Thriving Despite Challenges: How to Keep Your Momentum Strong

🎯 This is Part 8/9 of the Series Your Best Year Yet

You’re reading part eight of Your Best Year Yet: A Step-by-Step Guide — a special year-end series designed to help you reflect on the past year, set transformative goals, and create a plan to thrive in the year ahead. If you missed the previous issue, catch up here.

In this issue, we will focus on fighting the obstacles that could hinder your progress with actionable steps. And next week, in the last issue, we will round everything up with a discussion about checking progress and celebrating wins. Subscribe to avoid missing it!

Not all hurdles are equal.

Sometimes, they’re external, like the snow. Other times, they’re internal, like self-doubt, fear of failure, or procrastination. In both cases, you can fight any obstacles with the correct strategy.

1. Strategy for External Obstacles: prepare a backup plan. If you can’t run outside, can you quickly work out indoors? Can you shuffle your schedule if a meeting pops up at your usual gym time?
2. Strategy for Internal Obstacles: tune into your mindset. Remind yourself why you started. Sometimes, even only journaling for five minutes can banish those internal doubts.

Remember how I almost crawled back under the sheets when I saw the snow?

The problem wasn’t the snow — it was my reaction to it. And to solve that, I had to build an obstacles-oriented mindset.

• Reframe the Obstacle: Think of obstacles as opportunities. Instead of thinking you can’t do something, think about the benefits you will get from it.
• Ask Better Questions: Don’t ask yourself why bad things always happen to you. Ask yourself how you can still make your goal work.

The next time you face a barrier, pause and ask yourself: If I were excited by this challenge, how would I respond differently?

When you feel blocked, it often helps to chunk the problem into bite-sized pieces.

• Identify the Core Issue: if your obstacle is running today, the core issue might be the absence of indoor alternatives.
• Create a Micro-Solution: you can think about better solutions later, but what can you do in the next 15 minutes to fix the problem? Brainstorm these micro-solutions, pick one of them, and go for it.

Here’s an exercise to get used to breaking down obstacles. Every time you notice a barrier, list three Plan B micro-actions. For example:

• Five minutes of stretching + five minutes of jumping jacks + five minutes of yoga.
• Swap running for an online dancing workout.
• Shift your workout to later in the day (and don’t forget about it).

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Sometimes, obstacles zap our motivation more than our ability to overcome them. This is why having a motivation toolbox can keep you ahead when life throws snow on your path.

• Visual Cues: hang up a photo of your goal, like a picture of a marathon to the finish line or a place you want to travel.
• Accountability Buddies: text a friend or family member when the goal gets tough.
• Past Success Reminders: write a journal about the times you overcame difficulties.

Revisit issue five if you need more tips on sustaining habits and building robust systems.

Obstacles are inevitable. But perfection isn’t. And what matters is how fast you get back up when you stumble.

• The Two-Day Rule: if you skip one day of your routine, that’s ok. But don’t let it go beyond two. This rule ensures a missed workout or break in your streak doesn’t become a habit of quitting.
• Review Regularly: every Sunday, take ten minutes to review your obstacles from the past week. How did you handle them? What did you learn?

Schedule a weekly obstacles check-in on your calendar and answer these two questions:

• What went off-track this week?
• What’s my plan to prevent that next time?

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• Want more? Explore my other work at Cosmopolitan Mindset.