Are you struggling overcoming the upper limit problem? The upper limit problem is a mechanism of self-sabotage and is the brain’s subconscious way of keeping us in our “safe zone”. You see the upper limit problem occur in celebrities often at the peak of their career. They have a huge success, but then they self sabotage; getting arrested or into a car accident, for example.
Millionaire lottery winners create similar effects too. Many lottery winners experience a massive fall from grace. They lose friends and even all of their money shortly after their big win. Often it can show up in other ways too. For example if one area of your life is going really well, another area suffers; your business is booming, but then a relationship fails.
This can happen for a number of reasons but often it’s simply because somewhere in your subconscious mind you don’t believe you are worth all the good. How many times have you heard the phrase “it’s too good to be true”, for example?
Our limits for feeling good about our lives keep us experiencing pain and discomfort. But if we identify this feeling with “who” we are, the payoff is comfort and consistency.
Overcoming The Upper Limit Problem
So what’s the answer to overcoming the upper limit problem then? How can we avoid self sabotaging when things are going the way we (consciously) want them to? Firstly it’s useful to identify the issues which may be blocking our good feelings and the ability to expand those good feelings so we can have more of them.
If we identify as someone who “struggles”, is “a failure” and is “never good enough”, for example, how will we react when we achieve success, if we ever do? It’s very likely that we will fail, (if we have these beliefs about ourselves) because it lets us maintain our consistent world view – that we are “a failure” and that we “aren’t ever good enough“.
A good thing to observe about yourself is how you talk about yourself when in the company of others. Do you put yourself down at all? How do you think of yourself? If your view is slightly negative, this will have ramifications on the subconscious self sabotage which comes with the upper limit problem.
Overcoming The Upper Limit Problem
“We are not the highest version of ourselves that we can imagine, we are the lowest version of ourselves that we can accept” – Sam Ovens.
Our dreams and aspirations lift us up and carry us forwards, but when our motivation and energy wanes, it falls to our lower limits, our lowest acceptable standards. The “space” in between is our comfort zone where we spend most of our lives! Here’s how this looks on a graph:
One way we can affect change is to observe our patterns of behaviour in terms of our success. The “highs” we aim at lift us up, but it is also the “lows” which are determined by us too. Only by shifting the two levels (upper and lower) can we make consistent positive change, like this:
Overcoming The Upper Limit Problem – Awareness
Bringing awareness to your subconscious behaviour patterns is a good place to start if you are experiencing this.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious it will control your life and you will call it fate” – CG Jung
One simple way to bring more conscious awareness into your limiting ideas and beliefs is through meditation. With meditation, you become the watcher of the mind, observing your inner dialogue dispassionately, without judgement. As you practice this, you can bring a similar awareness to your spoken word. Listen to what you say in conversation, particularly in regards to yourself.
What do your close circle talk about? As you become more observant you can notice limiting ideas which are likely to cause conflict in your life, in the areas of success, wealth, happiness and well-being.
The Upper Limit – Gay Hendricks
Gay Hendricks first coined the term upper limit in his book The Big Leap. He says it is our inner fears which pull us back like an elastic band when we have experienced a “peak” of success.
Think about how your life would look like if you could accept everything going well, exactly the way you want it to in terms of:
- Finances
- Relationships
- Happiness
- Lifestyle
- Health
Notice the behaviours which cause you to pull back, limit yourself and doubt your worthiness. What thoughts are limiting your fullest good? Do you feel unworthy, or not good enough to have it all? Most people have at least a few self limiting beliefs in terms of not feeling good enough. The key to shifting an upper limit problem and creating more happiness and success in life is to “see” these limiting ideas you carry, and shift them from inside.
Once you have uncovered some of your limiting beliefs, you can use powerful mantras and visualisations to shift things. See the power of intention journalling and how to change subconscious beliefs.
See also Gay Hendricks upper limit.
