Trying to unlock your potential? You might be your own jailer.

You’re an independent free thinker. Nobody tells you what to do? Right?

Not really. You stop when a stop sign tells you to stop. Right?

In reality, we all agree to limitations.

Take a step back and you’ll realize a lot of people push limits on us subconsciously or with our tacit approval. It’s usually here where a lot of our limits are set.

We don’t see the barriers or limits in our thinking, goals or behavior because we accepted them so long ago we hardly notice them. Examples of when they happen:

• Feelings of guilt or cautiousness imposed on us from a parent or loved one.
• A small raise from your employer that makes you think “good enough” and puts your new business idea on hold.
• A school bully or peers that socially implied that you weren’t as good enough to hang out with them.
• Social shaming or sub-conscious signals for being fat, short, the wrong race (add your favorite adjective here).

They are all rules and restrictions we are asked to follow. But when we accept and follow them without question, especially without asking if they are in line with our true goals and aspirations, that is when we go off our own path.

When you accept the limitation of others, you imprison your dreams.

You are capable of big things. All humans are. Yet we frequently give up abilities and possibilities when we choose to settle for the small-minded or fearful thinking of others. Often just to avoid standing out from the group. To fit in. To get along.

To do that is to simply stand next to and support others who can’t dream big because they discarded it as an option. So low expectations and setting on your goals seem normal.

There a reason someone becomes #1.

One is a lonely number. The future #1 is willing to walk a path, no one else follows. To not fit in. Number one decides they are not going to be like anyone else, and they are willing to take a risk to prove it. Risk means going beyond others’ expressed limitations and stepping beyond what you may have thought possible. That means you can’t let others’ limits hold you back from stretching yours. You have the “key” to be free.

Be you. Be your dream. And let your dreams be as big as you want them to be. Unlock your potential. If you given in to others’ perceptions and beliefs, you become your own jailer and imprison your dreams.