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Hurdles: Surviving Difficult Times by Dr. Ric Vandett is a self-help book about overcoming life obstacles. Often–probably most of the time–life can feel like a maze.

One minute you’re making progress, the next you hit a wall.

These walls are your personal obstacles–internal or external factors that stop you from being your best self. Understanding personal obstacles and learning how to get past them is a huge step in personal growth.

That’s exactly what a good self-help book about overcoming life obstacles like Hurdles tries to do.

Knowing What Stops You: Personal Obstacles

Within the pages of Hurdles, Vandett helps you see what’s stopping your personal growth and teaches you how to break through your own limits.

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The Shadow of Fear

One major internal hurdle that everyone has is fear. And we’re not just talking about stage fright or being scared of heights. It’s the nagging fear of messing up, the fear of what others will think, even the fear of actually succeeding!

This can really mess up your mind and your thought process.

This fear often makes us put things off (procrastination), try to make everything perfect (perfectionism, which can stop us from even starting), or just freeze up completely.

Hurdles digs into why we feel fear, giving you ways to rethink it, face it, and move beyond its grip. This book shows how feelings of being helpless or anxious, often driven by fear, can be recognized and handled, helping you understand your fears and doubts.

The Quiet of Self-Doubt

Hand-in-hand with fear or often just following behind it is self-doubt. When you don’t have confidence in yourself, it’s like having a little voice inside your head constantly barking that you’re not worth anything.

These thoughts can really mess with your confidence and stop you from going for what you want. Self-doubt often comes from past mistakes, harsh comments from others, or comparing yourself to others. It can make you scared to take chances, hesitant to grab opportunities, and just feel like you’re not good enough.

Getting over self-doubt means actively challenging those negative thoughts, remembering what you’re good at, and building up how you feel about yourself. This journey is often lit up by the smart ideas you find in a helpful self-help book about overcoming life obstacles. Vandett’s focus on building confidence directly tackles this, guiding readers to “get up and soar” over those internal limits, which is key to breaking free from self-sabotage.

The Comfort Zone’s Limits

Beyond feeling fear and doubt, the most common obstacle is one’s comfort zone. Being comfortable feels safe, but it can also be very limiting in that it stops you from growing and trying new things.

Stepping out of your comfort zone always feels a little scary and uncomfortable, which most people naturally want to avoid.

This dislike of discomfort, though, can prevent you from taking risks, pursuing challenging careers, engaging in new experiences, and initiating difficult but important conversations.

Vandett provides some ideas for gently, yet firmly, pushing the edges of your comfort zone in Hurdles. He explains that real growth happens just outside what feels familiar. The best practical advice in the book encourages small steps out of your comfort zone to build your strength. This is how you start recognizing barriers to self-improvement.

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Being Clear and Having Purpose

Not having a clear plan or knowing what you really want can leave you feeling lost, unsure where to go, and easily pulled in different directions. If you don’t really know your values, what you’re passionate about, and your long-term goals, you can easily become sidetracked by distractions, feel swamped by choices, or just stay stuck.

Figuring out what matters most to you, setting goals that mean something, and creating a map for your life are important steps in dismantling aimlessness.

Vandett’s call to identify and then clear “hurdles” implies understanding one’s desired direction. It is only with direction that one can begin to pull oneself out of the mire one’s found oneself in. Without it, we are just dilly-dallying about, waiting for a miracle to happen.

But miracles don’t happen all the time.

Sometimes, we have to be the catalyst for our own miracles.

And that means understanding personal obstacles and overcoming them.

Ready to confront your own hurdles and clear the path to a better life? Discover these insights in Dr. Ric Vandett’s Hurdles: Surviving Difficult Times.