Don't Limit Yourself - And Don't Let Others Limit You!

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. – Marie Curie

Everywhere I go I meet people and eventually get around to talking about my businesses, the housecleaning business I started in 2005 and the professional organizing service I started early 2007, and now Life Coaching which will roll out for business in 2008.

I hear a lot of, “I could never do that,” or “You must be a super-achiever”. To each of these I answer, “You would be surprised what you are capable of” and “Not really--but I am busy!”

The other day I ran across a woman who seemed eager to connect with another human being. I was in the aisles of the public library, wrestling my crawling infant daughter away from the stacks of books that she was attempting to pull out by the handful. She heard me talking to the librarian and practically ran around the corner and joined into the discussion. Before long the librarian was off to do other things and I continued to visit with this newcomer.

I began telling her about my Life Coach studies and how I believed that every one of us has within us the ability to be so much more than what we are—we only need to find it, refine it, and let it shine.

She shared with me her disappointment over a failed attempt at her own business in graphic design. A series of unfortunate events, combined with the lack of support of her husband seemed to be to blame. We spoke further and I brought up the analogy of the forest and the trees and suggested that life coaching was often about helping clients gain perspective and that often meant stepping back out of the forest so that we could see the individual trees and realize it wasn’t just one big mess of branches and leaves.

She responded by saying, “But then others come along and they tie string around your feet to trip you up and stop you from getting out of the forest or moving on.”

I was new and still learning. And for this reason it wasn’t until later that I thought of the perfect response. What I would have like to say is, “But you have the scissors right there in your pocket. Pull them out and cut the strings and take back control of your destiny.”

As Marie Curie said, “Life is not easy.” You can know and understand that, and then promptly give up when the going gets tough, or you can take a stand and persevere and have confidence in your abilities.

I gave her my card and asked her to call me. If she does, I’ll remember to tell her about the scissors in her pocket and gently urge her to cut those strings.