Obstacles Vs. Barriers
Today at the 2019 iNACOL Symposium I got to thinking about the terms obstacles and barriers because a speaker mentioned we need to recognize they are not the same. Many times these terms are used interchangeably. As leaders, however, we need to look at these mutually exclusively. An obstacle is something that impedes or stands in the way of progress. Barriers are structures that block/bar passage.
In other words:
- if it slows you down it is an obstacle.
- if it impedes or stops you, it is a barrier.
Think about this: most of the difficult situations and circumstances we are presented in life are difficult because they present us with a difficult choice. We need to notice where we, or our organizations get stopped. Then distinguish whether you are confronted by an obstacle or barrier.
As long as you have options, your difficult circumstance is an obstacle; regardless of whether you use the options or not. Obstacles, most generally, require a change. Sometimes this involves a change we ourselves need to make. These can be tough changes. In the future we need to begin to notice where we get stopped and start taking time to distinguish whether we are being confronted by an obstacle or a barrier.
Byron's Babbles 
[…] stop completely and obstacles can be removed, gone around, over, or under. I blogged about this in Obstacles Vs. Barriers. Actually, I said to the author of the above text, “Let’s make sure we look at any […]
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[…] they ARE the path.” I have blogged about obstacles and barriers before and most recently in Obstacles Vs. Barriers and Overcoming Obstacles. I really liked and was inspired by the Lotter quote because I had not […]
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