Turning Obstacles to Opportunities

What man became great without encountering any obstacles on their way. The famous Martin Luther King Jnr faced obstacles. King faced many obstacles while on his mission for equality. He was arrested over twenty times for protesting. He was the object of several violent attacks, both to his person and his property. He received threatening phone calls, his home was bombed and set afire, and he was even stabbed. While Albert Einstein was trying to convince physicists that light could bend, he arrived at a point where he faced several challenges as people thought he was going crazy. He had to divorce his wife, and lose his children. He was also alone in his theoretical work, but only he remained convinced that his work was right. When you look deeply into the life of any great man/woman you see, it's made up of various challenges which they overcame and turned into an opportunity.

Our definition of a situation as an obstacle or an opportunity depends on how we choose to perceive that situation. Obstacles appear in the first place because we have a course to pursue, a goal to achieve and a dream to fulfill. If there's no future ahead, obstacles won't be on our way. If you desire like me to be great, you have to look beyond the physical appearance of a challenge or obstacle and see further ahead of that obstacle. You need to know that "when there's no seed of greatness in you, the enemy won't bother you in anyway". This means that if you face challenges, it's because there's something about you that is being contended for. This seed in you, you have to do all within your power to protect and preserve. To turn obstacles to opportunities, 

1) Focus on your strength

There's something about you that is distinct and peculiar to you. There's something you find easy to do which others have great difficulty doing it like you do. You have an advantage at something over others. That's your strength. 

Take time to find out your strengths and build on it to achieve greatness. Let your focus be on your strengths and not your weakness. That way you are able to do more and attain a higher level of growth in your endeavour and as a person.

2) Manage your Expectations

We have different level of expectations in life towards one thing or another. To turn obstacles to opportunities,  we have to learn to build our expectations with the understanding that we are not perfect. In fact nobody is perfect except God. We should not over Labour ourselves trying to be perfect, it might just get you frustrated. Manage your expectations and let it be in tandem with what your strength can carry and control. 

3) Accept obstacles are normal

Obstacles are bound to occur at one or various phases of life. To keep moving on, we have to accept obstacles as normal occurrences. They help us become stronger and cause us to grow and also be of help to others. When you accept obstacles as a normal thing, it puts you in a position where people can also consult you for your advice and opinion because you've been able to overcome a situation which they are currently faced with. It gives you the opportunity to share your thoughts of matters you've succeeded in and how you became victorious.

4) You have to be Patient.

The ability to over come obstacles teaches us to be patient. Obstacles tend to slow down our progress at some point. It gives us the opportunity to sit down and re strategize and maybe develop a new plan. So when you stop a project or a plan ensure your break is not the end of that project but a rest to gain the strength to keep going till you succeed. Ultimately you need to be patient inorder to transcend your obstacles to opportunities. 

5) Possess the Right Perception and Mindset.

To turn your obstacles to opportunities,  you are to have the right perception and mindset. And a positive mindset is what overcomes and wins all the time. Positive thinking is a mental and emotional attitude that focuses on the bright side of life and expects positive results.” Having a positive mindset means making positive thinking a habit, continually searching for the silver lining and making the best out of any situation you find yourself in. To do this, start your day on a positive note, be around positive people, maintain a lifestyle of gratitude, focus on the good things, open yourself up to humour and speak positivity to yourself and your situation. Always see obstacles from a positive angle.

6) Eliminate Fear and Anxiety.

Fear and anxiety on its own is an obstacle. Always remember that you have all it takes to achieve whatever SMART goal you have set for yourself. Anxiety comes when we don't trust ourselves nor God to help us and see us through our challenges in life. When you begin to trust God and understand that He's in total control of all things and therefore won't allow us to be put to shame nor forsaken, we'll see Him come through for us. Allowing fear and anxiety overtake our mind and thoughts is already the beginning of our failure in life. Fear cripples you and makes you feel and believe you are unable to do anything, it encourages laziness. Fear and anxiety keeps you from fulfilling the destiny that God has on your life; from living a joyful, spirit led existence where you give to others out of the overflow of love in your life. ... It will keep you awake with nightmares eventually resulting in illness.

7) Have a Growth Mindset.

I like to say that bstacles encourage growth because for any person who became great in this world, they overcame a whole lot of obstacles. Obstacles come in different forms and exist in every area of life. For an athlete, the Obstacles are the opponents which they have to over come by out running inorder to become winners. In business, Obstacles are competitors whom you have to deal with at different levels to come out as one of the best. In politics, Obstacles are the members of the opposing parties who have to be overcome to come out as a President of a governor or any other political post. In fact overcoming Obstacles is what brings us to our next level in life. Passing an examination is what qualifies you to come into a higher class. In essence, Obstacles are stepping stones to growth. So do you desire to grow, be ready to overcome the hurdles on the way to your prize.

8) Confess Positively.

This also relates to having a positive mindset. In the Bible, there came a time after they were delivered from the oppression of the Egyptians that the Israelites began to murmur and grumble and said that God would have allowed them to remain and die in Egypt and in Numbers 14:28 says

"Tell them, As I live, says the Lord, what you have said in My hearing I will do to you". The Lord did as he said above as recorded in Numbers 14:36-37, "And the men whom Moses sent to search the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble and complain against him by bringing back a slanderous report of the land,

Even those men who brought the evil report of the land died by a plague before the Lord."

This let's us know that what we say eaves into the ear of the Lord and He performs our words. If Adam could name the creatures and they bore the name they were given at that time, it means our words have power and become life. 

So speak and confess positively and the result will always show in due time. Never let negative words come out of your mouth. Dare to be positive no matter what.