It can be all too easy to confuse limits and limitations, particularly if we’re prone to self-doubt or confidence dips, and this can have a big impact on how we feel at work. Over time this confusion inhibits our ability to set healthy limits, which then undermines our energy, productivity and confidence even more – creating an unsupportive self-fulfilling cycle.
If this rings true for you it’s worth looking at this more.
So, what’s the difference?
Let’s start by looking at what limits and limitations look like at a personal level:
- A limit: “Enough is enough – that’s the most I can tolerate”
- A limitation: “I’m not as good as I could be”
We can see that if we’re quick to judge ourselves then our healthy needs and limits – like struggling with workload – starts to morph into a limitation: “I can’t cope because I’m not as quick / clever / efficient as I could be”.
Thinking we’re the problem, we may then struggle to set healthy limits and focus on self-improvement instead. Of course, there’s always space for self-improvement, but if this becomes our “go to” approach to challenge this causes us problems.
Are your struggles your fault? Two answers, two different outcomes
Take the workload challenge – an endless, overwhelming list of to dos. Your job is demanding from you more than you have time and capacity for. Is your struggling to do everything a consequence of your limitations or healthy limits?
If we think it’s because of our limitations, we may struggle to say no when new work comes in or find ourselves working over time trying to cope.
If we think it’s because we have natural and healthy limits with how much we can do and juggle in a day, then you might ask for help or move back a deadline to give you more room.
With this one example, it’s clear how much our thinking can impact how we respond and therefore what happens next. We can see that by setting healthy limits, we can experience less stress, more ease and likely do better work, too.
Making the shift – sensible not selfish
It’s clear here how our perspective can create problems. And this couldn’t be more true when we have a very demanding job in a very demanding organisation. Setting and holding healthy limits in this context is essential – without them, work will take far more than you have to give. Rather than being selfish, setting limits is a sensible strategy for maintaining your health and capacity at work.
So, if you’re really struggling with workload, take a moment to consider: What needs to change for your limits to be respected and worked with, rather than pushed through and ignored?
This simple shift in perspective and resulting shift in respecting your natural, healthy, human limits has the potential to transform how you work, slowly restoring much-needed energy and balance.
