If you follow the teachings of the Laws of Attraction, where “like attracts like”, you know that it is possible for anyone to achieve success in nearly any aspect of their life. The mind uses positive thoughts to attract positive actions.  Because of attracting these positive thoughts and actions into your life, it is possible to achieve things that seem impossible.

However, even if you learn how to turn your thoughts into results, there are five major mental obstacles that can stand in your way of achieving success. It is very rare for a person not to have at least one of these obstacles standing between them and the success they are looking for in life. Recognize and eliminate these mental obstacles from your life, and you can find a way to achieve nearly anything.

These five major mental obstacles are:

1. Fear

Fear is one of the most destructive feelings and emotions you can experience. While a bit of fear is not only natural and healthy because it keeps us in check, uncontrolled fear will hold you back from many things you want to achieve.

Take stock of the fear in your life. Is there a reason you experience this? Understanding why you experience this fear is the first step in conquering it. Write down your fears. Sometimes putting fears to paper make them go away. Verbalize your fears. Tell a friend, even a pet, about your fear. You are not looking for advice but merely trying to bring the fear out in the open to yourself.

The problem people have with conquering fear is that they think they must face it courageously. In reality, you should just walk towards what you fear and experience it. After the situation is over, then you can develop courage.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”  – Ambrose Redmoon

2. Lack of Goals

You cannot expect to achieve success if you do not have specific goals in mind. Whether or not you follow the Laws of Attraction, you must keep stock of what it is you are trying to achieve, if you hope to achieve it.

By not setting goals, you are not fully committing to accomplishing anything. Determine why you are not setting goals.  Write your goals down. These can be weekly goals, daily goals or even monthly goals. I would suggest doing all three. Start with just 3 goals for the day and as you become more successful expand to more! 

Some people avoid setting concrete goals because they are afraid of failure.  If this sounds like you, what you need to commit to is a mindset of success. Don’t think about the obstacles that may stand in your way, you can deal with them as you face them. Think about what it is you truly want and go for it. Face your goals the same way you face your fears. Walk into them and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

3. Holding onto the Past

Staying motivated and positive can be nearly impossible if you are holding on to your past too tightly. While it can be great to look back at your successes and learn from them, replaying and reliving your failures is extremely unhealthy. Because similar ideas are attracted to each other, it would follow that thinking about past failures will attract other failures to you in the future.

Holding on to negative thoughts and memories does nothing to help you and does plenty to harm your plans for future success. While it can be difficult, try to let these feelings go and replace them with contentment and memories of times when you achieved success. List 2 or 3 successes you have had in the past. Start with small ones and they will grow on each other. You will be much better served by concentrating on these memories.

4. Reliance on Drugs, Tobacco and Alcohol

If you use tobacco, alcohol or drugs to the point that your physical or mental activity is reduced, this is another mental barrier to your success.  Each of these affects the chemistry of your brain, causing a change in your thought process. This change occurs not only while you are consuming them, but also after the fact. Even the withdrawal symptoms can have an active effect on your thoughts and how you conduct yourself.

The easiest way to reduce the impact that these have on you is to remove them from your life. Depending on your physical and mental makeup, you may not even be able to handle using these substances in a casual way. While quitting is a difficult task, the ability to focus your thoughts more positively will be well worth the effort.

5. Distraction

It is incredibly easy to become distracted from what is important, even as you strive to achieve success. When dealing with the Law of Attraction, it is vitally important to spend some time each day focusing on your goals and the successful life you imagine for yourself. Reviewing your written goals everyday will help you focus. Tape your goals to the bathroom mirror, computer screen or a wall that you see every day. By saying these goals out loud each day, you will focus and achieve success.

When everyday life sneaks up on you and starts to consume you, simply remember that everything you are dealing with right now is actually very minor when compared to the future you will one day achieve. If you have major problems with focus there are many ways you can work to improve this. This advice is a bit outside the scope of this article, but you will find that the information is readily available if you take the time to look.

6. Poor Influences

No matter how much work you put into getting your mind clear and focused on your goals, you can easily lose track of yourself if you are surrounded by the wrong people. The right friends and associates can be a great boon as you imagine and work towards the success you hope to build; however, the wrong friends are like a toxin.  Remember, “like attracts like”.  If you think positive thoughts then people who think positive thoughts will be attracted to you. This breeds success.  

The hardest thing to deal with can actually be family. If they do not believe in you and your goals, it can be very hard to shut them out from affecting you. Sometimes it seems easier just to “grin and bear it.”  Before you resign yourself to dealing with their negativity, spend some time trying to help them understand how important encouragement, rather than negativity, is to you in your quest for success.

While there are certainly other things in life that can pull us from our goals, these tend to be the biggest 6 mental obstacles to success. If you are able to reduce, or remove, their influence on you, you will best be able to utilize the Laws of Attraction, and their principles to help you achieve success and get what you want out of life.

Even taking one small step to keep these situations from controlling you is a big help. Without a doubt, you will find nearly everything you attempt to achieve easier when you have less mental obstacles standing in your way on your path to success. Good Luck!