Limited Environment, Limited Success: The Lesson of the 50's

Hank was strong. Strongest dude in our gym. Big too. I mean, you could actually see his muscles and stuff! (No, really.)

It was my first membership at a real gym. Looking back, it was about the size of the "abs room" in my current gym. In short, it was a very small gym in a very small town. Andy Griffith worked out there. Yeah, that small.

But Hank? Hank wasn't small. He was huge. And he could easily hoist up the heaviest dumbbells in our gym and rep with them. As teens, we were very impressed with Hank, and Hank knew it. He'd strut into that gym like Arnold strutting onto the stage at the 1975 Mr. Olympia.

The problem is, the heaviest dumbbells in our gym were 50s. And Hank's physique wasn't that impressive; it was just the best physique in a small gym (filled mostly with 40-year old women doing Jazzercise) in a small town (4000 people, 4015 tumbleweeds.)

A limited environment can often limit your goals and expectations. Lifting the heaviest dumbbells in your gym feels good, but if the heaviest dumbbells in your gym are 50s then that achievement isn't too impressive. Worse yet, it limits what you're truly capable of lifting and fools you into thinking that you've maxed out your performance.

We all need pushed a little more. We need to see those 150 pound dumbbells and know that another level exists. We need to see a 60-year old guy run an 18-minute 5K before we get too smug about our 22-minute record.

In short, we need to drop the strut and get challenged.

I think people are capable of achieving great things, more than they'll ever realize. Surround yourself with the wrong people and they'll limit you without even trying.

Don't settle for being the strongest person in a roomful of weaklings. Don't settle for being the smartest person in a roomful of idiots, or the most successful person in a roomful of failures.

Better to surround yourself with people a little stronger and a little smarter, people a little ahead of you in the game. Those invisible limitations will immediately fall. You'll get challenged to be your best.

And suddenly you'll see those 50s for what they really are: mediocre. And you'll have none of that. -- Chris Shugart

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