. I end up having enough energy to enjoy the success that I'm building, and I again wish the same for you. So get rid of that lack of focus.

Christine Li [00:08:23]:
Roadblock. It is fully within your power to sharpen your focus today. The second roadblock that I see is perfectionism. Perfectionism is that theory or that philosophy that we can sometimes have that we need to pick the exact right time to do things, that we need to be in the right mood to do things, that we need to know all of our options, and our options need to be set up perfectly before we can start or we can continue or we can finish what we're doing. And all of those beliefs, and they really are just beliefs, comprise of a wish, I think, inside of us that we can do things perfectly. It's great when things come out perfectly. But I need to let you know it is not essential that you plan perfectly, that you act perfectly, that you're in the right mood. None of those things are essential for beginning and for taking that Runway that is in front of you.

Christine Li [00:09:29]:
And so often we lose precious time and energy and spirit when we're just waiting for everything to be right. So remove that roadblock right now. You're going to decide. I listened to Dr. Lee's podcast today. I'm going to use the rest of today to experiment, to make a trial to figure it out. Today, I'm just going to bust through any resistance that I feel from inside and any thoughts that make me feel like I'm not good enough to move forward, I'm just going to wipe those away, clear the Runway, and go really quickly. Today on my journey, the third roadblock that I see so often, this might be the most popular one, the most common one, and that is overwhelm.

Christine Li [00:10:21]:
Overwhelm, in some ways, is good news, because overwhelm is not anything physical. It is an emotional state, a spiritual state, let's say, where we feel like we cannot cope with all the different things that we have in front of us, that it is just too much for our ego to cope with. It is too much for our limited time that we have in a given day, and it is too much for our energy reserves. It can be one or all of those things. Of course, when you're in a state of overwhelm, it is going to act as a roadblock to your success, because essentially, you freeze, you feel paralyzed, you feel resistant, you feel not equipped to be at your best. So why would you move forward? Because you want your outcomes to be really good. But I'm here to tell you, you can shift out of overwhelm and then proceed. The way to shift out of overwhelm is to remind yourself that you have options, that you have been looking at too many of your options all at the same time.

Christine Li [00:11:34]:
But you have the new option of saying, I'm going to downshift. I'm going to just select one thing to focus on. I'm going to focus on one thing so that I can calm my nervous system down, so I can reestablish trust that it is safe to move forward again and again. You can do that really quickly. You can do that without wasting any time, you could just make the decision, I'm stepping out of overwhelm. I am fully safe, always have been, always will be. And now I'm going to use all of my resources to focus on just one thing. It does not have to be the biggest thing.

Christine Li [00:12:15]:
It does not have to be the most pressing thing. Actually, when you've been in overwhelm, I tend to recommend to people that they start slowly, just get back into driving again. If you are piloting a plane, you wouldn't want to maybe fly a long distance flight after a long illness or some other stressful event. You want to make sure that your mindset is on board with the trip. So get yourself out of overwhelm. Forgive yourself for anything that happened during the overwhelm or the lack of productivity that happened during that time of overwhelm and get reset. You can do this. You always will.

Christine Li [00:12:59]:
Even if you never came across this episode, you would move through that overwhelm at some point. Because all of our emotional states are transient, they are short lasting, or they are not permanent. Thank goodness, oftentimes that they are not. And you can restore your power again. So remove that overwhelm roadblock as soon as you can. The last roadblock that I have to talk about is physical clutter. It is the roadblock that we sometimes don't even categorize as a roadblock, even though it's a literal physical roadblock. Sometimes the clutter is on your desk, sometimes it's in your bedroom, sometimes it's in your car or in your purse or, I don't know, in your closet.

Christine Li [00:13:50]:
It could be anywhere. That's why physical clutter is such a daunting roadblock oftentimes for people. The fact that it is a roadblock that tends to accumulate more of its own roadblocky stuff. So clutter accumulates and attracts more clutter if we don't handle it. So I'm going to really put a star next to this fourth roadblock and suggest that you really remove this roadblock. It is the one that is really the most tangible, the most physical, the most tossable. So let's get rid of it. Because again, you would not want to drive on a dirty, dangerous, cluttered road.

Christine Li [00:14:36]:
You would sweep the road first, you would clear it first, you would plow it first. You would do whatever it takes to make sure you are actually clear, to make a smooth trip and make the trip as short as possible. So again, you could just save yourself the trouble of the arduous path. So think to yourself? Are you struggling with focus? Are you struggling with perfectionism? Are you struggling with overwhelm or clutter or all four of these situations? If you are, no judgment at all. We are human. Clutter happens. Perfectionism happens. We all get overwhelmed sometimes and we all lose focus sometimes.

Christine Li [00:15:19]:
But I'm here to tell you, you now know some strategy around these roadblocks and about these roadblocks. And you get to say to yourself, I'm no longer tolerating stuff in my way. I wouldn't do that to myself, to my higher self, to my goals, because my goals really are important to me. Let's clear the Runway first and then let's get geared up to get those goals as soon as we can find them in our lives. It is possible. Your success is inevitable and it's going to come faster to you and towards you when you remove these roadblocks. If you would love a free downloadable worksheet to start getting rid of these things and to start getting serious about your path forward, I invite you to go to maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/clear again. maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/clear.

Christine Li [00:16:23]:
We will review the details of this episode in the worksheet and there'll be space for you to work out a plan for moving forward. I can't wait to share that with you. And I can't wait to see you next week when the next episode on the Make Time for Success Podcast drops. I will see you then. Bye.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:42]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success Podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also Visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mention on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name Procrastination Coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making Time for Success.

Christine Li [00:17:23]:
Talk to you soon.