No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity

by John C. Maxwell

I remember an illustration my dad used when speaking. An old-timer saw a boy fishing and went over to see how he was doing. The boy had already caught two small fish, but as the old man was walking over, the boy landed a huge bass. “That’s a beauty,” the old man said as the boy unhooked the fish. But then the boy tossed the fish back into the water. “What are you doing?” the old man cried out. “That was a whopper.” “Yeah,” replied the boy, “but my frying pan is only nine inches wide.”

“Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.” —Charles Schulz

Sad is that day for any man when he is absolutely satisfied with the life that he is living, thoughts that he is thinking, deeds that he is doing, until there ceases to be forever knocking on the door of his soul, a desire to do something greater for God and his fellow-man.

In the book If It Ain’t Broke… Break It! Robert Kriegel and Louis Patler write, “We don’t have a clue as to what people’s limits are. All the tests, stopwatches, and finish lines in the world can’t measure human potential. When someone is pursuing their dream, they’ll go far beyond what seem to be their limitations. The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped.”

Momentum is not the result of one push. It is the result of many continual pushes over time.

In his book Life Without Limits, Nick writes: Helen Keller, who lost both her sight and hearing in childhood but became a renowned activist and author, said that there is no such thing as a secure life. “It does not exist in nature.… Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Risk, then, is not just part of life. It is life. The place between your comfort zone and your dream is where life takes place. It’s the high-anxiety zone, but it’s also where you discover who you are. Karl Wallenda, patriarch of the legendary high-wire-walking family, nailed it when he said: “Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting.”1

I fought too hard to get where I am to let others control where I am going.

“You cannot be comfortable in your own skin without your own approval.” —Mark Twain

“Don’t put your life on hold so that you can dwell on the unfairness of past hurts.” —Nick Vujicic

It’s better to manage your energy than to manage your time.

In their book The Power of Full Engagement, authors Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz assert, “Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.” They go on to explain, The ultimate measure of our lives is not how much time we spend on the planet, but rather how much energy we invest in the time that we have.

The premise of this book—and of the training we do each year with thousands of clients—is simple enough: Performance, health, and happiness are grounded in the skillful management of energy.… The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. It is our most precious resource. The more we take responsibility for the energy we bring to the world, the more empowered and productive we become. The more we blame others or external circumstances, the more negative and compromised our energy is likely to be.1

Nelson Mandela was right: “There is no passion to be found in playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

“There is no passion to be found in playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

Researcher and teacher M. Asch said in her book Perspectives on Applied Psychology, “Remember, motions are the precursors of emotions.”

One of my favorite examples of this was written by author and speaker Og Mandino. He said, If I feel depressed I will sing. If I feel sad I will laugh. If I feel ill I will double my labor. If I feel fear I will plunge ahead. If I feel inferior I will wear new garments. If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice. If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come. If I feel incompetent I will remember past success. If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals. Today I will be master of my emotions.1

We either continually work on mastering our emotions, or we will be continually mastered by them.

Perhaps you’ve heard the joke about a woman who complained to her best friend, “The whole world is against me!” Her friend tried to comfort her. “That’s not true. The whole world isn’t against you,” she replied. “They don’t even know you yet.”

you can’t moan and lead at the same time.

You can’t complain and get ahead at the same time.

Former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens writes in his book Resilience: Many of life’s annoyances just have to be ignored. That doesn’t mean that we suppress, ignore, or deny every pain. Serious pain has to be confronted. But one mark of resilience is learning to tell which pain deserves our attention. Paying attention to ever...

The way you deal with difficulties and avoid feeling sorry for yourself can be as unique as you are. I love the way PGA pro golfer Richard Lee handles adversity on the course. He and I met and became friends at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. I’ve had the privilege of playing in that tournament a few times, twice with Richard. One year we made the playoffs! I will never forget the thrill I had on the first tee on Sunday when I received a golf umbrella that read, I MADE THE CUT AT THE AT&T PRO AM. It’s one of my prized possessions. Not many amateurs can say that. The other time we did terribly, finishing near the bottom of the standings. The year we did poorly, we went to dinner after we failed to make the cut to console ourselves and recover from our poor play. During dinner, one of the questions I asked Richard was “What’s the best advice you have ever received?” “Welcome the ball,” he answered. That intrigued me. Everyone around the table wanted him to explain that. “I play golf for a living,” he said. “Every shot is important to me. Any shot can either make me or break me in a tournament. “Early in my career my mother-in-law could see how when I had a bad shot, I would get really disappointed. And my negative emotions would start to fill my mind and hurt my play. “One day she said to me, ‘Richard, you will always have days when you make bad shots. Every golfer does. As you walk toward your ball you have a decision to make: Will I dread seeing the lie of my ball and begin ...

Education professor Leo Buscaglia said, “The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don’t let them put you in that position.”

Dysfunctional people want others to function on their level. Average people want others to be average. High achievers want others to achieve.

People who devalue us do not determine our value.

One of my mentors, consultant Fred Smith, would often say to me, “You must understand the difference between a fact of life and a problem. A fact of life is something you cannot control or fix. A problem is something you can fix.”

“You must understand the difference between a fact of life and a problem. A fact of life is something you cannot control or fix. A problem is something you can fix.” —Fred Smith

Emotionally strong people don’t waste their energy when they are stuck in bad traffic, lose their luggage, or get caught in a storm. They recognize that all of these factors are beyond their control. Instead, they focus on what they can control.

reflection turns experience into insight.

Most people fear mistakes more than they love learning. I love learning more than I hate making mistakes.

“No one can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.” —James Russell Lowell

Eric Greitens, author of Resilience, who wrote, You will fail. Especially in the beginning. You will fail. And that’s not just OK, it’s essential. Without resilience, the first failure is also the last—because it’s final. Those who are excellent at their work have learned to comfortably coexist with failure. The excellent fail more often than the mediocre. They begin more. They attempt more. They attack more. Mastery lives quietly atop a mountain of mistakes.6

“Erase the board of your achievements and allow yourself to be a beginner again.” —Steve Jobs

Life consists of what a man is thinking about all day. —RALPH WALDO EMERSON

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. —JOHN LOCKE

Our thoughts determine our destiny. Our destiny determines our legacy.

You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. —JAMES ALLEN

Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination. —WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD

Whatever things are true… noble… just… pure… lovely… are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy; think on these things. —PAUL THE APOSTLE

That reminds me of a story I once heard about Charles Kettering, the founder of Delco. He once bet a friend of his one hundred dollars that he could make him buy a bird. The friend thought the idea was absurd, so he agreed to the bet. That Christmas, Kettering bought the friend a beautiful, elaborate, and very expensive birdcage and had it delivered to the man’s house. It was set up right by the front door so all his guests would see it. The friend understood Kettering’s strategy, but he had no intention of getting a bird for the cage. However, every time that guests visited the man at his home, they would admire the cage and remark about how beautiful it was. And they would always ask, “Where’s the bird?” Finally, the friend got so sick of the question that he gave in and bought a bird. The moral of the story? When you have a designated place for something, whatever it is, there is the sense within you that it needs to be filled. And you’ll find yourself doing what it takes to fill it. That holds true for your thinking.

“Everything worthwhile is uphill.”

people can usually trace their successes and failures to the relationships in their lives. We are defined by our relationships.

People can usually trace their successes and failures to the relationships in their lives.

You cannot increase your people capacity unless you value people and care about them. If you don’t like people, don’t respect them, and don’t believe they have value, it stands as a barrier to your success with them. You can’t secretly look down on others and build them up at the same time. However, if you value people, it shows through. And it makes the development of positive relationships possible.

There is no better way to show people you value them than by asking for their opinion.

A friend once told me long ago, “John, you need to improve yourself. You’re not good enough to stay the same.”

Leo Buscaglia: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

To build great relationships, you need to want more for people than you want from people. The people who want more for others and give more than they take are pluses. The ones who want and take more than they give are minuses. That’s simple relational math. I determined that I wanted to be a plus with people. With those closest to me, I want to be a plus plus. My desire is to make five relational deposits for every relational withdrawal I make from the relationship. I don’t always succeed, but it is my goal.

I never want to take any relationship for granted. I never want to assume that a relationship gives me privileges that are not mine. Assumption is a killer in relationships. It needs to be replaced with awareness. If you want to increase your relational capacity, you should be continually aware that relationships never stay the same. And they never stay alive on their own. They need cultivation. And you have to keep being intentional about adding value to continue being a plus in another person’s life.

“I always prefer to believe the best of everybody—it saves so much trouble.” —Rudyard Kipling