No matter what goal you want to achieve in life, if it is worthwhile, then you are bound to encounter resistance. This if true for anything, whether it is business, the military, or science. The reason for this is because you will have to struggle for anything that is worthwhile in life.

Think about it. How much did Michael Jordan have to struggle before he became champion, or one of the greatest basketball players in history? How much did Albert Einstein have to struggle in order to create his theories of Relativity, and to capture the Nobel prize? While these individuals may make it appear that their feats of success were effortless, this is far from the truth.

In reality, hours, days, and most often years must be dedicated to achieving a goal that is worthwhile. However, only a handful of people in this world are truly successful when it comes to reaching their goals. Why is this? The answer is because most people give in to resistance. They set a goal, start to work on it, and at the first sign of resistance, they simply give up.

Therefore, the first step of overcoming resistance is to never give up. Now, if you are like many people, you probably rolled your eyes when you read the last sentence. You are probably thinking that "I’ve heard that before so many times that it has become annoying to hear, since everybody knows that."

However, the truth of the matter is that not everybody knows this, and even if they did, it would not explain why so many of them fail. It is simply easier to give up than it is to keep trying. For most people, it does not make sense to continue trying when they have failed, but to people who are success oriented, it makes perfect sense.

Actually, when you think about it, it can actually be broken down into mathematics, particularly the mathematical concept of probability. For example, if you are trying to get job, but you continue to get turned down, you will never get a job if you simply give up. However, if you keep trying, there is a certain mathematical probability that one of the company you apply will finally say yes.

Alter Your Strategy

This is perhaps one of the most important factors in overcoming resistance, and could be considered the primary theme of this article. While most of us have heard that we "should never give up," this quote should be taken with a grain of salt.  While you should never give up in going for what you want, it may sometimes be necessary to modify your strategy. One of the classic definitions of insanity is "trying to do the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results."

Therefore, trying to pull open a door that is obviously locked, one that you cannot pull open with your bare hands, is considered to be insanity when you continue to try to open the door using the same method, even though it is obvious that doing the same thing will not bring different results.

A much better way of opening the door is either to find a lock for it, pick the lock, or knock it down. As you can see, your goal has not really changed by doing these things. Your goal is still to open the door. You have just changed the way that you are trying to open it. This analogy can be applied to virtually any area of your life.

If you are trying to accomplish a goal in one way, but you meet resistance and fail, you should never give up, but it may not be wise to continue trying to achieve the goal in the exact same manner. A success oriented person would simply choose to find another way of reaching the goal they want.

Many of us have heard the expression "light always takes the path of least resistance." This is very true in the world of physics, and it can be equally true when it comes to getting what you want out of life. While you will meet resistance when it comes to reaching any goal that is worthwhile, it does not make sense to "take the path of most resistance." This will simply drain you of your energy, and increase your chance of failure.

The best way to face resistance is by reducing the amount that you encounter. How do you do this? You do it by simply finding ways around the barriers to your goal which act as forms of resistance. This is also connected to the philosophy of the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu, which involves "winning without fighting." Instead of trying to use brute force to overcome a barrier, figure out a way to reduce or eliminate the barrier without using brute force.