Skip to main content

And Crawl If You Must -- Writer's Poke #433

I like that science can demonstrate limits. For example, physics can show that the farthest a batter could ever hit a baseball is 748 feet. Keep in mind that no major league player has ever hit a ball farther than 565 feet, and that record has stood for 60 years. Nevertheless, science knows that an ideal pitcher could throw a ball 111 miles per hour, and a 6 foot 8 inch, 247 pound batter could hit a ball 748 feet. That’s cool.

Many times in life, we don’t know the limitations. Fact: many of us don’t realize that the limitations don’t apply to us. They might exist, but they should have nothing to do with us striving to maximize our potential. In other words, we are often our own worst limitation in life.

Why don’t more people try to achieve their dreams? Why is “I can’t” such a common phrase? To a certain extent, “I can’t” is something learned from the experience of immediate failure –  it’s something, immediate failure, that little kids pick up on quite quickly. Why? Because potential requires effort. Thank god most kids are willing to fight through “I can’t” when it comes to learning to tie their shoes, or else a lot of adults would be going around tripping on their shoe laces. Somehow, kids learn to tie their shoes and ride their bikes. Kids learn to read, add, subtract, etc.

Keep in mind: all of these activities require effort, and they all take hours of practice. We see someone riding a bike, and we see the product of the effort; how often do we assume that the person is a “natural” when, in truth, they faced the same struggle that anyone else faces when learning the process?

Don’t let yourself be the obstacle to your success. And don’t forget that the only limitation in your life is not being willing to try.

Why are some people able to overcome limitations in life?



Popular posts from this blog