Everyone dreams of being able to make the big bucks. Don’t you want to have no more worries about money and afford all the things you desire? But with obstacles in life, it can be challenging. But if you want to be successful, you need to overcome these obstacles.
That big house, fancy car, and dream vacation can all be yours… unless something is blocking your path.
Everyone has obstacles in life that are stopping them from making money. The good news, though, is that you can remove those obstacles yourself.
Here are some of the obstacles in life blocking your path that you didn’t even know were there. Now you know about them, you can get to work removing them.
Table of Contents
13 examples of obstacles in life to overcome
1. The Need For Instant Gratification
Let’s be real; in this day and age, you want it now. It’s the information age, after all, and pretty much everything is at your fingertips.
Need a ride? You can call an Uber to your home in minutes.
Want to find out who played the guy in that film? Put it into Google, and you’ll get the answer.
As we live in such an age, we’re looking for the answers to our money problems to be instant too. Just look at how many get-rich-quick books and seminars are out there.
We’re all looking to turn things around and have all those extra zeros in our bank accounts.
The problem is, making money doesn’t work like that. It happens over time, and you’ll need to be patient to get what you need.
Rather than wanting that drastic change, look at making baby steps. You’re not going to go from average Joe to multimillionaire overnight unless you play the lottery and win.
Break the process down, and take those small steps. It’s much easier to see progress that way, and you’ll be more motivated to continue.
2. Bad Advice From Others
If you’re looking to make money, then you aren’t going to do it alone. You’ll be going to others, asking them for advice, and seeing what they have to say.
This is a good idea in theory, but the problem is you may be asking the wrong people entirely about money.
For example, you trust your parents’ views, so you ask them how they manage their money. Depending on their age and mindset, they may be stuck in the past and give you advice that just isn’t relevant anymore.
Have you ever been told to just walk into a workplace with a resume and expect to speak to the manager about a job? You know it doesn’t work like that anymore, but that’s all they’ve ever known.
When you’re looking for advice, consider your sources. You want to be talking to people who have achieved things that you want to achieve.
If you want to start your own business, you need to talk to other people in the business who have managed this.
You can also pick up books and watch videos by these people. It is worth checking out reviews to make sure you are getting advice that’s useful and relevant.
3. The Pressure To Conform
Take a look at the people you graduated high school with. What are they all doing now?
The vast majority of them will be doing the same low-level jobs and starting families. For some of them, this is what they want and what makes them happy.
However, you’re not like them. It’s difficult to get ahead when you feel as though you stand out like a sore thumb.
When you don’t feel like you belong, you want to blend back in with the crowd. It’s easy to give up on your goals if you feel you’re being singled out.
The pressure to conform is an example of one of the obstacles in life you need to overcome.
If you don’t feel comfortable in the social circles you’re in now, then you’ll need to find new circles. Look for people who have similar goals to you.
When they have similar goals, you’ll see that they help each other. You can be part of a community that works for you; you just have to find it.
4. Being Outside Your Comfort Zone
This is something every entrepreneur needs to deal with. When they’re just starting, they have no idea what’s going to happen.
They may succeed, meeting their goals and starting to build their wealth quickly. On the other hand, they may fail, even through no fault of their own.
It’s the fear of failure that often holds people back. They don’t want to put all that work and potentially money in, only to see it go down the tubes.
If you want to succeed, though, you need to step outside your comfort zone. If you don’t, you’ll never be able to grow as a person or as a business owner.
Taking those risks is vital. If you fail, it’s not something to be ashamed of.
Instead, you can dust yourself off and learn from your mistakes. You’ll take those lessons into your next venture, and you’ll be more likely to succeed.
5. Not Having Enough Cash
Well, of course. Not having enough cash is a barrier to you making big money later down the road.
As the saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. When you don’t have a lot of cash to start with, though, that’s hard to do.
If you’re struggling with start-up cash, then there are things you can do. Firstly, go through your budget and be ruthless.
Is there anything there that can be cut out to save that money? The classic example is take-out coffee, but it could be anything.
Maybe you can cut back on trips to the movie theater, the odd fast food meal, or buying the latest games as soon as they come out. If you can do that, you can start setting money aside.
There’s also the option to take up side hustles too. Do you have a skill you can turn into cash?
You can sell graphic designs online, walk other peoples’ dogs, even advertise on your car. Whatever you can do, use that cash to achieve your dreams.
6. Overthinking
It’s good to have some caution when planning. You want to examine every possible angle and determine what could happen next.
For some people, though, they get caught up on that step. They spend too long thinking about it, and they get caught up in all the problems that could arise.
When this happens, it’s way too hard to pull the trigger. You spend too long worrying, and then nothing gets done.
It’s important to plan, but it’s also important to make that first step. Remember, you’ll never make any progress if you keep overthinking it.
7. Global Financial Issues
There are certainly plenty of issues that are standing in the way of you and your financial goals. It’s hard to make progress when you’re so weighed down by them.
For example, 76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and one in three of them won’t have enough money to retire. Right now, you could be in that group.
When you’re already struggling with money, it’s hard to see a future. You think you’ll be stuck forever, and things won’t get better.
You need to remember that nothing lasts forever, not even this. Your future is in your hands, and you can work yourself up to a better financial future.
8. Lack Of Vision
If you ask most people, they’ll say that they would love to have more money. If you press them further, though, they can’t really tell you why.
They may say they want to have a big mansion or fancy cars, but that’s not enough of a vision to spur them on. They simply dream about having the cash without making it happen.
There needs to be a reason you want to start making more money. For example, if you have a family, maybe you’re considering how you’ll provide for them.
Saying “I want to make a million” isn’t enough. You need to have a goal in mind.
In this case, your goal will be ‘I want to make a million, so I can secure my family’s future.’
With that vision, you have something concrete that you can work towards.
9. The Scarcity Mindset
Have you ever felt as though there just isn’t enough to go around in the world? If so, this could be what’s stopping you from making money.
The scarcity mindset is a textbook example of obstacles in life to overcome.
If you find yourself doing this, you’ll need to change up your mindset. Many recommend trying to approach it from the ‘abundance’ point of view.
In this case, you’ll see that there really is enough for everyone; you just need to work to claim your fair share. Your successes will then be independent of the world at large.
If you think like this, you’ll always have enough because you’ll always have yourself. It makes it a lot easier to succeed, as you’re not setting yourself up to fail.
10. Trying To Live Up To Others Expectations
This is something that trips up so many people out there. They want to get started building their wealth, but they don’t succeed as they’re trying to meet the expectations of others. You need to overcome these types of obstacles in life.
This is especially true if you’re trying to meet family expectations. You have parents or other family members who want you to meet certain requirements, making everything a lot harder.
They may get upset at you for making changes in your life or going against the grain. It’s hard to hear this from anyone, especially people you love.
When this happens, it’s important you remember what you need. Make it clear to them that being held back is hurting you.
They have to remember that if they support you, you’ll be the one to take care of them. When you reach your goals, you’ll remember who had your back.
11. Fear Of Debt
On a personal level, it makes a lot of sense to be afraid of debt. You don’t want to get yourself into debt without a way of being able to pay it off.
You’re used to the ‘consumer debt’ model, where people use debt to lose money. It’s used to buy items or services that they couldn’t otherwise afford.
However, if debt is used correctly, you needn’t fear it. Instead, it can actually help you make money.
For example, if you want to buy a house to rent it out, you’ll take out a mortgage to pay for it. You’ll initially use the return on your investment, in this case, the rent payments, to pay back that mortgage.
The important thing to do is ask yourself, will you make money from this debt? If not, think carefully about whether you want to enter into it.
12. Lack Of Financial Education
It’s true that schools often don’t teach students basic financial lessons. Students are sent out into the world without a basic understanding of how money works.
Now that you’re an adult on your own, many don’t want to put in the time to learn. After all, you’re done with school now.
Not putting in that time means you can’t make good money, as things change all the time. This is a roadblock you place in front of yourself.
You need to put the time in and really learn how your money works to achieve your goals.
13. A Lack Of Discipline
Finally, many people out there want to make money but lack the discipline to make it happen.
It’s hard to have discipline when you don’t see the years of work successful people put in behind the scenes. These people didn’t make their money overnight, but it looks like they did.
You have to get yourself out of that mindset and start working. Start taking the first steps now, and you’ll be on your journey.
These are some of the obstacles in life you’ll face if you want to start making big money. It’s hard to face them down, but you can do it.
Start putting the work in now, and you’ll see those results sooner than you’d think.
