“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it. Go through it. Or work around it.” — Michael Jordan
We all have goals that we want to achieve in life, and probably also in animal rescue. I for one want to make Doobert a thriving animal rescue community supported by custom technology that helps the community work together for the welfare of animals. But with that goal, there are also obstacles standing in our way to achieve what we are hoping for.
Since I was young, I remember the tried and true method for getting the TV signal to clear up. It meant walking up to the TV and giving it a thump on the right or left side. Hard enough to make a noise and jar the picture but not so hard as to bruise your hand. I seemed to follow that philosophy for many years using brute force to handle situations. Whether with a stubborn screw that would not come out, or a nail that went in crooked, for some reason I believed that the harder I forced it, the more likely it would do what I wanted.
I’m sure you can guess the outcome of my carpentry if I was applying that attitude, and that likely explains why I focus on technology and not woodwork. But think for a minute how you are approaching obstacles on the path to your goal. Are you using brute force in an effort to get them removed? Are you focused on getting others to do things YOUR way? Do you keep trying the same approach over and over with diminishing results? Remember, a castle can be an intimidating, impenetrable fortress, or it can be turned into a prison when surrounded. The difference is simply a shift in action and approach.
The key to your success starts by identifying the obstacle in your path. Maybe it’s funding, maybe it’s lack of a facility, maybe it’s compassion fatigue. What can you do to go over, around, or through these obstacles? How can you use the force of the obstacle against itself? Ask yourself some questions to take control of the situation:
- Whose behavior do you control?
- What aspects of this obstacle can you control and not control?
- How could you adapt to all the things you can’t control?
- Who could assist you along this journey toward solving this problem?
- How will you know when this problem has been resolved?
- What is your criteria for success?
