Do you have a habit of arguing for your limitations rather than for your possibilities?
What do I mean by arguing for limitations?
You arguing for your limitations is you getting a great idea and then convincing yourself why it cannot be possible.
Sound silly, when said like this, right? Why would anyone want to do that, right? So the obvious solution is to just stop doing that, right?
Stopping sounds so simple. And easy. But in reality, it is not so easy. Simple – yes! Easy – no!
So to make it easier, realize that the point is not to stop arguing for your limitations altogether at once. That’s too much to ask from anyone. Instead, become aware of your arguments, and the habit of arguing. Already then, by being aware of it, you automatically have questioned your arguments and are open for change.
As with anything, it starts with awareness.
For example, one of my clients who works in the wellness business, wanted to grow the number of her followers. Which of course would mean that she’d needed to become more visible to wider audiences. However, every time I suggested that she’d reach out to different media outlets, to get her message across to tens if not hundreds of thousands of people at once, she had a whole lot of reasons why it was not possible.
The timing was never right. Her message wasn’t interesting enough. She wasn’t ready yet, because she didn’t have the right kind of outfit in her closet. Or something as silly as that.
In other words, she argued for her limitations.
One way to challenge your arguing for the limitations is to play the game of ‘what if’. And that’s what we did with her. She got to think about what would happen if she did pitch the media as well as what would happen if she did not pitch the media.
Seeing the different alternatives, both the possibilities and the limitations in her mind, she decided it was crazy not to go forward with getting her message shared. Within two weeks from that, with the strategy we created, she was interviewed in one the biggest radio channels in Finland and has been featured in magazines and different radio shows many times after that.
She, for sure, is not arguing for her limitations anymore. Neither should you.
Therefore, take a moment to identify and write down in which areas of your life you’ve been arguing for your limitations rather than for your possibilities.
Is there anything you could do about it? Would you like to? What would happen if you would?
And do reach out to me if you’d like to get your message shared with wider audiences, too!
Much love,
Paula
xx