Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.

The line frames “obstacles” as partly a matter of perception: when attention drifts from a clear objective, difficulties loom larger and can become psychologically paralyzing. Read this way, the quote is less a denial of real barriers than a warning about distraction and fear—problems that grow when one fixates on them rather than on the next actionable step toward an aim. In a business or inventive setting often associated with Ford, it also implies a discipline of focus: progress depends on maintaining a steady orientation toward outcomes, treating setbacks as incidental rather than defining. The aphorism functions as motivational counsel about attention, resolve, and the self-amplifying nature of doubt.