There are a lot of things that get in the way of a dream. Maybe you don’t have the money right now to start the business you really want to run. Or maybe you can’t seem to hire the right person to work with to achieve a goal.

But both those things can seem annoyingly simple when you realize that the real forces keeping you from reaching your objective are within you.

These are only three of those things. There are definitely more. Maybe you’ve even run into others already on your path. But right now, take a look at this list and see if maybe one of these is the thing that has been standing in your way. I hope I can help you start to overcome it.

1. Complaining

I genuinely feel that there is no real value in complaining.

To me, the only things anybody has a right to complain about are things like their health. Short of the death of a loved one, or a terminal illness, or some other horrible tragedy, everything feels controllable. If you’re in control of it, you have the ability to fix it. Where is the value in complaining? Instead of complaining, my process is this: Assess the problem, find the solution, and get on the offense. I’m an offensive player; complaining is playing defense.

2. Waiting for the big moments

When people give keynotes, particularly in business, they will talk a lot about “that one moment” where they knew they made it. I don’t like to do that. I think it’s unfair. It’s unfair for them to tell you about those things because it sets an expectation. It says that you should know when those moments happen in your own life. It may seem helpful or even “cool” for them to bring them up, but in truth, it’s not. It’s just not. They have the hindsight, the perspective, to pick out the moments.

Trying to figure out whether this is the moment that you “made it” will keep you from moving forward. Just don’t think about those things. Please.

Because really, there are only two ways to approach the question of “when have you made it”. One: it’s the moment you decided to do anything. Or two: it hasn’t happened yet. And that is where you need to focus. That in-between space — the time between starting and stopping — is where you need to worry less and execute more.

3. Lack of optimism

There are a million reasons why not, but there is one good reason why, which is this: You just have to persevere.

No matter what happens, it’s the way it is, and you have to keep going. And that is where the optimism lives. If you truly believe that you can do it no matter what, you’ve got this. The only reason you might bring up any of the previous excuses we talked about is because you don’t believe, right? Do not let that kind of thinking ever get in the way.

Get thicker skin. Build up your self esteem. To be able to get through, you need to have optimism. Every day is hard, and all you have to fight it in the end is yourself.

This post originally appeared on Medium.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.