Let’s face it, the economy stinks, the jobless rate is on the rise and most of us tend to forget about all of the good years and focus only on the doom and gloom that is sucking all of the hope from our hearts and our chances for a better tomorrow.
While I agree that doom and gloom stink, I refuse to let it impact my future happiness. Instead, I choose to view the global uncertainty impacting my life as a golden opportunity to excel past the once former experts falling helplessly from their perches back to reality. The hard part, for me anyway, is trying to figure out how to find the golden opportunity.
I have read in a bazillion places that one of the key factors to true happiness in life is to love what you do. That is all well and good, but what happens if you loose interest in something you once loved doing?
Most people that live fulfilled lives are those that reach out and create the life they want. These people view the limits and challenges in their path as opportunities to over come and push forward until they reach their goals. But overcoming these limits and challenges is not always an easy thing to do. The first step is to understand how to recognize your limitations. I really hope you want to live beyond the moment!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Life's Limitations
Limitations are either restrictions that prevent you from reaching your true potential or blessings that build strength and courage. They can be temporary or permanent and either visible or hidden.
I think of a hidden limitation as a closed sliding glass door that separates me from my destination. If I try to walk through the closed door, I will walk right into the glass and most likely get a brain banger of a headache. But if I make efforts to find the handle, I can slide it open and pass through. Do you find yourself repeatedly walking into sliding glass doors?
Limitations are masters of disguise that keep us from achieving our dreams and they can be real or perceived. Real limitations are those that are beyond our control such as a person’s height and perceived limitations are those that we accept whether or not our belief is accurate. The good news is, whether perceived or real, we can overcome these road blocks. The bad news is, when we get rid of one limitation, three or more can take its place.
As a child, I remember going to the local fair and playing a game where I hit the clown heads that popped up through a dozen or so holes with a wooden hammer. Sounds easy enough but the clowns randomly popped up and down in and out of so many holes it made me dizzy. Those clowns still give me nightmares!
As I grew older, I realized that the limiting factor between me and the larger than life stuffed bear dangling from the top of the booth was not the clowns, instead it was the machine hidden from sight that controlled the speed and randomness of the clowns. But then I thought what if the machine had a manual speed control, would that make the limitation the individual running the game? Then again, if the slower speed on the machine was broken, did that mean the limitation was the machine? What if the operator tried to get the part to fix the broken speed control but the manufacturer put them on back order, did that mean the manufacturer was the limitation? I could string this on for hours, but the point is, just as every action has a reaction, every limitation has a point of origin. There is some occurrence in your life that programmed your brain to think that you cannot accomplish your dream. The point of origin as it relates to you is something you must find.
Until you discover what it is that you are being limited from doing, you cannot identify the limiting factor. As for me, I've decided to put forth what ever effort is takes to expand my investment abilities and achieve financial freedom.
Remember to always keep an open mind so you are not fooled by the Master of Disguise.
I think of a hidden limitation as a closed sliding glass door that separates me from my destination. If I try to walk through the closed door, I will walk right into the glass and most likely get a brain banger of a headache. But if I make efforts to find the handle, I can slide it open and pass through. Do you find yourself repeatedly walking into sliding glass doors?
Limitations are masters of disguise that keep us from achieving our dreams and they can be real or perceived. Real limitations are those that are beyond our control such as a person’s height and perceived limitations are those that we accept whether or not our belief is accurate. The good news is, whether perceived or real, we can overcome these road blocks. The bad news is, when we get rid of one limitation, three or more can take its place.
As a child, I remember going to the local fair and playing a game where I hit the clown heads that popped up through a dozen or so holes with a wooden hammer. Sounds easy enough but the clowns randomly popped up and down in and out of so many holes it made me dizzy. Those clowns still give me nightmares!
As I grew older, I realized that the limiting factor between me and the larger than life stuffed bear dangling from the top of the booth was not the clowns, instead it was the machine hidden from sight that controlled the speed and randomness of the clowns. But then I thought what if the machine had a manual speed control, would that make the limitation the individual running the game? Then again, if the slower speed on the machine was broken, did that mean the limitation was the machine? What if the operator tried to get the part to fix the broken speed control but the manufacturer put them on back order, did that mean the manufacturer was the limitation? I could string this on for hours, but the point is, just as every action has a reaction, every limitation has a point of origin. There is some occurrence in your life that programmed your brain to think that you cannot accomplish your dream. The point of origin as it relates to you is something you must find.
Until you discover what it is that you are being limited from doing, you cannot identify the limiting factor. As for me, I've decided to put forth what ever effort is takes to expand my investment abilities and achieve financial freedom.
Remember to always keep an open mind so you are not fooled by the Master of Disguise.
What Are Your Dreams?
Why is it that we allow life to toss our childhood dreams to the back of the closet? Why is it that some people seem to know what they want and others appear confused? Why do we give another person enough credibility to tell us our dreams are childish or impossible to accomplish? Much to the dismay of those closest to me, I never out grew the “why” phase.
I remember when my sixth grade teacher asked every student in the class what we wanted to be when we grew up. One at a time, with confidence and a pure sense of honesty, we opened our hearts. The excitement continued the following day when she had us draw a picture of us living our dream. I’m not sure what happened to the actual picture I drew, but I remember it with crispness and clarity; it was a picture of me sitting at writing desk.
Life has a sneaky way of slowly tugging our dreams until they fade from our thoughts. Sometimes the tug is from the actions of another person, such as a parent that inadvertently squashes a child’s self confidence as they try to protect the child from failing at something they were never able to accomplish. Other times the tug is from an individual’s lack of courage to pursue their own dreams. These are what I refer to as the “Master’s of Disguise”. Although they are perceived, on the surface they have credibility from years of controlling an individual’s thought process.
On the other hand some dreams can never become a reality. Take a person’s desire to become the next American Idol. After watching the auditions, it became painfully obvious to me that not everyone can sing. But the more I thought about it I realized that the contestant’s heart heard no sound, it only felt the passion to sing. Right or wrong, the heart tends to out trump logic and objectivity.
The point I’m trying to make is to honestly look at your goal and decide if you were born with the required talent. If you were not naturally gifted, then determine whether or not you have the ability to acquire the skill. When I am assessing my ability to learn I keep in mind that the most talented at something often take their ability for granted and can be out shined by those that put in the hours of hard work.
Dreams sometimes hide within a more identifiable dream and remain concealed until you put in the hours of hard work that allow you to dig deeper. Your dreams cannot become reality if you don’t know what they are.
I remember when my sixth grade teacher asked every student in the class what we wanted to be when we grew up. One at a time, with confidence and a pure sense of honesty, we opened our hearts. The excitement continued the following day when she had us draw a picture of us living our dream. I’m not sure what happened to the actual picture I drew, but I remember it with crispness and clarity; it was a picture of me sitting at writing desk.
Life has a sneaky way of slowly tugging our dreams until they fade from our thoughts. Sometimes the tug is from the actions of another person, such as a parent that inadvertently squashes a child’s self confidence as they try to protect the child from failing at something they were never able to accomplish. Other times the tug is from an individual’s lack of courage to pursue their own dreams. These are what I refer to as the “Master’s of Disguise”. Although they are perceived, on the surface they have credibility from years of controlling an individual’s thought process.
On the other hand some dreams can never become a reality. Take a person’s desire to become the next American Idol. After watching the auditions, it became painfully obvious to me that not everyone can sing. But the more I thought about it I realized that the contestant’s heart heard no sound, it only felt the passion to sing. Right or wrong, the heart tends to out trump logic and objectivity.
The point I’m trying to make is to honestly look at your goal and decide if you were born with the required talent. If you were not naturally gifted, then determine whether or not you have the ability to acquire the skill. When I am assessing my ability to learn I keep in mind that the most talented at something often take their ability for granted and can be out shined by those that put in the hours of hard work.
Dreams sometimes hide within a more identifiable dream and remain concealed until you put in the hours of hard work that allow you to dig deeper. Your dreams cannot become reality if you don’t know what they are.
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