Seeing Through the Lies of Limitation and How to Overcome It

Every day, you come across some of the most amazing things people can do. The trick jumpers, the martial artists and the math prodigies that you see online make you go:

”Man, I couldn’t do that even if I tried”

To your reaction, I ask you this – HAVE YOU EVEN TRIED ANYTHING YET?

By adding the “not or ‘nt” to the word, you have imposed a limitation on yourself. As a result, you aren’t even willing to try.

Have you imagined what would have happened if Thomas Alva Edison Said the same thing? The guy couldn’t light the bulb......10,000 times. If he had stopped and thought to himself “I can’t” at one of his failures, you wouldn’t be reading this blog on any gadget, and considering how lazy I am when it comes to using pen and paper, you wouldn't be reading it anyway.

To bring it closer to home, what if Dara Singh said the same thing when he fought King Kong? I bet someone else would have been on our minds as Hanumanji.

Let's take to even more extreme, and talk about a man named Nick Vujicic. Nick was born with the tetra-Amelia syndrome – born without arms and legs.  Now, if you try to imagine how his life was, you would feel pity for him. But he rose to the occasion and became one of the best motivational speakers on the entire planet.

In being what he is, he has proved that limitations are lies that you either tell yourself or the world tells you

“It’s a lie to think you aren’t good enough. It’s a lie to think you are not worth anything.”- Nick Vujicic.

Through this blog, let us take a look into why limitations are a lie.

Seeing through the lies of limitations

Limitations are the greatest lies. Why they are the greatest lies – because it has stunted the evolution of most people in the world.

These are the 99 percenters, the ones that complain; the ones that while want to move forward, are limited by the one percenter.

As a result, they tell lies to themselves like: -

“Oh yeah, he is a genius. That’s why he has got it all”

“The guy must’ve born with the silver spoon in his/her mouth”

“Man, he is crushing us, and using us to make his mark”

Well, of course, he is. That’s why he has placed you between the field of limitations, where every grain is a sermon of what you can’t do and every bit of manure is made out of your crushed dreams.

However, he – the one percenter – didn’t do it all. You yourself watered the field to let the grains of limitation grow around you. However, it’s a field of lies, and you can burn it if you can see through these lies:

1. Limitations are just imaginations: When you see a task that appears too big to you, you disconnect it with humanity. You start to believe that the guy must have some kind of really special, superhuman talent to accomplish it. As a result, you don’t even see the one doing the task as a human. It’s just your imagination. The guy doing the things you see so difficult has done it through practice, something that can be achieved even by you if you are tenacious enough.
2. Limitations are born out of fear: Fear incapacitates you. When you are afraid of something, you don’t want to do it. Be in this fear long enough and soon, this “don’t want” turns into a “can’t” attitude -- creating a mental block in your head, making you believe that you are limited. Continue to keep this fear alive and you’ll be limited forever.
3. Limitations are born out of lack of patience: “If you can’t do it right now, you can never do it” – it’s what I was told when I was 17 years old. I got insecure and tried to do it over and over again. But, I couldn’t. After so many failures, I put my hands up and surrendered. It was only a month ago that I finally was able to do the headstand – the “it”. It taught me that my limitation came because I was told I couldn’t do it right then and there. 
4.  Limitations are born out of not leaving the zone: You know what “zone” I am talking about, right? It's a fairyland place that's just too comfortable for you to leave. You believe that if you leave it, you’ll never be able to return to it. It’s much like the fear of going into the office -- believing that if you leave, you won’t have a home.

All of these tell you one thing, Limitations are self-imposed. It’s much like a self-imposed exile, where you have compelled yourself to resign within your ZONE. Time to get out of it!

Seeing through and burning the lies of limitation is good and all, but what is the practical approach to it? How can one overcome the limitations if a limiting mindset is entrenched in our brain so deep and for so long?

Overcoming the limitations

There is a saying from Kung Fu Panda: control is an illusion. However, that’s only half of the wisdom. Yes, Control IS an illusion, but it’s an illusion you can control. You can turn it off, and take control of your life. When you do that, the shroud of limitation is lifted and you can finally move forward:

1. Have an overarching spiritual goal in your life. 

It’s a big thing to have a goal, and it’s certainly not easy. That’s why, don’t stick to material goals, and stick with the ones that are more spiritual in nature.

I shall not bow down facing bad things.

I will always make eye contact.

I will try to wake up every day with new energy.

When you look deeply, these spiritual goals are short-term material goals that you NEED TO WISH FOR. Wake up each and conduct yourself as per these goals. Soon, you’ll forget anything remote about limitations.

 

2. Time to say bye-bye to the comfort zone:

Comfort zones are well....comfortable. They are like cushions of mental and physical degradation and decadence that’s so warm to just relax in. Hmmmmmm!!

But, this cushion will soon put itself over you and choke your self-respect.

So, unless you want it to happen, get out of your comfort zone right now. How? Do the very thing you are being lazy about; after you finished reading this article.

 

3. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes:

There is nothing to learn if you are not willing to make and accept your mistakes. Mistakes are failures, and like Yoda said, they are the “greatest teachers”. Don’t be afraid to make them, for they will tell you how to improve upon them. 

But make sure that you can motivate yourself to rectify your mistakes.

4. Work Smart:

Hard work is a good thing. It relaxes you and gives you confidence – making you believe that you can overcome your limitations. However, to turn this belief into a reality, you need to work smart. Smart work requires thinking about your what's holding you back, and asking yourself “why”. Pretty soon, you'll realize that the only answers you have are excuses. Stop making them and you stop letting your limitations stop you. 

Conclusion

Limitations are the lies that you tell yourself every day. If you can’t see them as lies, it affects everything and everyone around. However, as soon as you realize one simple truth: nothing is impossible, you will have many ways to overcome them.

"If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread across into your work and life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them" –Bruce Lee.