so today I want to talk to you about
overcoming limitations well the first
thing I want us to do together is I’d
like for us to do a puzzle now how many
of you seen this before raise your hand
okay good this is good okay now it has
many names I’ve called it simply the box
problem but there are many different
versions of this quiz or puzzle but the
goal is very simple it’s simply to
connect all of the dots very simple
however there are some rules there are
three in fact rule number one you can
only use four lines all right
rule number two the lines must be
straight so no squiggly lines only
straight lines and number three the
lines must be continuous all right so if
you were to be drawing this would be
pinned on us an ID you’d have to connect
them all right so I’m gonna put this up
and what I’d like you to do now is to in
your mind see if you can solve this
puzzle and I’ll go through it one more
time the goal is to connect all of the
dots and there are three rules rule
number one only four lines
rule number two the lines must be
straight and rule number three the lines
must be continuous now for me the first
time I looked at this puzzle I got kind
of irritated I got a little irritated
and angry because I could not figure it
out and I don’t like puzzles that I
can’t figure out so I thought about it I
worked at it and I did some things like
this I tried like this well close but
still one left
I tried like this I’m going backwards
I’ve got two dots now so so I worked at
it and worked at it so I’m curious the
time I’ve given you how has anyone
figured it out raise your hand if you
figured it out okay we got one I could
I had to go look up the answer and I’m
gonna show you the answer I want to see
if you ran into the same problem that I
ran into you see what happened in my
mind I never thought to draw a line
beyond the box beyond the dots I didn’t
think about it so while there were three
rules I gave you in my mind I actually
had four rules I had the three rules
that I’d given you but in my mind my
fourth rule was no lines beyond the box
so for me the box really looked more
like this now in this problem it
demonstrates there are two kinds of
limitations we’re dealing with and in
our life most of our life most of our
limitations can be put into two
different categories and I’m going to go
through those the first type of
limitations is outside limitations these
are limitations that I do not have
control over
okay these would be the three rules I
gave you you have no control over those
rules they are put upon you those are
outside limitations the second kind of
limitations are inside that would be the
fourth rule that you made for yourself
that’s an inside limitation I did that
to myself so at first you see these and
you think okay okay I think I understand
this but I want to work through it a
little bit I’m gonna give you a few
examples and we’re gonna see really kind
of flesh out that’s outside and inside
you know the differences so let’s say
I’m driving my car now I don’t drive a
sports car I have a three-year-old now I
Drive a van so so I’m driving my van and
I see a sign and the sign says 50
kilometers per hour it’s a speed limit
now what kind of limitation is that
inside or outside it’s outside I cannot
control that the Japanese government
says you can only go 50 kilometers per
hour
fairly simple how about this one let’s
say I wanted to become an NBA basketball
player now many of you are thinking
right now Myka you’re a little bit short
and you’d be right I’m also not very
fast and I can’t jump very high which
are pretty important if you want to be a
basketball player now I can train my
body and I can work harder to make
myself a little faster and maybe jump a
little higher but the truth is I just do
not have the physical abilities needed
to be a basketball player and I have no
control over that so that would be
another example of outside limitations
let’s look at one more these are all me
by the way as you can tell now let’s
look at the last one let’s say being
able to swim being able to swim now in
some cases this might be an outside
limitation let’s say you live in the
desert and there is no water or people
that know how to swim to teach you you
have no controller that that would be an
outside limitation or if you are in a
wheelchair you cannot help that that
would restrict you from being able to
swim but let’s say for most of us in
this room if we cannot swim is that
because of something outside or inside
what is limiting us maybe it’s fear
maybe you’re afraid of the water maybe
it’s a situation where you really don’t
care to learn to swim but for most of us
here it is not an outside limitation
that would keep us from being able to
swim it would come from the inside and
this means are the limitations the
inside limitations that I want to focus
on right now and they and there are many
different things that contribute that
can cause
these inside limitations but right now I
want to look at three big limit makers
in our lives now again there are more
but these are three I want to highlight
today
number one is assumptions now
assumptions an example of an assumption
would be earlier when I did the Box
problem I gave you three rules and what
happened was is anytime you’ve been
given a puzzle with dots and lines in
the past you always connected dot-to-dot
you never went beyond to where there was
no dot so you assumed that in this
puzzle just like me that you would also
be doing the same thing but because of
that assumption you’re actually not
going to be able to finish the problem
I’ll give you another example I love
sushi I do
I think sushi is delicious but let’s say
that from the time I was born in America
till I came to Japan everyone I talked
to said sushi is gross or like it’s raw
fish it’s disgusting and every time I
turn sushi someone said yeah it’s gross
it’s gross when I came to Japan and
someone asked me Micah do you like sushi
I might answer no because it’s gross
even though I have never in my life
eaten sushi you see I made an assumption
based on what others had told me and
assumptions can come from all over from
our families from our cultures but
they’re very powerful number two
contentment and laziness I feel like
this is a little bit of an American
limitation at least for me you know I
would love to look like Brad Pitt now I
can’t do anything about this but in
terms of my body I could right I could
go to the gym I could eat better but you
know what that’s hard
and I’m a little bit lazy and maybe in
the morning when I could go to the gym I
decide to sleep just a little bit longer
or maybe I’m just fine with my body I’m
just okay I’m content
now contentment is fine but it can limit
us and we have to remember that number
three is fear fear is big in America
fear I know is big here as well
and I think when we hear fear we think
of things like the fear of animals or
Heights or flying which those are real
fears but the fears I kind of want us to
think about these inside fears our fears
like the fear of failure the fear of the
unknown the fear of what others will
think of me the fear of standing out
these are very very powerful things
because they will prevent us from doing
things we may have a dream but because
we’re afraid we will not pursue and move
forward in that dream now here’s the
thing my speech today is called
overcoming limitations but here’s the
thing in my in my history and past and
from what I understand there is not a
simple way to overcome everything just
in a few minutes I give it to you and
everyone goes out and overcomes
everything but what we need to do is we
need to realize if what is really
preventing me is outside of my control
or if it’s inside of my control and to
do that I want to give you some tools to
analyze to see if in your situation if
in your dream if it is an outside
limitation or an inside limitation that
is really preventing you from reaching
it so think of what are the tools ar e
what are the tools
number one is ask why why is a very very
powerful question why is a revealing
question with the power of Y my three
old son can stop me in my tracks and
I’ll give you an example so my lovely
wife Amy would cook us a dinner cook us
some chicken for dinner so I take the
chicken and I go and I set it in front
of my three-year-old Ariston and I say
Ariston you need to eat your chicken and
ariston looks at me and says why and I
say well because chicken is good for you
and he says why and I go well because
chicken is full of protein and protein
helps to grow big and strong and he goes
why and I go because protein is an
important biological amino acid I don’t
know Ariston I’m your dad eat your
chicken but do you see what happened
with just that one question three year
old Ariston was digging deeper and
deeper and this is a difficult question
to ask ourselves because it allows us to
dig deeper as we look at our problems as
we look at our limitations and we say
why why can’t I do that
and it’s it takes bravery because
sometimes we reach a point where we
don’t know why but that’s ok
it lets us dig deeper and lets us see
what is really limiting us
number two is research we live in the
age of the Internet where we can find
out almost anything so we have no excuse
to not really be well read about
something we want to do
number three is experience this one’s
big find someone if you have a dream if
you have something you want to do find
someone who has done it or is doing it
and talk to them and ask them what they
did to get where they are what problem
is they had to overcome and what you’ll
see is is that oftentimes those
individuals had to overcome several
different kinds of limitations to
where they are so again what are the
tools a ask why our research and II
experience so for me so five years ago I
was working for a Swiss bank in Raleigh
and it was a good job it was very
stressful but it was a good job but I
really really wanted to do a job to do
something that was making a difference
in the world I wanted to go and do
something meaningful for the world but
at that time when I thought about all of
the things in my life all I could think
about was well I have a newborn baby my
wife quit her job to stay home with the
baby so I’m the only one working things
like I have bills things like I have
school debts to pay and these are very
real problems and so initially I thought
I just need to work here because it’s
safe and I understand it but as I
started thinking as I really started
asking myself why can’t I do this when I
really started doing my research when I
started talking to people who had left
the business world to pursue their
dreams what I realized was what was
really preventing me from doing
something was my fear I was afraid I
didn’t know what the future would look
like the bank I understood a little
better but this whole dream I don’t know
so me and my wife we talked a lot about
it as Christians we prayed a lot about
it and we researched and we asked and we
continued to work and we came to a point
where we said okay we want to pursue
this now it wasn’t easy I ended up
during the process we ended up me my
wife and my son we had our own house and
we moved back in with my parents which
does not look good on Facebook you know
put a picture up on Facebook hey guys
I’m back
my parents not really something you want
to brag about so it was difficult but
here we are five years later in Tokyo
doing exactly what we sought out to do
so what I want you to do is I want to go
back to the box problem if you remember
I gave you three rules to follow in
solving this now those rules made the
problem difficult but it did not make it
impossible it was possible to solve
difficult but possible what prevented us
from solving the problem was my box and
this is what happens to us guys in our
lives we have very real limitations we
have things we can’t control that do
prevent us from reaching our goals
however usually what really prevents us
from reaching our dreams from reaching
our goals is that inside limitation it’s
that box and so my challenge to you
today is to not let those inside
limitations prevent you from pursuing
your dreams and your goals thank you
[Applause]
overcoming limitations well the first
thing I want us to do together is I’d
like for us to do a puzzle now how many
of you seen this before raise your hand
okay good this is good okay now it has
many names I’ve called it simply the box
problem but there are many different
versions of this quiz or puzzle but the
goal is very simple it’s simply to
connect all of the dots very simple
however there are some rules there are
three in fact rule number one you can
only use four lines all right
rule number two the lines must be
straight so no squiggly lines only
straight lines and number three the
lines must be continuous all right so if
you were to be drawing this would be
pinned on us an ID you’d have to connect
them all right so I’m gonna put this up
and what I’d like you to do now is to in
your mind see if you can solve this
puzzle and I’ll go through it one more
time the goal is to connect all of the
dots and there are three rules rule
number one only four lines
rule number two the lines must be
straight and rule number three the lines
must be continuous now for me the first
time I looked at this puzzle I got kind
of irritated I got a little irritated
and angry because I could not figure it
out and I don’t like puzzles that I
can’t figure out so I thought about it I
worked at it and I did some things like
this I tried like this well close but
still one left
I tried like this I’m going backwards
I’ve got two dots now so so I worked at
it and worked at it so I’m curious the
time I’ve given you how has anyone
figured it out raise your hand if you
figured it out okay we got one I could
I had to go look up the answer and I’m
gonna show you the answer I want to see
if you ran into the same problem that I
ran into you see what happened in my
mind I never thought to draw a line
beyond the box beyond the dots I didn’t
think about it so while there were three
rules I gave you in my mind I actually
had four rules I had the three rules
that I’d given you but in my mind my
fourth rule was no lines beyond the box
so for me the box really looked more
like this now in this problem it
demonstrates there are two kinds of
limitations we’re dealing with and in
our life most of our life most of our
limitations can be put into two
different categories and I’m going to go
through those the first type of
limitations is outside limitations these
are limitations that I do not have
control over
okay these would be the three rules I
gave you you have no control over those
rules they are put upon you those are
outside limitations the second kind of
limitations are inside that would be the
fourth rule that you made for yourself
that’s an inside limitation I did that
to myself so at first you see these and
you think okay okay I think I understand
this but I want to work through it a
little bit I’m gonna give you a few
examples and we’re gonna see really kind
of flesh out that’s outside and inside
you know the differences so let’s say
I’m driving my car now I don’t drive a
sports car I have a three-year-old now I
Drive a van so so I’m driving my van and
I see a sign and the sign says 50
kilometers per hour it’s a speed limit
now what kind of limitation is that
inside or outside it’s outside I cannot
control that the Japanese government
says you can only go 50 kilometers per
hour
fairly simple how about this one let’s
say I wanted to become an NBA basketball
player now many of you are thinking
right now Myka you’re a little bit short
and you’d be right I’m also not very
fast and I can’t jump very high which
are pretty important if you want to be a
basketball player now I can train my
body and I can work harder to make
myself a little faster and maybe jump a
little higher but the truth is I just do
not have the physical abilities needed
to be a basketball player and I have no
control over that so that would be
another example of outside limitations
let’s look at one more these are all me
by the way as you can tell now let’s
look at the last one let’s say being
able to swim being able to swim now in
some cases this might be an outside
limitation let’s say you live in the
desert and there is no water or people
that know how to swim to teach you you
have no controller that that would be an
outside limitation or if you are in a
wheelchair you cannot help that that
would restrict you from being able to
swim but let’s say for most of us in
this room if we cannot swim is that
because of something outside or inside
what is limiting us maybe it’s fear
maybe you’re afraid of the water maybe
it’s a situation where you really don’t
care to learn to swim but for most of us
here it is not an outside limitation
that would keep us from being able to
swim it would come from the inside and
this means are the limitations the
inside limitations that I want to focus
on right now and they and there are many
different things that contribute that
can cause
these inside limitations but right now I
want to look at three big limit makers
in our lives now again there are more
but these are three I want to highlight
today
number one is assumptions now
assumptions an example of an assumption
would be earlier when I did the Box
problem I gave you three rules and what
happened was is anytime you’ve been
given a puzzle with dots and lines in
the past you always connected dot-to-dot
you never went beyond to where there was
no dot so you assumed that in this
puzzle just like me that you would also
be doing the same thing but because of
that assumption you’re actually not
going to be able to finish the problem
I’ll give you another example I love
sushi I do
I think sushi is delicious but let’s say
that from the time I was born in America
till I came to Japan everyone I talked
to said sushi is gross or like it’s raw
fish it’s disgusting and every time I
turn sushi someone said yeah it’s gross
it’s gross when I came to Japan and
someone asked me Micah do you like sushi
I might answer no because it’s gross
even though I have never in my life
eaten sushi you see I made an assumption
based on what others had told me and
assumptions can come from all over from
our families from our cultures but
they’re very powerful number two
contentment and laziness I feel like
this is a little bit of an American
limitation at least for me you know I
would love to look like Brad Pitt now I
can’t do anything about this but in
terms of my body I could right I could
go to the gym I could eat better but you
know what that’s hard
and I’m a little bit lazy and maybe in
the morning when I could go to the gym I
decide to sleep just a little bit longer
or maybe I’m just fine with my body I’m
just okay I’m content
now contentment is fine but it can limit
us and we have to remember that number
three is fear fear is big in America
fear I know is big here as well
and I think when we hear fear we think
of things like the fear of animals or
Heights or flying which those are real
fears but the fears I kind of want us to
think about these inside fears our fears
like the fear of failure the fear of the
unknown the fear of what others will
think of me the fear of standing out
these are very very powerful things
because they will prevent us from doing
things we may have a dream but because
we’re afraid we will not pursue and move
forward in that dream now here’s the
thing my speech today is called
overcoming limitations but here’s the
thing in my in my history and past and
from what I understand there is not a
simple way to overcome everything just
in a few minutes I give it to you and
everyone goes out and overcomes
everything but what we need to do is we
need to realize if what is really
preventing me is outside of my control
or if it’s inside of my control and to
do that I want to give you some tools to
analyze to see if in your situation if
in your dream if it is an outside
limitation or an inside limitation that
is really preventing you from reaching
it so think of what are the tools ar e
what are the tools
number one is ask why why is a very very
powerful question why is a revealing
question with the power of Y my three
old son can stop me in my tracks and
I’ll give you an example so my lovely
wife Amy would cook us a dinner cook us
some chicken for dinner so I take the
chicken and I go and I set it in front
of my three-year-old Ariston and I say
Ariston you need to eat your chicken and
ariston looks at me and says why and I
say well because chicken is good for you
and he says why and I go well because
chicken is full of protein and protein
helps to grow big and strong and he goes
why and I go because protein is an
important biological amino acid I don’t
know Ariston I’m your dad eat your
chicken but do you see what happened
with just that one question three year
old Ariston was digging deeper and
deeper and this is a difficult question
to ask ourselves because it allows us to
dig deeper as we look at our problems as
we look at our limitations and we say
why why can’t I do that
and it’s it takes bravery because
sometimes we reach a point where we
don’t know why but that’s ok
it lets us dig deeper and lets us see
what is really limiting us
number two is research we live in the
age of the Internet where we can find
out almost anything so we have no excuse
to not really be well read about
something we want to do
number three is experience this one’s
big find someone if you have a dream if
you have something you want to do find
someone who has done it or is doing it
and talk to them and ask them what they
did to get where they are what problem
is they had to overcome and what you’ll
see is is that oftentimes those
individuals had to overcome several
different kinds of limitations to
where they are so again what are the
tools a ask why our research and II
experience so for me so five years ago I
was working for a Swiss bank in Raleigh
and it was a good job it was very
stressful but it was a good job but I
really really wanted to do a job to do
something that was making a difference
in the world I wanted to go and do
something meaningful for the world but
at that time when I thought about all of
the things in my life all I could think
about was well I have a newborn baby my
wife quit her job to stay home with the
baby so I’m the only one working things
like I have bills things like I have
school debts to pay and these are very
real problems and so initially I thought
I just need to work here because it’s
safe and I understand it but as I
started thinking as I really started
asking myself why can’t I do this when I
really started doing my research when I
started talking to people who had left
the business world to pursue their
dreams what I realized was what was
really preventing me from doing
something was my fear I was afraid I
didn’t know what the future would look
like the bank I understood a little
better but this whole dream I don’t know
so me and my wife we talked a lot about
it as Christians we prayed a lot about
it and we researched and we asked and we
continued to work and we came to a point
where we said okay we want to pursue
this now it wasn’t easy I ended up
during the process we ended up me my
wife and my son we had our own house and
we moved back in with my parents which
does not look good on Facebook you know
put a picture up on Facebook hey guys
I’m back
my parents not really something you want
to brag about so it was difficult but
here we are five years later in Tokyo
doing exactly what we sought out to do
so what I want you to do is I want to go
back to the box problem if you remember
I gave you three rules to follow in
solving this now those rules made the
problem difficult but it did not make it
impossible it was possible to solve
difficult but possible what prevented us
from solving the problem was my box and
this is what happens to us guys in our
lives we have very real limitations we
have things we can’t control that do
prevent us from reaching our goals
however usually what really prevents us
from reaching our dreams from reaching
our goals is that inside limitation it’s
that box and so my challenge to you
today is to not let those inside
limitations prevent you from pursuing
your dreams and your goals thank you
[Applause]
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