IDENTIFY YOUR LIMITING FACTOR
In almost everything you do, a single factor sets the speed at which you achieve your goals or complete a job. This factor is a constraint that determines how effectively you manage yourself and others and how successful you are at achieving a specific outcome.
To put it another way, we could say that your performance is determined by your potential, less interference. This interference could be a limiting thought, an unhelpful behavior, or any external influences or distractions that have a negative impact on your focus and ability to perform an activity.
Many people are limited by a negative self-image and hold themselves back unnecessarily because they do not believe in their own abilities. If this rings true for you, you need to come to an understanding of what you have learned to think and believe about yourself so that you can unwind any negative thought patterns and start thinking and behaving in new ways.
To improve your performance and unleash your potential, you must identify and remove your limiting factor and limiting beliefs. Focus on what it is that interferes with your abilities and prevents you from performing at your best. When you take action at that level, you address the root cause of some of your biggest challenges.
Identifying your limiting factor and reducing interference could be the one of the most important actions you take on your road to success.
Exercise: Your Limiting Factor
Take a moment to think about what your limiting factor might be.
1. On a separate piece of paper, identify and write down all the situations you can think of in which you tend to hold yourself back or not perform at your best. Examples might include giving presentations, facing off with senior stakeholders, challenging team members, or any other project-related activity.
2. Look at each of the situations you have identified and examine which underlying beliefs and habits might be interfering with your performance. Do you, for instance, believe that you are not good enough at certain things? Do you deliberately put yourself down? Perhaps you avoid certain situations or tasks because you do not enjoy them. Write down anything that comes to mind.
3. Go back to the previous exercise and examine the root causes you identified. Could any of these root causes be your limiting factor?
4. Which beliefs and habits do you need to change in order to address your limiting factor?
