Is Accepting Limitations Accepting Mediocrity?

By Greg Fullerton

The concept of limitations, particularly in relation to human happiness, is not one that typically sits well with the modern American spirit.

Limitation implies a restriction of happiness or settling with the mediocre status quo. This is not necessarily the case.

Temple Grandin had the limitation of seeing the world through pictures because of her autism.

Instead of having a wide range sensory input, Grandin was restricted to primarily focusing on technical details and visual connections.

Grandin wanted to limit her studies to science and to cattle behavior in particular. She studied their sounds, their movements, their conditions.

Her work, and her way of doing it, was limited by most standards. One subject: cows. One form of observation: pictures.

But without this limited perspective, she would never have developed the intricate systems she did that transformed slaughterhouses all over the nation into a more humane, profitable industry.

It was only by blocking out superfluous input and focusing intensely on one topic with a way of thinking often misunderstood by her peers that Grandin achieved success.

Her limitations changed the world.

Limitations Aren’t Necessarily Bad

Despite the word’s negative connotations, limitations can serve an important purpose in achieving on a goal.

After all, the string of a kite is a point of limitation, but without it, can the kite fly?

Early modern English playwrights understood a more traditional, but equally important, aspect of limitations: ignoring them only leads to trouble.

In John Webster’s gory glory of “The Duchess of Malfi,” the title character struggles against those who would have her live in opposition to her desires.

Instead of submitting to the restrictive and selfish mandates of her hypocritical brothers, the Duchess seeks to live according to her own romantic will in secret.

But in surreptitiously marrying the man of her choice, she’s forced to deal with painful limitations: a marriage uncelebrated and unrecognized alongside a seemingly illegitimate motherhood.

Without realizing it, she rejects one kind of limitation for a new set of limitations.

When we focus merely on immediate happiness, we can fail to see the possible limitations of that state.

We forget that part of saying yes to one thing is saying no to dozens of others.

The Duchess, for instance, shows a lack of insight concerning the results of her decision. She does not thoroughly weigh the happiness she would derive from a marriage with Antonio against the difficulties of a secret union. If she had, she may have still made the same choice to marry him.

But here’s the main advantage of thinking through the limitations of that choice: recognizing the challenges before they actually occurred would have allowed the couple to logically assess handling them or at least be in a mindset for facing resistence.

Instead, the Duchess’s confidence and independence, which reassure Antonio to the point of disillusioned calm, ultimately result in her premature death.

Working With Limitations

So is the lesson that confidence, independence, and boldness ultimately lead to risky situations and poor outcomes? No.

The lesson is that a lack of foresight can be an even greater limitation than the obvious restrictions immediately before us.

The Duchess boldly challenges the limitations of her position in life, but ultimately fails to navigate a different set of restrictions.

We cannot foresee the consequences of all of our choices nor predict the challenges of every future situation.

Still, in making substantial decisions that move us forward in life, we must work to see limitations of ourselves and others.

Unfortunately, the Duchess not only ignores the limitations of her own situation, but also the limitations of those around her. She is a straightforward, practical woman and assumes that others will see her sense. This is not the case.

In reality, we must remember to not only mitigate our own limitations, but also see the potential limitations of those around us. We must learn to ask the questions that others will, attempt to put on their glasses of perception, simulate potential outcomes. In short, we must get out of our own minds.

Without an awareness of human limitations as well as an appreciation for the purpose they serve, we cannot use them towards positive outcomes.

But by working to find limitations, use them as appropriate, and navigate restrictions, we will be able to more readily achieve our goals.