Do you ever feel stuck? Not sure how to move to the next rung, take the next step or drive the next mile? What does it mean to be stuck? Are you stuck when you stay in a job or business that has you barely getting by? Does it mean staying in an abusive relationship? Does it mean accepting the fact that you just don’t have the money to purchase the things you want?
If you’re stuck you can get past this if you are willing to look at the facts. The first is that getting stuck is part of our growth process as human beings. We learn because we get stuck. Albert Einstein said it this way, “once we accept our limits we go beyond them.”
True limits exist in life and until we acknowledge their existence it is impossible to get past them. You can’t climb a mountain that does not exist and you can’t overcome an obstacle until you acknowledge that it’s there. Make the obstacle real and you can begin to challenge the limits that surround the obstacle.
I’m going to use finances for a minute. If you are struggling to make enough money to pay all of your bills you have to look clearly at the “obstacle”. In many cases the obstacle is plural and represents a list of items that need to be acknowledged. The biggest obstacle, when it comes to finances, are not enough income and too much debt. If you have no debt you just need more income. If you have lots of debt you need more income and a plan to eliminate debt. Once the debt is gone you need a plan to accumulate a portion of the income and turn the savings into more income by purchasing cash flowing assets. Some people make wealth accumulation complex, it really is not. It simply takes time, discipline, education and action (work).
So why aren’t more people wealthy? Because most people won’t admit that the limitation exists because by admitting it requires action. Admitting the limitation causes pain. When we have pain our natural instinct is to address the pain until it’s gone.
Denying pain causes inaction.
Think of it this way. If you stepped on a nail your natural tendency would be to immediately give attention to your foot because it’s giving you pain. But what would happen if you try to ignore it? There are a few options. It might heal itself. That would be great but unlikely. It could get very infected. If you continued to ignore it the infection could spread and eventually cause the leg to become so infected that you couldn’t walk. Then if you continued to ignore it death would become a very real possibility. What would normally happen if you ignored it when it becomes infected the pain would get very bad so you are likely to go to the doctor to get some help. The doctor would likely administer a shot and some antibiotics and in most cases that would be the end of it. The point here is not how the foot would heal it is the fact that once pain is acknowledge you are forced to make a plan of action and then take action to address the pain. The sooner the pain is acknowledged the sooner you will begin to take action.
If you are in debt up to your eyeballs and you continue to borrow money without increasing your income eventually the pain is going to cause you to need a “doctor” or your finances will see death which is commonly known as bankruptcy.
So why do we ignore our limitations? Because they are painful to acknowledge and admitting them requires action. Admitting it requires us first to acknowledge we’ve done something wrong, that we have failed at that attempt and but that does not make you a failure. You are only a failure if you fail to try again.
As we head into a new year are you willing to acknowledge your limitations? Are you willing to take a journey to learn what you can do to eliminate obstacles that stand in the way of your goals? Take the first step, admit it.
When you admit your limitations your potential becomes limitless.
To your lifelong prosperity,
David Mulvaney
P.S. Take a step in the right direction. If you need help let’s have a conversation and help you make a plan. To schedule a call click here.