I’ve been doing lots of thinking about this topic lately. The dictionary definition of limit is this; noun – “the final, utmost, or furthest boundary or point.” I’m sure we can all agree, that this description in itself is quite depressing, as to say that something is the final or furthest point is to imply that it’s impossible to go any further.
The truth of the matter is that we naturally believe that everything has a limit, even though we are continually proved wrong. History has countless evidence of our miscalculations, but humans are prone to sticking to our close-minded beliefs until somebody actually stretches those limits and validates in true Mean Girls fashion that “The limit does not exist”
Just going to throw it back to my childhood for a minute. I was totally obsessed with the Guinness World Record Book, and used to awe over the unbelievable things that humans were capable of! I thought there was absolutely no way that anybody else would ever be able to match those records! The truth is, every time a new issue got printed, the old records would get exceeded every year. Once the limit was found, they continued to get pushed.
One of my favourite quotes is “Just because something hasn’t been done before, doesn’t mean it cannot be done” The reason I love it so much is because it reminds me that everything that has ever been achieved, once hadn’t. Just take a moment to think about that, somebody has to achieve it first! Things don’t just happen, trust me, some serious work went into everything that was once “impossible” It’s easy to forget that and get caught up in your own mind-blocks. The best way to get out of this state, is to first understand why you’re doing it, and take the time to train your mind back into the right place.
When we limit ourselves or procrastinate over things that are important to us, there’s usually a reason for it, but you usually have to peel back a few layers to figure it out. Everybody’s reasons for this self-sabotaging behaviour are different, but they’re normally connected to something from this list;
– Fear of failure
– Fear of success
– Guilt
– Self doubt
There will most likely be a few others in the mix too, but when I coach people within my team, I find that these are the most common ones that pop up. And I don’t care what anyone says, these behaviours have at some point had an affect on our lives – maybe it’s even happening to you now!
– Fear of failure; this is probably number one on most people’s lists – subconsciously. Nobody wants to put themselves out there and go against the grain, sticking out like a sore thumb, making countless sacrifices, to then end up back where they started. How embarrassing right?
– Fear of success; this is the one that actually surprises most people, and it’s not fear of success itself, but fear of what comes along with it. People worry that they’ll change, they’ll lose friends, they won’t be able to handle the money or attention, people will dislike them and publicly drag their skeletons out of the closet, probably even constantly ask for handouts. Most people just think it’s much easier not to deal with all that stress, and subconsciously stop striving for their goals.
– Guilt; usually to get to the top of your respective career, you’ll have to make some pretty difficult sacrifices. It might mean not seeing your friends as often as you’d like. Not having time to attend birthday parties and big events, missing out on quality time with family. You might feel guilty for being offered incredible opportunities or having a healthy bank account whilst other people in your life may be struggling.
– Self-doubt; Many people just don’t believe that they’re made for it. They don’t believe in themselves or they use their past struggles to determine their future success. We also have the ability to talk ourselves out of anything, and any negativity or rejection can cause us to give up on our goals, because subconsciously we’re already looking for ways to prove that it wasn’t suited to us anyway.
I’m not saying that this is everybody’s reasons for not being where they might want to be, but one or many of these points may have crossed your mind at some point when thinking about your ideal life with no limits.
The bottom line is that nobody puts a cap on our capabilities other than ourselves. We have an incredible unlimited potential and unfortunately not enough of us reach it. The best way to work towards your goals is to work on knocking down these limitation-walls. Figure out what it is that scares you and why. And just so you know, none of the above points play out how they do in your head. We may be advanced beings, but predicting the future isn’t always our strong point……
Thanks for reading,
Share the blog share the love
Comments