Identify Your Hurdles!

The second step of Ray Dalio’s 5 step process for getting what you want is identify and don’t tolerate the problems that stand in the way of your achieving those goals.

It can’t be said enough – this is REALLY hard! Being able to identify our own weaknesses and bring them to the surface. Weaknesses are not pleasant. They highlight areas within us that are uncomfortable at best, and at times can be downright painful.

But I think the most successful people see their weaknesses differently than the rest of us. They don’t respond with pain. They appreciate when they uncover a weakness that’s getting in the way of their goals, because it’s a necessary step. They change the paradigm, and therefore remove the pain that can get in the way of their progress. When the pain of our own weaknesses are removed, we’re more likely to confront them and design ways around them.

I also think it’s worthwhile to not jump ahead. Though this can sometimes be less fun, we should really not rush this step. You, like me, have more than one weakness, and more than one problem. If you rush too quickly, you may miss something that’s a bigger barrier than the first thing you’ve discovered. Take your time!

In our next blog we will be talking about the importance of accurately diagnosing problems to get at their root causes, stay tuned!