Juanpablo Barrantes Leader’s approach (5 min read) There’s a shocking truth in life. It all depends on you, and just you, on the level of meaning you will reach in life no matter your circumstances. For me, it mainly takes self-consciousness, in other words, you just have to be fully aware of your own situation in life, even if such reality is too far from the pinnacle level you’re dreaming of lately. And that’s indeed another key aspect to thrive and look for continued success in life: you need a dream. So at this point, by being fully aware of your current reality, you set a starting point to initiate a long journey and look for a final destination which is what you’ve dreaming for you and your closest ones. Self-awareness to seize your starting point. Make a dream to set a final destination, your pinnacle level. Sounds easy, it should be... Knowing your actual situation in life might be easy, and even much easier to dream on your future. What’s in the middle is the hardest and painful thing! This is precisely the reason too many people may find themselves stuck in life: either they still haven’t examined their starting-point-and-dream paradox or even when they’ve already did it, they’re just unable to make the whole long and hard journey towards their life’s top aspiration. So why too many people are not able to follow through on this journey to fulfillment? I have found and reflected on three main blockers which drive to failure many of your most good intentions over the quest for personal success. Blocker I: Shortcuts There are no shortcuts for continued success in life. Unfortunately, we live in a world that praises shortcuts for almost everything: loose weight instantly with no exercise, become rich by filling internet surveys, join multilevel pyramid-selling programs and quit your job, ... A shortcut biased mindset will eventually become one of your reasons for throwing the towel when in the middle of the road to success. Instead, practice hard work, be relentlessly disciplined and show patience while not being there. Blocker II: Distractions Have you ever felt over exhausted? Think again, you might not be stressed out, instead you’re mostly distracted. Because we’re living in a world full of distractions, it’s so easy and tempting to get blurred by those things you think you need, when in reality those things will only widen the gap that separates you from real meaning. Distractions are promoted by bright but cynical minds to make people highly dependent to something that is really easy to get in, but way difficult to get out. A typical distraction mainly aims for making anyone dependent to a system: credit cards, any kind of drugs, your smartphone and social media, ... A distracted mindset will hardly reach true meaning, it’s like being lost in the forest while walking in circles! Blocker III: Lack of Perspective What does it take to seize and realize the most convenient path for your life? My opinion is, it takes perspective. In other words, the skill of perspective leads to a well balanced mix of reasoning and intuition for making the right choices in your life. Both are relevant, heart and mind in similar proportions. It doesn’t work just one at a time, or one in a greater proportion than the other. It’s tricky, when reflecting on your past choices and how they’ve taken where you are right now, ask yourself if those choices are really aligned to your aspirations. You will know if something is going wrong because of your intuition, your heart and soul will whisper to your inner-self —“hey, stop and correct the course!”—. You just have to learn listening your inner-self. And change or readapt your perspective to your actual and future life’s choices. Let me finish my thoughts with a powerful quote of a great man who started his life with almost nothing, and despite many difficulties he thrived and reached greatness. —“If you have a great dream, you have to be more than willing to give the greatest exertion out of you, because only a great person will reach greatness and fulfillment in life”—Facundo Cabral. By Juanpablo Barrantes www.jpbarrantes1973.wixsite.com/leadersapproach