Don’t Put Limits On Your Capabilities

Over the holiday I took my family to “The Museum of Science and Industry” here in Chicago.

If you ever make it to Chicago, I highly recommend a visit. Amazing exhibits and learning around every corner.

The learning was expected as I always come away with a few new tidbits after spending a day at the Museum. However, most of the time the lessons are factual and they make for great dinner banter. This time the trip to the museum was slightly different.

This time, I learned something about myself and it is a lesson that everyone can benefit from in some way.

We All Limit Ourselves in Some Way, But Do We Do This Too Often?

Toward the end of the day as we were getting ready to head home for a Christmas Eve party we went to a special exhibit called “The Lost Archives of Walt Disney.”

The exhibit was a magical timeline of Disney from his youth through his passing in 1965. However, as we all know the magic of Disney has lived long beyond Walt’s passing. As we all know, the name Disney has become synonymous with family entertainment.

As we finished the exhibit the very last stop was the “Disney Animation Studio.”

With a pencil and a clipboard you could learn to draw Disney Characters in 15 minutes. I didn’t believe it. I can’t draw. Never really could. I always liked trying to draw, but what I created would be an insult to art.

But my kids wanted to try and the last thing I wanted to do was tell them they shouldn’t. My kids also wanted me to try, and the last thing I wanted them to see was that I wasn’t willing to try to do something because I didn’t believe I was good at it.

So I sat down and listened as the animation studio facilitator led the session. Teaching us about shapes, symmetry and applications where these talents could be useful.

Architecture, engineering, graphic design…all professions I admire and know I probably wouldn’t be great at. Nonetheless this was just a sketching lesson and it was fun. So I went with it.

15 minutes later and we had a sketch of Minnie Mouse. My daughter Hailey looks over my shoulder and said, “Dad, that is awesome!” as only a 12 year old would do.

I smiled and thought to myself, that isn’t half-bad. Especially for a guy who didn’t think he could draw. After the first session we stayed and did another. This time it was Mickey.

These are hardly masterpieces, but I hope we can agree that the effort here wasn’t half bad given my self-proclaimed artistic deficiency.

A Lesson and Reminder in What is Possible!

The lesson here isn’t new, however it is one that we cannot be reminded of enough. Don’t set limits on yourself. You are capable of so much more!

Too often we put limits on ourselves. We decide because we aren’t good at something that it isn’t worth trying or even worse because someone else told us we aren’t talented at something that we should quit.

This past week I reminded myself once again that I can do things that my mind often tells me I shouldn’t or cannot. The fact is we are capable of more and we should strive to do more. We should allow our minds to be our guide in reaching farther and higher as opposed to setting limits.

What could you do if your didn’t put limits on your potential?

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