One of the thought-provoking questions Gay Hendricks asks in the beginning of his book is:
“Am I willing to feel good and have my life go well all the time?”
Gay says: “In my view, saying yes to that question is one of the most courageous actions a human being can take. In the face of so much evidence that life hurts and is fraught with adversity on all fronts, having a willingness to feel good and have life go well all the time is a genuinely radical act.”
He encourages us to take “The Big Leap” beyond what he calls our “Upper Limits” and learn to live in our “Zone of Genius”—a place where time flows and we expand in success, abundance and love every day, as we inspire those around us to do the same.
It’s interesting that we actually limit ourselves from “feeling good.” We seem to have set limits that we allow ourselves to live by. As well, many transformational leaders and experts remind us of our built-in limits when it comes to how much success and happiness we can experience.
Our Inner Setting, Our Thermostat
We have an inner setting, like a thermostat, that determines how much happiness, success, and abundance we allow ourselves to enjoy. When we deviate from our inner thermostat setting, we will often do something to sabotage ourselves, causing us to drop back into the old, familiar zone – our comfort zone.
Unfortunately, our thermostat setting, which is the result of our beliefs about our abilities and the image we have of ourselves, gets programmed in early childhood and reinforced over time. Once programmed, as the leading personal development leaders agree, our thermostat setting holds us back from enjoying all the love, financial abundance, and creativity that’s rightfully ours.
The way to change this is to learn how to recognize our own perceived limits and take “the big leap.”
Think about how often you limit yourself and how many things you believe are not possible when, in fact, they are. Today, we can smile about the fact that scientists believed we would “explode” if we travel at a speed greater than 30 miles per hour. Gay shares in his book: “We humans have a long and wonderful history of transcending our beliefs about what’s possible. In the early days of the steam-powered train, learned scientists urged capping the speed at thirty miles per hour because they believed that the human body exploded at speeds greater than that. Finally, some brave people risked going beyond that limiting belief and found that they did not explode.”
Consistent with Gay Hendricks’ thermostat setting of our limits, Marci Shimoff shares in her book Happy for No Reason: “Researchers have found that no matter what happens to you in life, you tend to return to a fixed range of happiness. Like your weight set-point, which keeps the scale hovering around the same number, your happiness set-point will remain the same unless you make a concerted effort to change it.”
So, we have a thermostat, an Upper Limit, or a set-point that limits us when we expand and come closer to our goal. The good news is we can learn to become more and more aware of the behaviors we’ve adopted that sabotage us when we are deviating from our set point. Awareness is the first step to break through.
Your second step to success is identifying your goal and believing in the possibility that you can reach your goal(s). Start by challenging some of your common beliefs.
And third, take goal-achieving actions beyond your comfort zone consistently and persistently. This will allow you to break through your limits and reach the ultimate success you are dreaming of.
Have you taken a big leap in your life? I invite you to share your experience on my Facebook page.
Ulrike Berzau, Executive Coach & Consultant, works with individuals, teams and organization to achieve exceptional results in life and business. With extensive experience as healthcare executive, she is known for providing highly respected insights and creative solutions to secure continuous advancement and excellence. Ulrike has an unwavering passion for igniting the talent and brilliance in others and her international and multicultural experiences allow her to relate to a diverse audience. Her ambitious, yet well balanced, positive and inspiring mindset is the catalyst of her own success and assures the success of clients, staff and organizations.
Ulrike is the co-author of the International Best-Seller Imagine a Healthy You and an inspirational speaker. She is certified as Thinking into Results Consultant, Passion Test Facilitator, ASAP Engagement Consultant and Achieve Today Coach, and holds a Master’s Degree in Management, a Master’s Degree in Health Science, Physical Therapy, and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.