Challenges are the main cause of failure when it comes to achieving goals. They are a necessary part of goals, so learning to meet challenges head-on is an important skill to learn. There are some practical tools and skills that you can use when faced with the variety of challenges that I guarantee will arise.

The first step is to be proactive and immediately identify what some of the challenges will be. Some challenges are common to most goals, such as time management, resources, motivation, energy, and decision making. Depending on your past experiences with achieving goals and overcoming challenges, you will need to decide which of these challenges will be the most salient for the goal you are working on. So, let’s choose time management and motivation for our example.

The second step is to brainstorm a variety of ways to address these challenges. These are some of the solutions that I have used successfully to overcome these challenges. When it comes to time management, I’m always working on finding more efficient ways to get things done. So, I start by making sure to schedule time to work on projects and treat these appointments as if they were important meetings that I absolutely cannot miss. It’s really amazing how far you can go with a goal even with a 1 hour block of time each day.

Other ways I have learned to deal with the challenges of time is to delegate. Most people are hesitant to delegate, but if you really want to achieve your goals, you need to see what only you can do and what someone else can do. Hopefully you can find someone to accomplish those tasks for a small fee. This will free up time for you to focus on the most important steps in achieving your goals.

Motivation is a bit more complicated and requires more effort to overcome this challenge. You have to decide how important this goal is to you on a scale of 1 to 10. Obviously, if you’re working on a goal that’s a 10, that in itself provides more motivation. The other thing to think about is what the end result of your goal is; what it looks like, how good it will feel when you achieve it, and how you will reward yourself for achieving it.

We’ve all been programmed to respond to rewards, so be sure to think of a suitable reward to validate and celebrate your achievement. When you reward successes you are also providing motivation to continue with your goal. At this point, you can choose to expand the goal and keep moving forward, or choose a new goal.

In the end, no matter what challenge you’re facing, the key to overcoming it is to focus on solutions and ask for help if you need it.