25 Apr Knowing Your Limits

Our Strategy Session talk today is knowing your limits. Limits are so effective at helping us through life. They help us to shape what is expected of us. We use them to justify our “place” in life and our achievements, who we associate with, where we travel, what’s been within “our reach”.

Limits.

Self-imposed, driven into our DNA by our parents, reactionary limits ground into us by life events, thrown on us by friends or what we read, limits hang on us like a heavy wet blanket. They help us to fit into our own comfortable little boxes. They keep us safe.

Those limits keep us from embarrassing ourselves in public, talking to people who don’t look like us, and they keep us from falling and getting hurt. If it wasn’t for limits how would we identify ourselves? Are the definitions of our identities our limitations? They sure are and I’ll prove it to you.

I identify as a man, I don’t get emotional.
I identify as a woman, I don’t build things.
I identify as a golfer, I don’t run.
I identify as a runner, I don’t golf.
I identify as a retiree, I don’t work.
I identify as a Democrat, I don’t talk to Republicans
I identify as a Republican, I don’t talk to Democrats.

And on…and on…and on…

Did reading those sentences make you feel uncomfortable as you read on? They should. Did you feel limited as you read down the list? That’s the point. The same limits that keep us safe, help us to justify our accomplishments, and keep us in our familiar comfort zones are the same limits that hurt us.

Think about it. Why do children have an easier time mingling with others that look different from them, learn foreign languages faster, pick up musical instruments quicker? They haven’t learned their limits yet. Yes…learned. We put that stuff in their heads and you know what? Someone did it to us too.

We’re freaking brilliant at constructing and imposing our own limits too. We develop our limits through our negative self-talk, experiences that happen to us, and what people shove into our consciousness.

So, without your limits would you have lived your life a little differently? Would you have stretched the “limits” more? Would you have had more amazing experiences in your life? Would you have better connections to others because you weren’t afraid to build connections? Would you have been willing to learn more? I ask that question of myself a lot lately. The answer for me is yes.

I thank the limitless thinkers in my life. They’ve shown me the power of what’s available when not living in my own limitations. I can, seemingly at will, completely expand my limitations whenever. You can too.

If you’re facing retirement or are in retirement you can smash your limitations too.
You don’t have to identify with the limiting mindset that afflicts so many. Have you ever felt there was more to retirement? Are you bored? Are you wanting more?

I’ve got new for you. You can have more…more excitement…more amazing experiences…more love…more connection…more value…more…fulfillment.

You’re not too old.
You’re not too out of shape.
You’re not scared to try.

You are limitless.
You can do whatever you want.
You can have an impact.
You can play new possibilities available you.

So today, I’m challenging you. I’m challenging you to break through the limits that are keeping you from living a life true to yourself. I want you to think of one thing today that has limited your life in the past. Smash that limitation today, even if it’s by just an inch. I’m challenging you to break the glass ceiling and kick down that door.

Be open to the possibilities of what’s available to you in your life.
Here’s a few strategies to help you know your limits.

1) Anything is possible. You are capable of achieving more than ever.
2) Pay attention to your self-talk. Is the voice in your head encouraging you through life or is it discouraging you?
3) Clear the negative and limiting people out of your life. You don’t have to completely kick them out of your life, but you can limit the amount of time you expose yourself to negative people. They need you. You don’t need them.
4) Keep a journal of the one thing you do each day to destroy the small limitations you think you had. Read them. I’m a firm believer that success builds confidence and confidence builds success.
5) Show up fully in everything you do. Being present and undistracted helps us to see bigger possibilities in what we do. Turn your phone off, stop to think about what’s next and immerse yourself in whoever you are with and whatever you are doing.

Now get your butt out there and go do it. Just go! Do it! That’s it for today’s Strategy Session. We’ll talk more about this in the future.