The is the story about how the sea captain gets through the storm. He persevere by keeping his eye on the horizon. In that parable, the storm is all of the obstacles we might face and the horizon is his goal or desired destination. It speaks to the way we get through the 
obstacles of our work, relationships or just everyday life. It illuminates the critical importance of knowing where we are going…or the dreaded goals. Goals serve as the GPS for your life. If you don’t know what they are how do you know where you are going, what questions to ask, what decisions to make, how to prioritize activities, what obstacles to fight through. Just as your GPS, you may take a detour but your internal GPS will reroute you back on course.
I have read 2 really good books with this theme recently. Both were very enjoyable reading, light, with many AH HA moments. One was THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY by Ryan Holiday. It illustrated that by making mistakes, meeting dead ends and facing obstacles you grow your internal perseverance muscle. By doing things wrong many times you learn how to do it right. The fight THROUGH the obstacle propels the individual into a higher level of functioning. Life is supposed to be tough. You need to look at the obstacle in a new perspective and know that there is always good that comes out of the bad. Failure shows us the way by showing us what isn’t the way.
Girl Wash You Face by Rachel Hollis is divided into 20 chapters each dealing with a lie women tell themselves. It is another approach to understanding why bad things happen to good people. As she points out,- life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you. Life is a lifelong education. We see things not as they are but as who we are. Are there times that you just can’t handle the simplest setback; usually because you are overtired or hungry? You handle it not as it is but how you are feeling at that particular moment or time in your life. What the new Mom sees as a catastrophic, the Grandmother sees with humor…perspective. This book put emphasis on working on yourself FIRST to be better for those around you. Whether it is getting enough sleep or getting professional help, obstacles will appear worse if you are not emotionally and spiritually ready for them.
Ultimately, I believe that it is much easier to get through an obstacle if you KNOW and keep your eye on the prize. It will help you to “Float above” setbacks, disappointments, detours, detractors, roadblocks and temporary failures and mistakes. Goal setting has always been part of my DNA. I find that it relieves a lot of my stress and when I have to make a decision or tackle a problem they act as my compass. I know where I want to be in 5 years, 1 year, 3 months and in 10 days. Your huge audacious goals needs to be broken down into smaller pieces. Goals don’t scare me and they shouldn’t scare you. In the end, whether the dreams come true isn’t the point it’s who you become while on the journey and how you steer your ship in a clear direction towards that horizon..