There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. ~Bruce Lee

You might think that that quote from Bruce Lee is quite contrary to the title of this.

And it is.

So let me explain.

Swimming to the Cliff

It was the July 4 weekend in 1994 and I was enjoying the holiday with one of my friends and his family on Lake Powell. It’s on the border of Arizona and Utah. It’s a beautiful place, and if you’ve never been there, I highly suggest you get it on your bucket list and place it near the top.

Lake Powell is a beautiful lake with 1200 miles of rugged shoreline made up of beaches, cliffs and rock formations surrounded by water. Since I’m not one that’s much for laying on the beach, it didn’t take much to talk me into swimming out to the rock formation staring at and tempting us to come out and jump off of her.

I’m always up for a good adrenaline rush.

So we start swimming out to this formation and about half way there I start to get winded.

Not a good feeling.

It must’ve been written all over my face too because it was enough for my friend’s grandpa to notice and keep my calm. I wasn’t in a panic yet, but the feeling of no-way-out was starting to come over me. His grandpa just told me to take my time and stay calm.

Great advice.

Keep YOUR Pace

You see, it wasn’t that I was swimming to someplace that I shouldn’t have been. What got me in trouble was trying to keep up with two superior swimmers. That and we were swimming at an altitude around 5,000 feet. That makes a difference too. But once I calmed downed and started swimming at a pace I was comfortable with, I didn’t have any problems at all. And no, I didn’t swim back to shore. We started out for the formation and that’s where we were going. I’m glad we did too because it was a blast jumping off of it. Then after we got done jumping I swam back at my nice slow pace with no problems.

This is just one example of learning my limits.

Don’t Let Limits Stop You

See, when I discovered my swimming limits, I didn’t let that stop me. I couldn’t because I would’ve sunk like a rock to the bottom and drown. I just adjusted what I was doing to my abilities and continued on.

Limits play a part in every aspect of our lives.

If you eat beyond your limits you get fat.

If you drink beyond your limits you get intoxicated and pay the price for the next day… or two.

If you exercise beyond your bodies capabilities you may injure your muscles and hinder progress.

If you spend more money than you have you’ll bury yourself in debt.

If you drive your car too fast you’ll lose control and crash.

Everything and Everyone has Limits

The key to progressing in life is knowing, recognizing and moving beyond your limits. You have to know what your limits are and recognize the limits that you can’t get beyond. Like dunking a basketball. If you can’t dunk one now, and you’re 20 years old or older, you’re probably never going to dunk a basketball. But if you just started an exercise program and you can only go 20 minutes, if you keep at it, next week you’ll probably be able to exercise for 30 minutes.

Do you see what I’m saying here?

Don’t just give up because something is hard. And NEVER let anyone else IMPOSE their limits on you. If they don’t believe in themselves… fine. But you can’t let anyone tell you what you are and are not capable of. You have to at least try. And if you listen to your conscience, you’ll know what limits are set and what limits are you can expand.

Now go start living a kick ass life.