6 Ways to Live Without Limits
The only thing that can stop you is you.
So don’t let yourself.
Like most things, that is much easier said than done. We can sometimes be our own biggest enemy, and the obstacles we let slow or stop us, are more imaginary in our mind than physically in front of us.
All great goals are always met with resistance. Many of us meet this resistance – fear, doubt, & more – and either retreat or stand paralyzed. Our society is convinced that great things should be achieved 1. without struggle and 2. overnight. These lies are believed daily by millions, and worse, promoted over and over and over again on countless social media feeds. After hearing that numerous times, we tend to believe it, so when our own pursuits grow difficult, we slow, stop, or quit altogether. We believe we did something wrong or that this is the wrong path. We fail to understand that the struggle is required for success and the journey takes many nights, sometimes years, to reach the victory. We begin to live within the limits and beliefs that others have taken for themselves. We allow their limited beliefs and dreams to impact how we pursue ours.
In other words, we allow their limitations to become our own and we stop ourselves short of what greatness could be.
Like an athlete, we must train ourselves to hit our “limits” over and over until we break through. We must press onward through failures, through brick walls, and through fear to raise our standard of success, our quality of relationships, and the strength our life requires. An olympic lifter does not set new personal records by staying within the confines of what she “thinks” she can lift. No, she trains hard. She pushes her body to the point of “too heavy.” She attempts a weight just above her previous “limit.” Sometimes she fails. But sometimes, she wins. She hits a personal best and raises the standard yet again by which she trains. You cannot set a personal record in weightlifting or running by staying with the same weight or running at the same speed you’ve always done.
So how do you train yourself to push beyond your limits? Here are six ways that have helped me break through my own “limits” on my journey: