The only thing stopping you from reaching your goals and dreams are your limits. It’s when you meet your limits that you feel resistance and things you want seem harder to achieve. Whether it is fear, doubt, physical abilities or some other mental block, it can present a huge barrier to getting what you want.
Unfortunately most people can’t work past their limits and give up. So how far you get in reaching your dreams is very dependent on how good you are at overcoming this obstacle. Fail to push past your limits and you’ll leave your dreams unrealized. Work through them and you can make any dream or goal a reality.
Pushing Past Your Limits
A few years ago I decided to go to the gym on a regular basis. In order to build the muscle I wanted, I would regularly lift weights, do my cardio and eat well. I made a lot of progress at first, but eventually I met resistance and my exercise goals became harder to attain. I had reached my limit.
What happened was I had become complacent in my exercise routine by lifting with the same amount of weight and reps every single time I went to the gym. Looking back on it now, I can definitely see why I wasn’t making any progress. Only after increasing the weight and pushing myself to work harder was I able to take my weight-lifting goals to the next level.
I think this situation is similar to the trouble most people have in achieving their goals and dreams. No matter what you want to achieve, you’re going to eventually reach your limits and make little or no progress. You just need to make sure you’re taking the necessary action to make sure your limits don’t become a big problem.
Here are seven things you can do to push past your limits.
1. Find someone to help push you
Just that little bit of support encouraging you to keep going in the face of resistance can mean so much. Having someone on your side can counter-balance any negative thinking you might have. They can tell you to do more and push you into doing things outside of your comfort zone.
2. Take on a little more than you think you can
Pushing past your limits means taking on newer, progressively harder challenges. If you’re not challenging yourself to do bigger and better things on a regular basis, you’re only working within the confines of what you already can do. That’s a sure-fire way to stay exactly where you are and make little to no progress.
3. Imagine reaching your next level
Working on your dreams or goals can take a lot of focus. Where you put that focus matters a lot. You might know where you are and where you were, but do you know where you need to go? Imagine that next level for reaching your dreams and take steps to get there.
4. Look at how others reached where you want to go
Whatever your goals are, there are probably others who have had them and succeeded in reaching them. Look to them for clues on what they did to push past their limits on their way to success. You’ll probably find a lot of great information from examining the path they took.
5. Inspire yourself to action
Find something that inspires you to reach your goals. Whether it is a video, quote or thought that inspires you to succeed, it should be something that fills you with passion and drive to get things done. Inspiration can be a powerful motivational tool.
6. Don’t stop until exhaustion
I’ve been known to push myself so hard that I reach exhaustion. Each time I work out, I try to lift with more weight. I’ve worked on this blog for endless hours to get the HTML formatting and design just the way I want them to be. These tasks exhausted me, but they were completely necessary for me to reach my goals.
7. Work on your weaknesses
Where there are weaknesses, there are limits. Think about a marathon runner. They won’t be able to train very well for a marathon if they can’t find a good running stride or have bad nutrition. These are big areas of weakness that just makes training harder. Without correction, your weaknesses will limit how far you can take yourself.
Breaking Down Your Barriers
In order to reach your dreams or goals, you need to push through your limits and past your comfort zone. There are no shortcuts. Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. That’s been my personal motto for success in life. It’s my way of reminding me to constantly push myself and not settle for average.
When you’re facing your limits and you feel that resistance, it can seem hard to overcome. But just by pushing yourself a little harder, you can really accomplish some great things. And the funny thing is that once you do, you can look back and wonder just why you ever thought it was that difficult to begin with. Don’t let limits stop you from doing anything.
photo credit: tableatny
Hey Steve,
this is a great post. If I may, We have a related post on Limiting Beliefs which anyone who enjoyed your post above (as I did) may benefit from too – it has a simple exercise which anyone can use to challenge and overcome their limiting beliefs (which unfortunately most of us do have).
The other thing to mention is that pushing through your boundaries can be a habit – the more you do it, the better you become at it. It’s like a kind of resistance we all feel from time to time, but using this as a trigger for action and a sign that you have an opportunity to push through some boundaries rather than sticking with the status quo is an extremely powerful hait to get into,
great stuff as always Steve,
Alan
Hey Alan, I know the resistance you’re talking about. I lived that feeling of resistance for a good portion of my life. It’s what kept me from doing many of the things I wanted growing up. Fortunately it’s true that pushing through your boundaries can become a habit. What is more, the further you push that boundary, the more you wonder just how far it goes or even if there is a boundary at all. Lately I’ve started to think that I can do anything. And I know that I would never have felt that way if I hadn’t pushed past my limits in the past.
The reality is that we are all born with limitations, and pushing boundaries won’t overcome them.Genetics play a huge role in on task performance.Pushing hard, or super dooper effort isn’t going to alter your limitations, because they are rooted in your genetic makeup.
Nice List Steve,
these are all great techniques to use to push yourself.
I use two other techniques that may or may not work for others..
I break up my goal into smaller chunks if possible.
2- I tell other people who i think care about my goal. It not only helps keep me accountable but because i’m doing it partly for someone else it motivates me more.
example, when i wanted to quit smoking, i told my kids i was going to quit. they were so happy because they thought i was going to die from cancer. I didn’t want to let them down and that was the tipping point that kept a cigarette and keeps cigarettes from touching my lips for over a decade now.
although i do enjoy cigarellos from time to time with my husband while he sips brandy. 🙂
That’s great that you’ve kept yourself away from cigarettes for so long. I have another friend who has tried to quit several times now with no luck. I think I’m fortunate for never having picked up the habit before.
You know what’s strange is that I’ve heard that when you make big goals that you’re actually not suppose to tell people about them. I guess there was a study that showed people who tell others about goals feel a sense of accomplishment from just saying their goals and that decreases their likelihood of actually doing them.
For me, I tend to keep it a secret from everyone except my wife. I tell her everything. I don’t know if selectively telling people is good or not, but so far I’ve been good at reaching my goals.
I’ve heard that too; hat tell people about your goal gives you a false sense of accomplishment but I think that may be true to a sense.
Good advice. The start of a project is always the most exciting for me and I always get a lot of traction, it’s following through to the end that seems to get in my way. I like step #2 especially, I’ll keep that in mind with my next projects!
I’ve had problems with follow through in the past too. It can be hard to keep going once you’re past the beginning stages since those are the most exciting parts. I tend to do visualization on the goals and that brings up my original drive. So far, it’s worked pretty well.
I don’t know whether you put the means of pushing through your limits in order of importance, but I think your point number one is the most important – having people to encourage you. I’ve tried to do many things without people encouraging me, and even sometimes discouraging me, and it’s really difficult to believe that you can do something with negative remarks surrounding you. If you want to accomplish something, I think you need to weed out of your life the people who say you can’t. It can probably make all the difference between success and failure.
You’re pretty sharp, Sabina. I did put that one in the number one spot because I thought it was the most important. Although the others are in no particular order. Just having someone to talk to if you’re feeling a little discouragement can keep you going. I know that I’ve helped my wife (and vice-versa) before when one of us was feeling a little low.
You’re right about negative remarks. Have you ever had someone tell you something so often that you eventually begin to think it is true? That’s what someone saying something negative to you can do. And that’s why it is so important to weed that negativity out as much as possible.
Hi Steve,
Thank you for the great advice you give us here.
“In order to reach your dreams or goals, you need to push through your limits and past your comfort zone.” => I like your message and I definitely agree with you.
Sometimes we feel scared when being outside of the comfort zone. Then we need to remind the destination, the goal, the dream in order to find the power to continue.
Thank you for sharing that.
Lenia
Thanks Lenia, I’m glad you like the message. Being outside of your comfort zone can be scary, but it really is necessary to get more out of life.
Do you mean that by trying different things we can expand our comfort zone?Thanks for the nice article.
hi dear freinds .my own situation is becoming frustrating.you guys can imagine what am going through .have you ever had all the will and determination inside of you yet can do nothing .i feel like am blocked like i can never reach any goal .i feel down .frustrated .it seems like all my efforts will take no where .whenever i want to start working hard ;frustration starts coming.i start feeling bloked.and the same thing happens again and again everyday.now i dont even know what to go again.i realy have a lot of ambitions and dreams.pleas i need help.hear my cry .help me please dear freinds.i need your helps .tell me what to do or where to go to from here.
You are fighting this by commenting here. Read up on people who have surmounted this same problem. Have faith and believe in God. He is real. Hang in there and be positive. You will be fine in Jesus name Amen.
Do what Steve recommended in point 1. Get Somebody who believe in you to push you. Be willing to allow them to push you. Do what they encourage you to do. Always remember that nothing moves until a force is applied. By getting someone to push you, you are applying the required force to move your life forward..
Steve, the list is awesome and I am very much related to some of them. I do night shift work and couldn’t get past my limit and got very sleepy before.
Right after my child was born, I started pushing myself beyond my limits and was able to add more and more hours and became productive, gradually. Just a quick look at my baby and my dreams for her motivated me enough.
I learned more from this article and I hope other people can read your list, my friend.
Thanks a lot!
why do people push my limit,s
One thing that is stopping you to go above your limits is your mind. It is your greatest weapon and your greatest enemy. Check my blog Go Above and Beyond Your Limits Hope this will help. Thank you.
Cheer
Anne