Navigating the Roadblocks to Success
Success is rarely a linear journey. For many entrepreneurs, leaders, and organizations, the path is filled with obstacles, self-doubt, and periods of stagnation. Whether you're battling a lack of motivation, struggling to implement change, or feeling disconnected from your true potential, these roadblocks can slow down progress and derail your vision. But overcoming these challenges doesn't have to be a solo effort.
Business coaching offers a powerful support system that guides clients through resistance, fosters transformative change, and helps clients discover what true growth means for them and their business. Let’s explore how business coaching can be a game changer—helping people expand, break through barriers, build confidence, and redefine success on their own terms.
What is Coaching?
So, what is coaching? According to the International Coaching Federation (ICF)—the world’s largest and most respected association of professional coaches—coaching is “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” This process helps clients deepen self-awareness, clarify their goals, and establish actionable habits that drive them forward.
Coaching involves helping clients progress in their lives, but there are two key elements to focus on: success and obstacles.
Success is where clients want to go. To get there, they first need to define their vision of success clearly. Once that clarity is achieved, clients can ensure the steps they take are aligned with their goals.
Obstacles, on the other hand, are the barriers that hinder progress. These obstacles can manifest in many forms—resistance to change, fear, doubt, limiting beliefs, assumptions, and societal pressures—and they often hold us back from achieving what we want. Understanding how to address these challenges is where coaching becomes invaluable.
But how does business coaching help clarify success and overcome obstacles? Let’s dive in.
The Power of Change: Embracing the Uncomfortable
At the heart of coaching lies change. Coaching bridges the gap between your current trajectory and your goals, guiding you through the discomfort that often accompanies transformation.
Change can be uncomfortable because it brings us face-to-face with the unknown. It’s been said that people don’t really resist change—they resist the potential loss that change might bring, whether that’s fear of failure, pain, or the uncertainty of what lies ahead. This is a natural reaction, as our brains are wired to avoid discomfort.
But here’s the thing: change is essential for growth, and the more you experience it, the easier it becomes to navigate. Business coaches are trained to help you manage discomfort, providing tools and support as you move through change.
Coaching moment:
Let’s consider the concept of a growth mindset. A person with a growth mindset believes that intelligence, skills, and talents can be developed through effort and learning. In contrast, someone with a fixed mindset sees these qualities as fixed and unchangeable.
For instance, imagine someone struggles to manage their emotions—specifically anger—in the workplace. If they view their anger as an inherent part of who they are (a fixed mindset), they may feel powerless to change. But if they adopt a growth mindset, they can learn strategies to regulate their emotions and improve their behavior, creating a healthier work environment. This is just one example of how coaching can help shift perspectives, offer tools to navigate change, and open up possibilities for personal and professional growth.
The Fear of Starting: Overcoming the Resistance to Coaching
Starting something new is often the hardest part of any journey—even when it comes to coaching. Many potential clients hesitate because of fear of vulnerability, fear of failure, or a lack of trust in the coaching process. These concerns are completely understandable. In fact, it is often advantageous for the client to have some sort of an obstacle before coaching in order for them to commit to the process.
The power of coaching lies in the client's commitment to the process. It’s not about what the coach provides, but about the willingness of the client to engage fully with the process and take action. When a client is ready for transformation, coaching can unlock their potential in ways they never thought possible.
Coaching Moment:
One coach I admire put it simply: "No one needs coaching." This might sound counterintuitive, but stay with me. People who seek coaching are often already successful in many ways. Coaching isn’t about "fixing" something that’s broken—like seeing a doctor for an illness. Instead, coaching is about unlocking potential.
So, the real question is: Do you want coaching? This question shifts the focus from "What do I need to achieve my goals?" to "I already have everything I need, but I want a coach to help me reach my full potential." When you’re ready, coaching helps guide you to the next level.
Managing the Unknown
One obstacle that many professionals face is dealing with the discomfort of the unknown. Some people have difficulty with the ambiguity of pursuing goals and unlocking potential. Others settle for mediocrity over chasing their dreams. And then there are those that have a strong fear of failure. With each of these obstacles, many people often choose the familiar, even if it limits their growth. Coaching is designed to guide you through this uncertainty.
The future can feel ambiguous, and certainty is something that our brains naturally seek. What is great about this, is that coaching itself is designed to help with this. Coaches bring curiosity, listening, and belief in the client’s expertise to the process. Partnering with a coach gives clients the support to strategically move forward, assess progress, and recalibrate as needed. No goal is ever “final” because growth is continuous. Failure is never the end—it’s just another learning opportunity on the road to success. They are all just steps on a pathway that each client gets to pave with their creativity and hard work.
Coaching Moment:
A professional might inquire about coaching because they want to see more success in their business. But they might feel resistant to coaching because they aren’t sure if coaching will help with that goal. The real problem in that scenario is not how can the client make sure that coaching will help them in their goal. The problem is the goal itself.
A coach will help a client realize that the goal of “more success in their business” is too vague of a goal to create real change. A coach will help clarify that goal, turning it into something SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-sensitive. This way, the client can focus on clear, actionable steps that lead to tangible results.
The Danger of Assumptions: Breaking Through Limiting Beliefs
One of the most powerful obstacles coaching helps clients overcome is the trap of assumptions. These invisible beliefs can often limit potential without us even realizing it. Most of the time we act on assumptions that we either think are the bedrock of truth or maybe they are assumptions that we had no idea existed. You see, the tricky power behind assumptions that make them so hard to tackle is actually the same thing that gives you magic to move beyond them, you just have to know what you are looking for.
Assumptions are things that we accept as true…with no proof. So, if we can assume one thing that might be leading us to failure or stagnation, then what is keeping us from believing the exact opposite? We don’t need any proof either way. The key will be to highlight what the assumption is and how to move forward. A coach can assist in that process.
Coaching Moment:
Let’s say you're tasked with assembling something complicated—a piece of furniture, a new product, or even starting a business. If you assume that you're bad at this task, your mind is already primed to encounter failure, and you'll likely quit at the first sign of difficulty. But if you assume that you’ll figure it out, you’re more likely to persevere, learning and adapting along the way. Coaching helps you uncover these assumptions and challenge them, empowering you to move forward with confidence.
Defining True Success: Beyond Cultural Norms and Expectations
Many clients face the challenge of distinguishing their own vision of success from societal expectations. Success in our culture is often defined by:
Money.
Power.
Status.
Certain physical attributes.
(You fill in the blank)
But true success is about aligning with your own values, purpose, and vision for the future.
Through coaching, clients clarify their personal definitions of success as well as plan their actions and pathways outside of the world of “shoulds.” Coaching helps you tune out external noise and define success on your own terms. It’s about ensuring your journey is aligned with what truly matters to you—not what others expect.
Coaching Moment:
Sometimes clients might set goals that they think they “should” be doing.
Go to the gym.
Create a timeblock.
Wake up earlier.
But if these goals aren’t rooted in what truly motivates them, they’re unlikely to be sustainable. It is easy for people to get caught in a cycle that leads to frustration and shame that can sabotage their future work. A coach helps you clarify what you truly want to achieve and crafts an actionable plan that brings your vision to life.
Embracing Obstacles in Coaching
The road to success is rarely free from obstacles, but with coaching, those roadblocks can become stepping stones toward greater achievement. Business coaching empowers you to navigate resistance, embrace change, and redefine success based on your unique goals. By harnessing self-awareness, accountability, and strategic insight, coaching helps clients move past limiting beliefs and unlock their full potential.
Whether you're scaling your business, enhancing leadership skills, or pursuing personal growth, a coach provides the clarity and direction you need to transform challenges into opportunities. With the right coach by your side, success becomes not just a destination, but an ongoing journey of growth and transformation.
Expansion Lab
Expansion Lab Transformational Coaching specializes in helping you achieve sustainable growth across all areas of your life. Our approach blends traditional coaching with personalized consulting, mentorship, leadership principles, spiritual insight, psycho-education, and mindfulness practices. With over 20 years of experience, we empower you to break through obstacles, define success on your own terms, and live a life aligned with your values and vision.
Ready to expand? Let’s work together to unlock your full potential.
