Good post. Time management is the one that a lot of people, including myself can sometimes have trouble with. When trying to reach a goal, time management is absolutely essential.

I was reading through your ’story’ and noticed that you said that debt is good…Wrong! Debt is a tool that companies use against us to keep us poor and in financial distress. You said that your income far exceeds your monthly spending. You also said that you are using your extra money to invest while paying off your debt. Why not stop the investing until you get your debt payed off. I have $67,000.00 in debt and am on a plan to get it payed off in just over 2 years! If you really want to know how to get rid of debt and build wealth for your future, go to http://www.daveramsey.com and learn about his plan.

once you have payed off all of your debt, you can quit your ‘main’ job and focus on your side jobs!

thanks,

Ben Strand

I have to say, I scorned a little when I read “Inadequate side business income” as an obstacle. No offense intended, it is just difficult for me relate to that as a major obstacle, even though it may very well be an obstacle for you.
Still, good post, I like how you point to concrete ways you are trying to overcome these.

Oh and my obstacle is time management/self discipline. I may try your little notebook idea, but really I just need to focus

I think the obstacle for almost any type of goal is usually fear. The fear can manifest itself in many ways, but that’s usually the base emotion. I think a lot of people (myself included) struggle with the idea that our current ’side income’ won’t be enough to sustain our lifestyles, but what’s really driving that is a fear of having less. I know that if I made less but was happier with what I was doing my life would be better. It’s just very hard to overcome the fear of giving up that many options and that much control. Fear of debt, fear of lack of money, fear of disapproval, and on and on. Even a lack of time, which might not seem to be from fear, stems primarily from a fear to step away from time-wasting activities (as per the 80/20 rule).

Anyone who has clarity of vision, enough emotional and physical strength to see themselves through to their goals, and a lack of indecisiveness born from fear is probably going to come out alright in the end. Anyone can do it, but it requires focus and discipline and fearlessness.

Obstacle 1 by Interpol.

On a more (or less?) related note, I spend too much time thinking about things, as opposed to doing them.

When I do strategic wealth coaching with my clients, time is frequently a person’s biggest obstacle to wealth. I find that the better team someone has in place and the better systems they have to manage these people, the more time the have both for business and personal activities.

For example, I personally do a lot of real estate investing besides running a sizeable accounting firm. If it were not for my team of real estate agents, mortgage brokers and property managers, I would never have time for anything other than business and investments.

Tom Wheelwright

Wow, it would scare me if I couldn’t see my neighbors.

Would you consider high expectations an obstacle? Off the bat, of course not, but if you consider: you’d like to stay home with your baby, but you also want to have x dollars in the bank 14 years from now. If you adjusted that dollar/time goal you might find that you have everything you need already to do what you want with your time.

Money is important and so are many other things, and we only have a certain amount of time in our lives. I think it’s important to really look at the goals we set and the consequences meeting those goals will have.

Fortunately I think the YMoYL series will speak to this!

Perhaps spending too much time reading blogs is my obstacle?

No really, my obstacle is actually not taking time away. Since both husband and I work from home, we often work all the time. Since there’s not clear definition between “home” and “work” it’s difficult to not just keep working to get more done instead of taking some time to unwind. We often find ourselves still in the office at 11pm trying to get a few more things finished up. But when you own your own business you know income is not guaranteed so you pretty much take whatever comes along. We’re doing better at this. Next year we’ve set limits on the number of certain projects we’ll take on.

Time management and procrastination are definitely my obstacles (now that I have a job again - that obstacle has been overcome.) I find myself resentful sometimes of having to manage my time as sometimes I just like to flow with the day and not have to do lists, I find that very relaxing.

Trent, I don’t know what your company is like (your full-time job one) but sometimes when you tell someone you are going to quit because you need more flexibility with your schedule and less hours - if they really like you they will accomodate that need rather than loose you completely. I know a few people that has happened to.

Time management and procrastination are definitely my obstacles (now that I have a job again - that obstacle has been overcome.) I find myself resentful sometimes of having to manage my time as sometimes I just like to flow with the day and not have to do lists, I find that very relaxing.

Trent, I don’t know what your company is like (your full-time job one) but sometimes when you tell someone you are going to quit because you need more flexibility with your schedule and less hours - if they really like you they will accomodate that need rather than loose you completely. I know a few people that has happened to.

Also, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and let go of one income stream, thus freeing up the time and focus for the other streams to make more money. If your intention is strong, then it will usually work out, that’s been my experience anyway.

My obstical is my significant other.
He refuses to work on a budgeting plan etc. He just wants to spend his money as he pleases, and does not feel as if we need to be “partners” in our “business” (just plain life, not an actual business). This makes it hard to even have a common goal let alone acheive it.

My obstacles are lack of control. I have no control on my salary increase which most people would say i normal however mine is not based on performance or grades or anything. There is a board that decides and they just decide on no criteria. My job also is such that It is very hard to have a side job. I have started a blog hoping that will help. But my major obstacle is just no way to create income as of yet.

obstacles are:

lack of time (management) - i am saddled with a lot of commitments, and too often i procastinate on my important tasks

easily distracted - the reason for the first obstacle; i like doing a lot of things all at once, and i often end up not finishing what i started

math-phobe. i honestly do not like (hate, abhor, loathe) math, numbers or computations. they are a necessary evil though. and i often switch numbers…is there such a thing as being dyslexic with figures?

lack of experience.

@rita: Yes, there is such a disorder that is similar to dyslexia for numbers, called dyscalculia.

Time management is what really stood in my way. I started out with GTD and then modified it to suit my needs. I’m now running a successful fitness blog, working a full time job and still managing to spend quality time with my wife, family and friends.

Gal

Great post! It’s like you read my mind…
Thanks for the great ideas. I’ll try them out. I dislike sacrificing sleep!

I could have written this article. I to am starting a side business as well as a full time job. I eventually would like the new business to be my primary focus. My debt seems to be my biggest obstacle and I am systematically working of ridding myself of it. If I did not have credit card and student loan debt I would be doing well. One thing I have done recently is take all my credit cards to one with a lower interest rate. I am making the same payment as I did before so I am seeing be debt reduce each month. I also did not activate the new card, I just placed in a secure area. This way I am not tempted to use it at all.

Great post. My biggest obstacle is lack of self discipline. I spend a lot of time planning and not enough time doing.