Overcoming Obstacles | @caroline-cavanagh | The Anxiety Alchemist

10 Jul 2026 · 2 min

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Caroline Cavanagh adapts a Simon Sinek exercise where a chair blocks a path to show teenagers how purpose changes everything. Without a goal, people stop at small obstacles. With one, they push through. Parents and teachers should help students find meaningful goals so they can overcome challenges.

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Simon Sinek is one of the most viewed TED speakers, and I have— yeah, I've stolen— I'm going to say it— I've stolen one of his techniques because it is so brilliant for teenagers. And I've done this exercise in classrooms, and it really works. He starts by saying, right, group of people, just start walking around. And they walk around fairly aimlessly, And then he just sticks a chair in one front of one of them and they, they just stop. And he said, why have you stopped walking around? And she says, well, you've put a chair in front of me. And that's like having an obstacle put in front of you. And if you haven't got a purpose, if you're just wandering aimlessly, even something as small as a chair can cause you to stop. He then goes, okay, people, now I want you to walk from that side of the room to that side of the room in a straight line. So they all start marching off. He puts the chair in front of her, and she just goes and carries on going. Because when you've got a goal, when you've got a purpose, it's much easier to overcome obstructions. And so when your teenager or your child in a classroom, your student says, oh, I can't do that, what they need is a goal, a purpose. Help them get that goal and they too will overcome that obstacle really quickly.