Shutterstock Successful people come from all walks of life, yet they all have one thing in common: where others see impenetrable barriers, they see challenges to embrace and obstacles to overcome. Their confidence in the face of hardship is driven by their ability to let go of the negativity that holds so many otherwise sensible people back. Obstacles do not block the path; they are the path.

Shutterstock Too many working people have the same story to tell; when I meet them in my travels, they say “I like my job, but my company would never have hired me if they knew how I think and what I believe.” These folks have to play a part at work just to fit in with their co-workers.

Shutterstock Dear Liz, I work in a hospital. I’m the Department Administrator on a very busy floor and my workdays are absolutely crazy. I barely sit down between the start of my shift and the end. It would be a great job except for the fact that my new boss is a poor manager, and she doesn’t know it. She doesn’t ask for help. I could help her and so could several of my colleagues, but our manager is very insecure. I get blamed for my boss’s poor decisions.

Shutterstock Why would your boss turn against you, and see you as an enemy rather than a friend? The answer is that some managers are easily spooked. They were operating in a fearful way even before you showed up. Often when a manager hires someone smart and capable, they are delighted with their new hire at first. The new hire’s outstanding performance makes the manager look good.

The single biggest speed bump that slows working people down and keeps them from performing their best at work is not a shortage of time. It isn’t a lack of information coming down from higher-ups either, although that can certainly be a problem. The biggest impediment to doing an amazing job at work is a lack of altitude. What is altitude? It’s elevation above the ground. We all tend to focus on what’s right in front of us — like the next three items on our To Do list.

Shutterstock I had a strange experience recently. I’d been introduced to someone through a mutual contact and we arranged to get a coffee together. I knew we had common professional interests and assumed it was a friendly networking chat. Turns out she wanted to pick my brain… so she could compete with me. At first I thought maybe she was gearing up to ask me for a job. I quickly realized I was flattering myself.

Shutterstock My resume is painfully long. I keep at least half my jobs off of it in order to maintain a reasonable length. Those forms on applications that require you to fill in your former companies, start and ending dates, your past supervisors and salaries, are my nemesis. I have to ask myself how badly I want to apply, because filling in all of my past employment history will take well over an hour. Oftentimes, I decide the position is just not worth that much effort.

Where you live may no longer be a factor in finding a great job. If your job can be done on a computer, chances are it can be done remotely, “in the cloud.” As more and more businesses and applications head for the cloud, it’s becoming much easier for companies to say yes to hiring remote workers. In fact, many times a remote workforce can cut down on a company’s overhead; no need for a huge office building to house all those workers.

Shutterstock Discussions both within and outside of the banking industry have recently shed light on an important topic: the impact that corporate culture can have on a company’s success. Though often perceived as a “soft” business topic, positive culture has been shown to help companies’ bottom lines and is now known as a crucial contributor to employee performance, company growth, and the ability to attract and maintain talent.

Shutterstock I wrote a piece last week about how stress can turn a manager into almost a different person. Under stress, a manager who’s normally calm and reasonable can quickly turn agitated and unreasonable. This dynamic is unfortunately common, and an impediment to productive management. This post is a logical follow-up.