Now you can consider your limitation as advantages

Have you ever considered your limitation as advantages?

This is the third message in the “Limitation & Advantages” series. The first message shared with you the big picture, the five steps how you can win with your limitations. In the message, I am not suggesting us to ignore our limitation. None of us is perfect and instead of resisting our limitation, we should be able to acknowledge and befriend them, that is the beginning of how we can overcome and stretch them.

You should notice that the tag line of this blog is “Turning limitation into advantages, helping introverts to be successful.” That message will be empty without any examples. The second message in this series, the 7 interesting (and useful) facts about my flaws, will help you to know me better, the struggle and limitations I have. Hopefully this message will also become an inspiration on how you can turn limitation into advantages.

This article will share with you the reasons why you can consider your limitation as advantages. I have divided them into two, this part will share their benefits for you and the next one will share their benefits in the relationships you have.

How does your limitation actually help you?

1) Limitation helps you focus

Before my accident, there were ten thousand things I could do, and now there are only one thousand. I’d rather focus on the thousand left.

W. Mitchell

I know W. Mitchell from the book DNA of Success by Jack M. Zufelt. He was involved in motorcycle accident which cost him his fingers and burnt face. After he recovered, he got into another accident. He led an active life and even flied his own airplane. Once, he failed to de-ice the wings properly, the plane dropped after taking off about 75 feet to the ground, permanently damaging his spinal cord and leaving him paraplegic. He met other paraplegic patients in the hospital; it was easy for him to get influenced by them to complain about his condition. But instead, he is sick on listening to all the complaints he heard, and he said, “You keep talking about all the things we can no longer do. But I see it like this. Before my accident, there were ten thousand things I could do, and now there are only one thousand. I’d rather focus on the thousand left.”

He did focus on the things he had, he went on becoming the mayor of his town, once running for congress. And now, he travels around the world teaching people how to deal with what life throws at you. He is even billed as “the man who wouldn’t be defeated”.

2) Limitation helps you to understand yourself

He who knows others is learned.
He who knows himself is wise.

Lao Tse

Not only helping you focus, limitation helps you focus on the right thing in life. Limitation helps us to understand what works and what doesn’t work for us. It is related with how we can realize our gifts, talents, and passions. This will pretty much determine how we grow and fulfil our purpose. Thomas Alva Edison, for example, thanked his deafness for influencing his behaviour and career, providing him with the motivation that he needs on many of his inventions. Similarly, when you understand yourself, you will be wise, you will fully able to utilize your strength, and working on your limitation.

3) Limitation grows your character

When it comes to character issues, work on your weaknesses.
When it comes to talents, go with your strengths.

John C. Maxwell

Whatever we are doing, we need one important thing to be successful and without it your success will be so short that you can’t even enjoy. It is CHARACTER. We should value character. Character is not something that we can learn; it is something that we need to develop. It takes time, persistence, continuous effort of learning, unlearning, and re-learning. Character also needs another important component; that is test, trial or tribulation. Our limitation is one of the way we can be tested on our character. An excerpt of a poem, “In the Valley”, reminded me very much how we should be thankful with our valley experience, as it is the time we can grow.

Thank you for valleys, Lord.
For this one thing I know,
The mountain tops are glorious,
But it’s in the valleys I grow!

4) Limitation makes you hungry

Limitation makes us hungry to learn for more. I have shared with you before how my low self-esteem helped me to look for ways to learn and grow myself. Similarly our limitation is there as a potential to stretch ourselves. Anthony Robbins, on his book “Awaken the Giant Within”, shares one principle called “CANI” – Constant and Never Ending Improvement, mentioning that every day is an opportunity to learn. Even if it is only a baby step, it is one step nearer to reach your dream and purpose. Look at the clock! A year, a month, a day and an hour will not be reached without the second hand that is ticking every second. Similarly, our goal will not be achieved if we do not start learning from today and everyday of our life.

5) Limitation makes you need others

When the vision gets bigger than you, you really only have two choices: give up on the vision or get help

John C. Maxwell

Limitations makes you realize that you cannot live in this world alone, we are all created with a need to have relationship with other human being. Our limitation will help us to realize that we need others, and without them we will have to give up on our vision.

6) Limitation makes you realize whom you can depend on

Our limitation makes us realize whom we can depend and whom we cannot depend on. Material things, people and even our own capabilities are not dependable. And usually, it takes crisis, loss, and suffering before we can realize them.

Eckhart Tolle in Oprah’s online class also shared the benefit of loss and crisis, those are the time when we are detached from many trivia things, and the time when we realize the more important thing in our life. I have gone into a crisis where I lost many friends, partly because of my mistakes, and partly because of their busyness and activities. Those are the times when I realize to depend on God more than myself or my friends. Similarly limitation brings you into realization on what is important in your life.

7) Limitation makes you creative

Why do you think Apple is so successful? David Pogue, a personal technology columnist for the New York Times, shared on TedTalk that when it comes to tech, simplicity sells. He praised Apple for the simplicity in their products. They invented many user-friendly products and their innovation has changed our culture so much. Few of their recent innovations that has shaken the world are iPod, iPhone and the recent MacAir, the lightest and thinnest notebook in the world. Besides Apple, David Pogue also commented Palm, whose staff he has ever met, a tap counter in Palm. From their conversation, David managed to know a principle from Jeff Hawkins, the founder of Palm as below…

If any task on the Palm pilot takes more than 3 taps of the stylus, it’s too long and it has to be redesigned.

Jeff Hawkin quoted by David Pogue

What are they trying to meet actually? The answer is human limitations. It is our limitation on the time that we have, the simplicity we want, and the weight that we can easily carry. Their products are so successful mainly because of the limitations they are able to meet. Similarly, limitation will help you think outside of the box, to be creative in overcoming your limitation. We often underestimate our capability, when we decided to learn and stretch, we will somehow come out with ideas on how much more we can do to turn our limitation into advantages. I have experienced this and I have shared in my previous article, The 7 interesting (and useful) facts about my flaws.

Concluding thoughts

This message does not stand alone; your limitation will become advantages only after you have taken the previous steps. You have to first acknowledge your limitation to understand yourself better and focus on your strength. Next, you have to own the responsibility for your limitation. The time you do not blame anyone but yourself for your mistake, is the time that you are looking forward on learning, growing and creatively overcoming your limitation. Next, you have to express your limitation, ask others to help you; pray or meditate to ask for the help you need.

Do not be disappointed or depressed when you find out your limitation, when you are stuck or even failed because of them. Joyce Meyer -in her recent Podcast- shared how we should be rejoicing for those moments. It is the time that we have some stepping stones, some opportunity to use our limitation as advantages. It is also the time we can start learning and changing, stretching our limitation. If you need more tips on how not to beat yourself, you can check my past message, “Leader under construction”.

While preparing this series, I am more sensible on the things related with limitation. Interestingly, our limitation does not give advantages only for ourselves, they bring benefit to others, and some people even use limitation to sell. I will share more in my next message, subscribe through email or RSS not to miss out.

Any opinion? Share your thoughts in the comments.

For your success,
Robert

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