We Have Limits For A Reason

One of the most successful movie franchises in American culture is the Marvel superhero stories. Each one is dedicated to providing a more robust backstory for each and every superhero.

But, why is this element important? Why does it matter that we are watching movies about superhuman characters who experience their own humanity? Because, deeply embedded in our socially conditioned psyches, is this desire to always supersede our limitations. The process of humanizing godlike characters is simply just a method within movie making to connect the viewer to the story. But, in short, the characters are still beyond human.

We currently live in a culture that worships the idea of constantly extending ourselves. From hustle culture to biohacking subcultures that have emerged (companies like BulletproofCoffee (I love them!)) -- all of them seek to create new narratives where we can live beyond our limits.

Whether or not their scientific claims hold true shouldn’t really matter; because the darker side of promoting humans that can extend their limitations negates the reality that we still have experiences and phenomena known as cognitive overload.

In the field of the cognitive sciences, we referred to this experience is something that emerges within the limitations of our mental capacities.

The temptation is to hear this, and automatically assume that somehow limitations are bad or evil. But somehow our limitations are a form of weakness. But, what if it’s actually the opposite? What is this experience of cognitive overload is simply just an evolutionary reminder of being OK with these particular boundaries that psychology has set up for us long before we were ever conceived? This is strictly about perception. The nature of cognitive overload is to stifle creativity and normalize its presence as that which stifles creativity. Have you heard yourself or someone says: "I'm just not that creative!" - That's not true, neuroscience has shown we all have an area of the brain - known as the frontal cortex where creativity resides. However, cognitive overload actively sabotages it. But, we have to give up a bit of our rationality to sabotage the dispensation toward mental overload. It's not easy, when we're taught that rationality should be our default mode.

“The neural processes underlying that which we call creativity have nothing to do with rationality. That is to say, if we look at how the brain generates creativity, we will see that it is not a rational process at all; creativity is not born out of reasoning.”

― Rodolfo R. Llinás, I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self

Why does it matter in the context of work and business? Because the reality is until we discover a magic pill that makes us all live forever without any health-related limitations, we have to accept this as part of our reality. In doing so, this means employers and employees need to be more actively involved in their own health and mental health journeys. That we need to be OK with setting limitations and boundaries around health, focus, energy and self-care. This is a good thing. Because that means we can be present with those other areas of our lives that we also mortality?

It means our level of performance is not sacrificed in the name of some need to work beyond our limitations. It means we can be in all of the moments that we are experiencing, and still make time for celebrating the life that allows us to work in our offices or at our homes. It allows us to celebrate the relationships that we are all participating in.

Also, employers would like employees who invest in their own limitations - because then it gives human resources the task of building a team, rather then the unnecessary pressure of hiring the next Captain America. Its freeing to know your own limits and to value your own boundaries -- it breed success.