This is a wonderful yet crazy world we live in.

We live in a time of incredible opportunities, limitless access to ideas, and convenience all around us.

It’s also a time with a lack of security, constant and rapid change, and seemingly unavoidable distractions pulling us in multiple directions at all times.

So within this paradoxical storm it’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing or feeling a wall of barriers in front of you, blocking your path to your ultimate success and fulfilment.

However, the reality is there is one factor that rises above all others that prevents you from getting all you desire.

This one factor is the single biggest factor that prevents your progress.

This one factor erodes your confidence and creates paralysing procrastination and frustration, making your dreams seem painfully further away than before.

This factor alone increasingly causes more and more people to ‘play small’ in their life and end up looking back with regret and disappointment – in themselves.

The single biggest factor stopping you is you’re not doing what you really want to do

I don’t just mean the big picture of you not doing the job or work that you’re really passionate about. For many people that is a big part of it but mostly – and most painfully – this shows up on a daily basis in the little things: not following through on your promise to yourself to get to the gym in the morning, not spending needless hours on your computer or email rather than enjoying time with family, not facing the uncomfortable feelings and having the necessary conversation with your boss.

When you consistently fail to act on your thoughts of what you want to do it’s like digging a deeper and deeper hole that becomes too overwhelming to climb out of.

Yet at the same time, when you face this issue head on, when you get really honest with yourself, you’ll realise it’s not as scary as you make it out to be.

You will experience a rush of renewed enthusiasm with just a little bit of action against this.

You will accelerate your learning and be able to quickly adjust your approach to achieve your results faster.

And, perhaps most importantly you will feel more pride in yourself, more belief in your abilities, and an expansion in your internal drive to do more and more.

So when is now a good time to start doing that thing that you really, really want to?

Start with just one thing in your life. Pick one area, one topic that is driving you crazy with frustration or annoyance in yourself. You’ve wasted enough time getting emotionally twisted inside, it’s time to unravel that feeling and get back to your best self.

You have two choices on how to approach this:

Block off all the time you need to blitz it and get in all done in one fell swoop.

Or commit yourself to at least one action everyday for the next 5 days. Then you can re-evaluate the issue at that point and remap your strategy to get it done.

But also remember this: you really, really want to do this. So don’t make it feel like a heavy chore or burdensome work. Come from a place of joy, enthusiasm, creativity, fun, gratitude or whatever place will best serve you.

Remind yourself that you ARE doing what you want to do. Remind yourself of the greater good this is doing for you and for those affected by you.

Make yourself feel good in the process and you’ll feel great when it’s done.

If it’s not something that will be ‘completed’ but is an ongoing habit for you (e.g. exercising regularly, reading more books, spending quality time with your partner) then make sure you start to consistently reinforce the pleasure you get from doing it.

Take note of how you feel before, after and during this process.

By following these suggestions not only will you make progress on this one area in your life, but you will build momentum to keep going and ultimately be living life as you really want to.

Please leave a comment and share how this factor has stopped you and what you’ve done to break through that barrier. Big or small we’d like to know, and your fellow readers will appreciate your input.