Last week was about mindsets, the box, and white space.  This week I’d like us to take this mindset a step further by looking at those limits and challenging ourselves to consider what limits are iron clad, which ones we can bend, and which ones we can break.  This week’s lesson comes from The Matrix.  Spoiler alert.

If you haven’t seen the movie, it can be complicated, so let’s use an analogy.  Pretend for a moment that you were dreaming.  Anything is possible in a dream, if you can believe it.  Normal limitations don’t exist in dream.  This is one of the premises of the movie.  Humans are stuck living in a dream world called the matrix.  Some of these humans realize that they are essentially dreaming, so they soon discover the truth that their mindset is their only limitation.

An example, Morpheus and Neo are training against each other in a martial arts battle in this dream world.  Morpheus is kicking Neo’s butt.  Morpheus is winning because he knows that his mindset is his only true limitation.  Morpheus knows that he can be as fast and as strong as he believes he can be.  Neo has not yet embraced this truth.  Morpheus then tells Neo something along the lines of “You must understand that these rules are like those of a computer system.  Some of these rules can be bent.  Some of these can be broken.”  Neo then begins to realize that his mindset is the only thing that is limiting him. 

So what does this have to do with life?  We live in a world kind of like the Matrix.  Every day we encounter a reality filled with limits in the form of rules or cultural norms.  How many times have you heard, “We’ve always done it this way,”  “This is the process that has to be followed,” or “You need to check boxes A, B, C before you can do X”?  Often when we hear these things we accept them as concrete limitations.  I’d challenge us to consider how many of those things are truly inescapable limitations vs. limits that can be bent or broken.  As we said in our first entry in this series, our mindset shapes the world around us.  We define how we will respond to things.  If we believe we can change things, we will, which means we can bend some rules and break others.  Think of the people who change cultures, who hit ridiculous goals, who do things the norms say are impossible.  They are able to do this, because their mindset led them to believe they can.  Their mindset helps them realize they are stronger than any “limitation” in their way.

The challenge: Does your mindset lead you to challenging your limitations?  Do you see the limitations you can bend?  Do you see the limitations you can shatter? 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry