We create our own limits

“Flea trainers have noticed a repeatable, predictable, and unusual habit when they put their specimen in a cardboard box with a lid on it.

The fleas will jump as high as possible while hitting their little flea heads on the lid that is keeping the box closed.

Now these fleas are not as stupid as you might think. They eventually figure it out and adjust the height of their jump so they no longer hit the lid.

When the flea trainers take that lid off, the fleas will not jump out of the box because they have conditioned themselves to jump only to a certain height.

It is this conditioning that keeps them in the box and prevents them from ever getting out.”

The above quote is from the Internet. The word “conditioning” triggered some thoughts in me.

What is the “lid of the box” that prevents me from achieving more?

1. Is it my fear of rejection by the customer, or the person I am trying to convince?
2. Is it my complacency of having done the bare minimum to survive?
3. It is extrapolating my past or current success to the future and therefore believing that I do not need to do anything extra?
4. It is my boss – who has a negative attitude towards me and my contribution?

For anything that we want to achieve in life, we create our own limits. Maybe these beliefs have been created inside us based on our past experiences or our fear of the unknown future.

Once we know that our beliefs are our worst enemy, we need to get them out of the way, to achieve our potential.