If you’ve been following my tweets lately, you might have noticed that I’ve been practicing in Bukit Kiara for the upcoming KL Marathon. Bukit Kiara is in fact quite a popular hangout place for runners and mountain bikers. It’s one of the very few green lungs left in Klang Valley, without having to drive too far out.

If you have been to the Bukit Kiara’s jog trail, you would realize that the track is rather challenging. The uphill sections can be quite a tough stretch and so steep that you might have to ‘walk it out’ if you haven’t been practicing regularly.

So, each time I encounter the uphill stretches, I would be forced to take smaller paces and gear down to a slower speed to ‘conquer’ the slopes. Just a few days back, I tried another technique which allows me to maintain my speed and pace- by running zig-zag up the slope. Although this technique lengthen the distance needed to cover the slope, it somehow allowed me to better pace myself and reduce the strain on the leg muscles. And it’s also at that point that I realize how similar this technique is to the way we approach the goals we set in other aspects of our lives.

When we’ve decided on a challenging goal that don’t seem so achievable, we can in fact tackle it by going around the obstacle, cutting it down to smaller goals and solving these smaller goals step by step. This not only help us to take positive action towards our goal it also help us to build the momentum to tackle the bigger challenges later on. ‘Going around’ can be easily mistaken as ’sidetracking’ the goal, as the latter would mean the actions we take brings us farther away from our goals, a distraction of sort.

So, the next time you’re faced with an insurmountable obstacle, do not be paralyzed by its intimidating pressure. By using some analytical skills, experience and a little imagination to break down the obstacle, you might be surprised at what seems to be a cul de sac could simply be turned into an opportunity.

To quote Henry Ford, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

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