Are You Limiting Your Potential?

Do you have a clear vision for your professional success? A vision is a thing or idea perceived vividly in the imagination. It answers the question, “What would it look like if I achieved my purpose and my specific goals?”

It’s not unusual to limit our personal vision with negative thoughts or scarcity thinking. To see if you have this tendency, see how many of the following thoughts you find yourself holding from time to time.
• I can’t have what I want.
• I want what someone else wants.
• It doesn’t matter what I want; I can’t have it.
• I’m not smart enough (or educated enough).
• I don’t have enough money (or time).
• I’m too old (or too young).
• I’m not tall enough, thin enough, good-looking enough, talented enough…
• My spouse (partner, boss, kids, parents, etc.) won’t let me.
• I am afraid of what I want.
• I don’t know what I want.
• I know what I want, but I can’t have it at work.
• I have what I want, so what?

Did you see yourself in any of these statements? Perhaps you hold a limiting belief not listed here. Whatever the thought may be, take a moment now to examine it. Let’s assume your “limitation” is a fact, such as age. What if you’re over 60? Can you think of anyone over the age of 60 who achieved a vision? Of course! The very first hit of a Google search listed the following achievers over the age of 60: Ronald Reagan, Sam Snead, Gandhi, William Jennings Bryan, Benjamin Franklin, Frank McCourt, Leonardo da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, Michelangelo, and Winston Churchill. How about not having enough money or time? When you really think about it, I’m sure you’ll be able to think of at least one person who overcame similar circumstances.

A number of the limiting thoughts are attitudes, not unchangeable facts. You could face your fears, risk disappointing your spouse, determine what would make your heart soar, and even change jobs, if you wanted to badly enough. In truth, most people let seeming limitations hold them back because it’s safer that way. If we don’t try, we don’t fail. As Confucius put it, “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

An Olympic Inspiration - Laura Wilkinson

A favorite inspirational Olympic story I love to share with clients is that of Laura Wilkinson's 2000 Olympic diving gold medal. Laura had been injured and unable to dive for THREE months earlier in 2000. Yet somehow she was able to come from eighth position in the standings to blow past the competition and win the gold medal. How did she do it?

After her injury and knowing she had faced the Olympic games in just a few months, Laura used the mind technique of mental rehearsal to conduct her training every day, just as if she was actually going into the pool. For hours she would "practice" the dives in her mind, seeing herself walk to the ladder, climb up, walk to the edge, look into the water, and take her dive. She imagined every detail and saw herself completing in each dive perfectly, over and over again - for three months. When it came time for the games, she just did what she had done hundreds times before in her mind.

There are so many ways we can use mental rehearsal in nurturing ourselves professionally and personally. Whether it's getting out of bed early to exercise or having that difficult but necessary conversation with a boss or peer at work, the process is the same. Imagine exactly how you would like the scene to go, be as detailed as possible, and see yourself performing perfectly. Be sure to feel good about the experience as you see it in your mind. This will fuel you even more, as certain parts of the brain do not distinguish what's real from what's imagined. Those good feelings repeated over and over will actually help you get out of bed or face your boss.