Unlocking Sustainable Success: The 3 Barriers Holding You Back—and How to Overcome Them

It was a dark and stormy night… okay, not really. But it was dark outside, and the only storm brewing was inside me. I was in flight school, gripping the helicopter controls for dear life as I practiced flying with night-vision goggles for the first time. Every bit of knowledge I’d learned seemed to vanish in that moment of pressure.

Finally, my instructor calmly said, “I have the controls.” Not what you want to hear in aviation—it means things are about to go south. Embarrassed and frustrated, I muttered, “You have the controls,” and let go.

During the debrief, my instructor said something simple but profound: “You’ve got the knowledge. Now you need to trust and work with it, not against it.” I nodded like I understood, but inside, I was reeling. How do I do that? How do I trust myself under pressure?

At the time, I didn’t have the answer, so I did what most of us do: I worked harder. You probably know what I’m talking about. As a coach, I’ve seen many leaders face this same challenge. They want to achieve more, break old patterns, or lead more effectively. So they go “balls to the wall,” pushing harder and faster, hoping that will solve the problem.

But if that speed feels like too much—if you’re burnt out, overwhelmed, or cycling through the same old habits—this is for you. After years of working with executives, I’ve noticed that the barriers they face tend to fall into three common categories.

Let’s explore them—and how to move past them.

1. Treating Symptoms Instead of Root Causes

The Problem: Treating symptoms means addressing the visible problem without investigating what’s driving it. It’s like fixing a leaky roof by mopping up the water—you might clean up the mess, but the root cause remains, and the problem will return.

For example, imagine you’ve been going to the gym and working out hard but aren’t losing weight. Yes, you’re improving your health, but if you’re not addressing the root cause—your eating habits—you’ll continue to struggle with weight loss. I tell my clients, “You can’t out-train a poor diet.”

The same applies to personal growth. When you focus only on surface-level actions, like working harder or trying quick fixes, you manage symptoms but don’t solve the deeper problem.

Solution: Get to the Root Cause

Instead of addressing the surface-level problem, pause and ask yourself:

• What’s really driving this?
• Am I addressing the root of the issue or just managing the symptoms?
• What’s one step I can take today to dig deeper into what’s happening?

When you identify the root cause, you stop spinning your wheels and start creating meaningful traction.

2. Stopping at Insight Instead of Building Mental Muscle

The Problem: Insight alone isn’t enough. We’ve all had those “aha” moments after reading a book or attending a workshop, but then… life happens. The excitement wears off, and nothing changes. That’s because long-term transformation—the kind that makes healthy habits automatic—takes consistency.

Behaviors are wired into us through repetition, much like muscles. You don’t fight challenges with inspiration; you fight them with muscle.

Solution: Build Mental Muscle With Consistency

To get moving, start small. Size doesn’t matter—it’s about creating momentum. For example, I’m working with an executive who felt overwhelmed by work and home demands. “The house is a mess,” they told me. “I just shove everything into drawers and closets. It looks okay on the outside, but underneath, it’s chaos—just like me.”

So, we started small: five minutes each morning cleaning out a drawer. No more, no less. Why? Because choosing one small task and doing it consistently feels good. It creates a sense of control, builds focus, and strengthens follow-through—even when you “don’t feel like it.”

As you practice this skill, it often spills over into more important areas. Many leaders dismiss small actions as “small potatoes,” but that thinking keeps them stuck. By starting small and practicing consistently, you’re building mental muscle—discipline, focus, and confidence.

What’s Happening in Your Brain:

• Dopamine Release: Completing tasks releases dopamine, which reinforces the behavior and makes it easier to keep going.
• Neural Pathways Strengthen: Repetition builds the brain’s circuits for focus and follow-through.
• Prefrontal Cortex Engagement: Follow-through strengthens decision-making and self-management skills.
• Overwhelm Reduction: Breaking tasks into manageable pieces calms the brain’s stress center, making it easier to act.

The key is to choose one practice and commit to it. Over time, the repetition rewires your brain and sets you up for lasting success.

3. No Common Operating System

The Problem: Leadership and personal development advice often come in fragmented frameworks—seven habits here, nine steps there, and countless approaches everywhere. While these systems can offer valuable insights, they rarely connect into a unified framework. Without a clear operating system, it’s easy to lose momentum, feel scattered, or wonder which advice to trust.

When I was on the flight line, I knew I wanted to grow as a pilot. I wanted to trust myself—not just as someone capable of flying a helicopter, but as a person who could handle pressure, make decisions, and rise to challenges. The problem was, I didn’t know how.

Solution: Build a Consistent Operating System

You may already have a built-in operating system of sorts— through your faith, spirituality, or values. The Healthy Leader Operating system? starts with those values and then expands the how, giving you a personalized blueprint for?HOW?you cultivate trust, discipline, and the ability to lead from your upper brain when your lower brain wants to take over!

That’s why I built the Healthy Leader Operating System. It’s designed to give people the tools to grow, lead, and trust themselves in every area of life.

The system is built on six Foundational Blocks that are simple, timeless, and universally applicable. These blocks are rooted in your values, strengths, and personal mission. Once you learn them, you’ll never 'unknow' them—they become part of how you think, act, and grow.

With a unified operating system, you can:

• Anchor your decisions in your values, ensuring your actions align with what matters most.
• Navigate challenges with clarity and confidence.
• Evaluate new tools or strategies to ensure they align with your goals.

When you have a consistent framework, you stop second-guessing yourself and trust that your efforts are building toward long-term success in a way that’s aligned with who you are.

You Don’t Have to Navigate This Alone

The way I work with clients addresses all three of these obstacles to growth:

1. It helps uncover and resolve the root causes of challenges.
2. It builds mental and emotional resilience through consistent, sustainable practices.
3. It provides a unified operating system designed to simplify personal growth and integrate seamlessly into daily life.

As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

That simplicity matters because the world we live in is anything but simple. In today’s VUCA environment—marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—leaders don’t need more complexity in their personal growth strategies. They need clarity, focus, and effectiveness to navigate the challenges they face.

This isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing what works and aligning your actions with your values and goals.

Let’s build a system that works with you—not against you.

Ready to Level Up?

If you’re ready to break through these barriers and create sustainable success, I invite you to take the next step. Tune in to my video to dive deeper into these obstacles and learn how executive wellness and leadership coaching can help you align your values, build resilience, and lead with clarity and confidence.

?? Click here to watch the video and learn more.

Let’s work together to create a system that empowers you to thrive!

~traci