You can't be whatever you want (and why that's okay)

“You can be anything you want to be when you grow up!”

That was a lie.

It was a well-meaning lie, spoken by earnest adults to little kid me. It was meant to be inspirational. There are tons of things adult me can’t do.

• I’m 100lbs too lightweight to play football
• I’m at least five or six inches too short to play basketball
• I don’t have rhythm to create music

I could go on and on. I have limitations. You have your own limitations.

It turns out, though, that there are helpful benefits to limitations.

Everyday Limitations

Limitations are everywhere. At work. At home. Small limitations. Big limitations.

• Money – At home or at work, we’re constrained by money. Unless you’re Jeff Bezos (Hi Jeff, thanks for reading!), you’ve probably got a budget to work with.
• Time – In this, at least, we’re all equal.
• People – Your company department doesn’t go on forever. There’s only so many people available.

Beat limits with these two questions

Back in my young, single days, I wasted a lot of time. Now that I’m a parent, my free time has tightened to a very narrow sliver. Choosing how I use that time is much more important than it used to be.

Everything is under the microscope.

Deadlines at work are the same way. As I take on more responsibilities, I have to change the way I work. I need to delegate some things. I need to take on other things.

Limitations focus your attention and resources. Ask yourself these two questions:

1. What do I need to do?
2. What’s keeping me from doing it?

These questions reveal your limitations. Like the rules of The Matrix, some limitations can be bent or broken. Here’s how.

The three benefits of limits

Knowing your limitations gives you an edge. You’ll have the advantage in three ways.

• Focus – You’ll know what you need to prioritize. Lots of good things will suck away your time and resources. Knowing your limits forces you to focus on what’s truly important and impactful.
• Innovation – You’re never more creative than when you have limits. You’ll come up with solutions you didn’t know possible. The movie “Apollo 13” showcases how innovative you can get with limited resources. After a moon mission went bad, NASA engineers and scientists on Earth tackled the problem in new and creative ways to get the astronauts home safely.
• Clarity – When every option is available to you, the list of possible decisions becomes endless. It’s really hard to pick something and move forward with so many choices. Limitations give you clarity by highlighting only the main paths forward. It can be easier to make decisions and keep on the road.

We often think of limits as keeping us from succeeding. But in a very real sense, they help us make progress in life.

Take action

Of course, it’s also possible to look at your limitations and give up.

“It’s just too hard!” “I can’t do it!” “I quit!”

Limitations can feel daunting when you first look at them. Take a deep breath. Then:

1. Set your goals/deadlines clearly
2. Manage your time
3. Get creative

Setting goals and deadlines (and then sticking to them) gives you a fixed point to operate from. You can make estimates and plan. You’ll be less tempted to procrastinate. You’ll work with urgency.

But that can only happen if you get ruthless with managing your time. I mean, really ruthless.

Five minutes scrolling here and there adds up. Letting “just one more episode” stream gobbles time. You’ll look back and wonder where the time went. You’ll complain, “If I just had more hours in the day!” Take charge of your time. Tell it what to do for you.

Even then, you won’t be able to do everything. You won’t have all the resources. That’s your opportunity to get creative. To think outside the box. To be clever.

Get creative with your solutions. If you don’t know how to be creative, start learning. The more things you learn, the better you’ll be able to mix and match ideas into a new successful result.

I didn’t let being too short for the NBA ruin my life. I can’t do everything in life. That doesn’t need to stop me from having an amazing life anyway.

You can have an amazing life, too.

What limitation is going to drive your success today?