Beyond Limitations

There are no limitations except the ones you set for yourself. If there is something restricting your progress, it is because you see it as limitation. And as long as you continue to see it as limitation, you will continue to be restricted by it. 

Do you realise that what some people see as limitations are opportunities for others? Francis Madujemu, a Nigerian motivator once narrated the story of a woman could not read and write. This woman went around looking for a job, but no employer was willing to employ her because she could not read and write.

Realising that she could not get a job, she went into business. With strong determination, she grew her business into an empire and became a multi-millionaire.

Dear reader, the only thing stopping you from achieving your aim in life is the limitation you set for yourself. The limitation is that defect, difficulty, or problem that you think is the reason you cannot achieve your goals. 

Regardless of the condition or situation you are in, the fact is, no problem or difficulty can limit your progress in life, unless you allow them. The more you see certain problem as limitation, the more limited you become. If you must overcome any “limitation” and achieve your goal in life, you must be ready to take concrete actions concerning those things you call limitations.

Below are five steps you can take to overcome all your limitations.

1.   Stop Building Limitations

A Sorneo proverb says, “Where the heart is unwilling, it will find a thousand excuse; where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways.”

Those limitations you have built are the walls that have restricted your onward movement. To make progress in life, you must knock down those limitations by refusing to see them as limitations.

There is no condition you are in today that others have not been into, but those who refused to see the condition as limitations, went beyond their limitations and became great.

Stop seeing problems as limitations. Problems are part of life and they are not meant to restrict us. If they are meant to restrict us, then, all the super successful people in the society would have been restricted in life. They had challenges (and lots of them) as well, but they refused to allow the challenges to hold them down.

Stop building limitations by refusing to see all the problems that confront you as limitations.

2.   Condition Your Mind to Possibilities

“If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23). Norman Vincent Peale, the author of “The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking”, narrated the story of two men who fell into a newly-dug grave while passing through the cemetery in the night. The first person that fell into the grave tried several times to get out but could not. He gave up trying.

 Another man, unaware that a fresh grave was dug on the way he normally passed every night from his place of work to his home, fell into the same grave. He made an attempt to get out of the grave, but the man who had fell into the grave before him advised him not to bother himself as it was impossible to do so. The second man ignored him and made several attempts. After sometime, he got out of the grave, leaving the other man there.

The starting point to overcoming your limitations is BELIEVING that you can overcome them. Often, what stops people from overcoming in life is not lack of ability, but unbelief. Unbelief shuts down your abilities and prevents you from trying your best to succeed. Belief on the other hand, triggers or awakens your abilities and prompts you to get the “seemingly impossible” done.

The illiterate woman above did not conclude it was all over because she could not get a job. Rather, she believed that despite her lack of education, she could still achieve outstanding success. And she did!

Dear reader, it is not the giants on the Promised Land that is the problem; it is your belief system. Do you believe you can overcome the giants in the Promised Land? Do you believe you can be victorious in every aspect of your life? You need to constantly work on your mind. Don’t allow any unpleasant situation to make you doubt your ability. Train yourself to always believe that you can achieve any goal you set for yourself.

3.   Think Out of the Box

What does thinking out of the box mean? To think out of the box means not to be rigid in your line of thinking. When you are rigid in your thinking, you always hold the belief that there is only one way of doing a particular thing, and unless one does such a thing in that particular way, there is no assurance of success.

Dear reader, do not limit yourself in your thinking. There is no limit to what you can think of and because there is no limit to what you can think of, there is no limit to what you can do. IF YOU CAN THINK AND IMAGINE THINGS, THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE ON EARTH.

The woman had no education but she was not rigid in her thinking. She was flexible in her thinking. She thought out of the box by refusing to conclude that being employed was the only of making a fortune in life. She thought out of the box by saying, “If I can,t be employed, I can at least employ myself and still succeed in life.

Like this woman, when you are in a fix, don’t be rigid in your thinking. Be flexible. There are many ways you can succeed in life. It is not only through one way that you can succeed in life. WHEN YOU THINK OUT OF THE BOX, THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT YOU CAN ACHIEVE IN LIFE.

4.   Resolve to Actualise Your Ideas

Action is the mother of all achievements. It is not enough to think out of the box, you must also take positive steps to practicalise the ideas. You may have million-dollar ideas but unless you do something about them, you are not going to make millions from those ideas.

The woman did not only think out of the box, she also took steps to practicalise her business idea.

It takes strong determination to actualise one’s ideas. The woman had no education, but she had strong determination and this was her saving grace.

Dear reader, if you must overcome your “limitations” and achieve great success in life, you must:

•   Stop building limitation. Nothing can be a limitation to your progress in life except the one you consider to be a limitation.

•  Condition your mind to possibilities. Instead of doubting the successful outcome of your enterprise, believe all things are possible. Successful businesses are run by people who BELIEVE that things will turn out well.

• Think out of the box by training your mind to believe that it is not only through one method that you can succeed. There are many successful principles you can apply to succeed in life.

•   Resolve to actualise your ideas. Determine to put in all the effort you can muster to get things done.

This is the way to overcome your limitations and only those who follow this way will be victorious in life!