Whether you are opening up a new chapter in your life or pursuing your lifelong dream, you will meet challenges along the way.  Dreams and new life chapters are almost always about positive change, and any type of change will meet resistance.

After all, you are pushing against the status quo, against inertia, and possibly even against what others expect from you.  And of course, change in any shape or form is new, and therefore a little scary.

Following your dreams isn’t easy.

Change is hard in many ways, and that’s why following your dreams is hardly ever easy and often times it’s even a bit scary.

But what is scarier, the obstacles you meet along the path to pursuing your dreams, or a life lived without hoping for something better?  To turn your vision into reality, you’ll need a lot of support to find the inner strength to achieve your goals.

“I can do it”: 4 very powerful words.

There’s something else you’ll need, too: the will to push yourself, even when you think you can’t do something.

That’s the important crossroads I feel is the crucial pivot point for any woman who has chosen to follow her dreams.  At that moment, when you are standing at that crossroads, ignoring the voice that tells you it can’t be done, you can’t do it, is how you’ll finally realize your dreams.

It worked for Marissa Mayer, and it can work for you.

Marissa Mayer is one of the most successful business women in the world.  As CEO of Yahoo, she’s worth $400 million.  She’s #33 on the Forbes list of America’s Self-Made Women for 2015.  She’s also #22 on their list of Power Women (2015).

Ms. Mayer beat out her male competitors to score one of the top jobs in tech, an industry already dominated by men.  She certainly encountered obstacles along the way, but how did she face them?  In her words…

“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.”

– Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo

It seems a little hackneyed, but telling yourself you can do it is exactly how to overcome the obstacles to following your dream.  Follow the example of Ms. Mayer and remind yourself every day that you can do it.