Obstacles V Opportunities

Toni asks, "What are the possible obstacles to your resolutions? How will you overcome them?"

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One issue I deal with, oh, c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t-l-y, is procrastination.  It has landed me in hot water more than once.  You think that after a couple rounds of that, I'd change my ways.  Eh.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I'm also loads more distractable than I used to be.  I'll be working on an assignment at the computer and 'all of a sudden' I'll notice that there's a cup at my computer that needs to go back to the kitchen, or the dogs need water in the bowl, or I should really go get something out of the deep freeze for supper.  Please tell me I'm not the only one with this problem! *sigh*

Now I love calendars and lists and planners and all of that stuff, but sometimes I tend to get wrapped up too much in the plan - so much that I've left myself no room to move and put the plan into action.  Where is the Ronco Backside Kicker when I need one?

One thing that I've found works for me is to break big goals, jobs, projects, etc down into sufficiently small bits that it's still a stretch, but not uncomfortably so.  

For instance, one of my goals for 2014 is to read the Bible from cover to cover.  If I just sat down, opened to Genesis 1 and started reading, I would do ok until I got to the first round of 'begats' and my eyes would start to glaze over.

But if I break it down into monthly, weekly and/or daily goals, then when I hit a stretch of begats or that passage that irritates me (like the part in the OT where a man who suspects his wife of cheating can take her to the priests, who would cause her to drink polluted water.  If she got sick, then she was innocent.  If she did not get sick, she was considered guilty of adultery, taken out and stoned.)  

If I encounter questions when I'm working on something, that I just cannot figure out (even though I have tried), I can write it down and find out the answer by asking a family member, acquaintance, professor, etc etc etc.

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How do you work though obstacles?  Please share one of your strategies in the comments!  Thanks for visiting the porch!