It sounds like a strange concept at first glance: setting limits to free yourself. That sounds like building fences to be free to explore. The thing with life is that we spread ourselves so thin. The thinner we are spread, the less impact we have on anything around us.
We’ve got to establish boundaries to keep ourselves from being diluted to the point that we are just a veil of who we could be. These 4 limits that we can all establish will keep more of ourselves contained for the things that really matter in life.
Limit Your…
External Influences
One thing people pay way too much attention to is what other people think. We chase trends. We pursue validation. We seek approval. All of those things are intended to do one thing: make someone else happy. You spend all this time focusing on what everyone else tells you to be, and then one day you wake up and don’t even know who you are anymore. Instead of listening to everyone else, listen to your heart. Listen to that voice in your head that tells you who YOU want to be, and be that person.
Read: 4 Easy Ways To Free Your Life Of Negative Energy
“Radar”
I always use the term “radar” when I am referring to the things that we pay attention to. There is a difference between being aware and being obsessive. If your focus is spread between a million different things, how can you possibly focus on what is really important? There are things in our lives that we focus our attention on that simply don’t matter. Lots of them. Every day. Dial back that mental “radar” and focus on what matters to the things you want to do in your life. Instead of focusing on other people – focus on what is going on in your own world.
Tasks
I’ve always said that there is a difference in being productive and being busy. We have this weird need these days to pile things to do on ourselves to the point where nothing really gets done. If you can’t finish 1 thing how can you finish 10? Again, the key here is figuring out what really matters, and working on the things that are directly correlated. If it doesn’t matter, let it go. Save that time and effort for making your life all that it can be.
Read: 30 Questions that will Set Your Mind Free
Reach
The combination of “radar” and tasks is your reach. You focus on all these things in your world and you try to fix or impact them all. The next thing you know there is nothing left to give. Perfect example: that one friend that always seems to need help or to be rescued.
No matter what you do, if that person consistently makes bad decisions, no amount of worrying or jumping in to save them is going to change that. The same goes for situations in your personal and professional life. Sometimes you just have to step back and say “that’s not my problem”. Trust me, it’s so much easier to say that than it is to do it, but you’ve got to save some of yourself for the person that needs you the most: you.
