When we don’t succeed at something, we sometimes invent excuses for why it didn’t happen. One of the most common is blaming someone else: someone held us back, sabotaged us, or failed to do the work for us.

Sometimes people really do, intentionally or unintentionally, get in our way. But it’s also true that sometimes there are obstacles that come from within.

We get in our own way when we’re:

• Afraid—of failure, success, or judgment
• Unwilling—to do the work or to persist when things get difficult

And some limitations aren’t created by people at all. Nature, circumstances, and reality impose boundaries we’re not always able to cross. We’re capable of more than we realize, but it isn’t true that we can do anything we set our minds to. Some limits are real.

Meaningful goals will test us. That’s why it starts with honesty: honesty about what we want, what we’re capable of, and what we’re willing to endure.