Recently, I was offered an opportunity that many coaches would dream about.

A scholarship to join an elite coaching circle and be mentored by one of the most successful coaches in the business today.

My first reaction?

“This could be it.”

This could be the key.

How could I possibly turn down an opportunity like that?

For a moment, my mind was already racing ahead. I could imagine what this mentorship might do for my business, my writing, and my future. I found myself quietly placing enormous importance on something outside of me.

I was also looking at the barriers, the time, my personal commitments, retirement plans, yada, yada, yada. (Snowglobe shaking)

Then I did something unusual.

I slept on it.

And when I woke up the next morning, a thought arrived that changed everything.

The mentorship wouldn’t have done anything for me if I’d believed it was the key.

The key wasn’t out there.

The key was never out there.

The key was me.

Not because I needed fixing.

Not because I was somehow broken.

But because no amount of outside help can substitute for how we show up.

That insight led me to an uncomfortable question.

What do you call someone who continually puts roadblocks in front of your dreams?

Someone who talks themselves out of taking chances.

Someone who waits for perfect conditions.

Someone who believes success is always just one more course, one more relationship, one more promotion, or one more breakthrough away.

Most of us would probably have a few colourful words for that person.

Now imagine looking in the mirror.

Awkward, isn’t it?

But here’s where we need to be careful.

This isn’t about blame.

Because there are two ways to hear this.

One is depressing.

“I’m the problem.”

The other is exciting.

“I’m no longer waiting for the problem to change.”

Those are two very different thinkiverses.

As long as we believe the obstacle is outside of us, we wait.
As long as we believe the obstacle is us, we struggle.

But what if both are misunderstandings?

What if the obstacle itself doesn’t actually exist?

What if the barriers keeping us from a better marriage, a better career, or a better life are not permanent structures at all, but temporary realities built out of fear, doubt, insecurity, and innocent misunderstandings?

Perhaps the person in the mirror was never the obstacle.

Perhaps they simply believed there was one.

This doesn’t mean results are guaranteed.

Life doesn’t hand out guarantees.

Results are never completely up to us.

But how do we show up?

That’s another story.

Whether we write the book.

Make the phone call.

Have the conversation.

Apply for the position.

Take the chance.

Love again.

Forgive again.

Begin again.

Those things are available to us long before we know the outcome.

Maybe that is what courage really is.

Not controlling the results.

But refusing to wait for life to give us permission to live.

I have noticed something over the years.

People often spend their lives trying to remove obstacles. I certainly did.

Trying to fix myself.

Trying to conquer fear.

Trying to manage insecurity.

Trying to become worthy.

Yet sometimes the greatest breakthroughs happen when we stop fighting altogether and simply see something new.

Maybe there is no mountain to climb.

Maybe there is no enemy to defeat.

Maybe there is no missing piece.

Maybe the biggest obstacle in your life doesn’t exist.

And if that’s true, perhaps the question isn’t:

“What’s standing in my way?”

Perhaps the better question is:

“What would I do today if I stopped believing something was?”

That question might just get us off the couch.

And it might lead us to discover that the person staring back from the mirror was never the problem.

They were simply waiting to remember who they already are.

Much Love,