The Upper Limit Problem

Upon Felicia Hatcher’s suggestion, I’ve been reading Gay Hendrick’s “The Big Leap.” The main thesis in the book is that many of us live and work in our Zone of Excellence but we are blocked from moving to our Zone of Genius. In our Zone of Excellence we do work that we are excellently skilled at, using skills that we’ve developed over time. But in our Zone of Genius we do work that leverages our natural abilities. “This is the state in which you get into ‘flow,’ find ceaseless inspiration, and seem to not only come up with work that is distinguished and unique, but also do so in a way that excels far and beyond what anyone else is doing.”

One of the major barriers that keeps us from leaping from our Zone of Excellence to our Zone of Genius is our struggle with The Upper Limit Problem. This is the problem we have when we follow a feeling of success with a dose of self sabotage. If you know, then you know.

To move through The Upper Limit Problem, Hendricks advises us to commit to extending our feelings of success by taking steps to delay our self sabotage behavior. He encourages us to raise our “upper limit thermostat” by breathing, moving and loving. We breathe to take in the good. We move around to feel the good. And we love ourselves in our feelings of success.

Commit. Breathe. Move. Love.