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Know your limits, not so you can honor them, but so that you can smash them to pieces and reach for magnificence. - Cherie Carter-Scott
I am the queen of smashing my limits!
I have mastered techniques for overcoming my fears and reaching out for whatever I want. In the past, before I discovered these techniques, I believed that I was only meant to go so far and no further. I bought into the idea that there were certain things I just couldn't do.
I was wrong!
After I discovered these techniques, I allowed myself to think about all the things I wanted to do and then I did them. When I was in graduate school, I decided I didn't want to live in Arizona any more. So, after I finished my coursework, I packed my stuff and moved to California to write my thesis. I had a couple of girlfriends out there, but no job, nowhere to live, just an idea that I wanted to move. Of course, everything worked out great and California was a blast.
After I finished graduate school, I decided I wanted to join the Army. Since I didn't know anything about the military, I decided to enlist. This was unheard of and at first the recruiters told me I couldn't do it. Everyone with a degree, especially a graduate degree, went in as an officer. That's not what I wanted. At first I was discouraged, but I applied the techniques I've outlined below and the next thing I knew, I was enlisted in the Army at 27 with a master's degree.
The stories go on from there. I found myself running around catching spies...simply because I wanted to. I then found myself owning my own business and developing a million-dollar empire, again, simply because I wanted to.
Truly, there are no limits.
In order to begin the process of unleashing the all-powerful you, you must eliminate the perceived limits that hold you in place. This may sound easy, but the process can be difficult and trying at times. This is why a lot of people never make it beyond their perceived boundaries.
Imagine, if you will, you are out for a leisurely Sunday stroll in your neighborhood. You happen upon a house with a dog sitting on the front lawn. There's no fence, no wall, and the dog is just sitting there. You think to yourself, "Wow, that is one well-trained, or very lazy, dog." At that moment you see a cat run right by the yard and stop directly in front of the dog at the edge where the yard meets the sidewalk.
Now, this is just odd enough that you decide to stop and watch. The two sit and stare at each other for a moment. In your mind you hear the infamous whistling of the theme from a western showdown. All of a sudden, the dog takes off running toward the cat. The dog is barking and carrying on, there is no doubt he wants and will have that cat. But, the cat just sits there, staring calmly at the dog.
You start to get nervous, wondering if you should just stand there or try to help. Just as the dog gets ten feet from the cat, and your heart starts to pound, you hear a screaming yelp come from the dog. The dog actually appears to fly backward and then slink away with his tail between his legs. You swear you see the cat smiling as it saunters down the sidewalk.
Upon closer inspection, you notice that the dog is wearing a collar with a box on it. You realize that the yard must have an invisible electric fence planted just beneath the surface. Ingenious! What else could keep a dog from attacking a cat that close to his home?
And that dog WANTED that cat.
You were there; you saw the desire and determination. But at the first sign of discomfort, the dog turned away. What you know, and apparently the dog does not, is that if he had just kept running, the shock would have dissipated and the cat would have been his.
If he had just kept running he would have attained his goal.
What a great analogy for the process of overcoming your fears in eliminating your limits. Most of us are walking around with our very own shock collars fastened around our necks. Our invisible electric fences are in different place, but we all have them. Some of us have a 1 mile radius within which to roam, some of us have a 10 mile radius, and some of us have a 100 mile radius. But, each of us has a point at which we know if we move any further, we'll start to feel discomfort. But, like the dog, what most of us don't realize is if we just keep moving, the shock will end and we'll be on the other side of the invisible electric fence.
This is how it feels to free yourself from your perceived limits.
So, keeping this in mind, the following are 5 steps you can take to eliminate your limits.
1. Understand, I mean really know, that your limits ARE NOT REAL. Every time a perceived limit is in front of you, remember the story of the dog. You may feel uncomfortable as you reach and surpass your perceived limit, but as you keep moving beyond it, the discomfort fades and the limit becomes a thing of the past.
2. For each perceived limit you encounter, ask yourself why you think it's a limit. This may sound a little weird, but our concepts of limits always come from somewhere. It might not be easy to identify the source of the limit right away, but think back to when you first accepted the limit. Let's say you think one of your limits is that you can't run a marathon. Why? Why do you think you can't run a marathon? Is it because no one in your family has ever run a marathon? Is it because no one you know has ever run a marathon? Is it because when you were 7 a teacher at school told you that you weren't a "runner?" Sometimes we are given these messages for so long, we have a hard time remembering when they started and at what point we began to accept them as fact.
3. Find examples of people who do not seem to have your perceived limits. In the marathon example, talk with people who run marathons. Go to a marathon and watch the hordes of people running. Buy a copy of a running magazine and read the articles about people who started running as adults. There are tons of ways to find positive reinforcement when you are in the process of eliminating your limits. Get creative!
4. Change your thinking and speaking patterns. Eliminate all negative and limiting thoughts from your mind and your language. You are your own worst enemy when it comes to self-perception. If you truly believe yourself to be magnificent, then other people will start to believe it, too. But, if you believe you are limited and less than great, others will buy into that theory, as well. You don't believe me? Try it. Try telling yourself every day that you are amazing. Do the method from a Saturday Night Live skit, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, gosh darn it, people like me." But make sure you're not negating this practice by saying pessimistic and limiting things. Start to pay attention to the conversations you have with others. You might be shocked at how many of them revolve around complaining and comparing "life sucks" stories. Stop it! This gets you nowhere. Try to remove yourself from any situation in which this type of conversing is happening. You don't need it, it does you no good, just say NO.
5. And, lastly, KEEP RUNNING! No matter how uncomfortable the process may seem at times, remind yourself over and over that as soon as you clear your invisible electric fence, the shock will stop. Once you start into the middle of it, you might as well keep going. It's like getting halfway around a track. You can turn around, but the distance back to where you were is the same as the distance to where you want to be...sometimes farther.
And there you have it. Follow these five steps and you will be well on your way to eliminating the limits in your life. For more information, you visit my website at TonyaDawn.com
Tonya Dawn's heart and soul lie in two things: her family and her passion to change the world. She and her husband, Justin, founded TJ Recla. Her vision is to "Change the World by Redefining POWER."
Using their academic achievements and years of counterintelligence experience, they built a company that provides vital information for individual and organizational success.
Tonya's books, The 3-Day Abundance Challenge and WAR: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Power and Safety, provide practical, easy-to-use tools and are an essential read for anyone who wants POWERful, positive change.
From her experience as an Army soldier and US government spy-catching counterintelligence agent, Tonya delivers POWERful cognitive, emotional and physical tips.
Tonya's campaign "Live in the Pink!" is her testament to living life in awareness and harnessing the POWER in each moment.
Don't miss an opportunity to hear her story and take advantage of the training she designed to help individuals declare WAR on their fears and Live in the Pink!
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