I love Seth Godin’s analogy about his dog, Woodie. When they first acquired the pooch, they installed one of those invisible fences to keep him from wandering away. Woodie probably got a shock once or twice from the collar when he attempted to leave the yard. The electronic barrier eventually broke, however, and Woodie was free to come and go as he pleased. And yet, he has never left the yard. The boundary is in Woodie’s head.

Can you relate? In our daily lives, we’re reminded of all the boundaries we dare not cross. “That is not the way we do it here,” we are told. “We tried that before and it didn’t work,” is the common refrain.

In his biography of Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson writes about how the inventor was famous for pushing his employees well beyond their boundaries. He was notorious for setting deadlines that were, by most accounts, unrealistic. And yet, Jobs had the ability to convince those employees they were capable of achieving and surpassing those goals.

What boundaries are in your head? And when was the last time you attempted to push beyond them? Achieve the unachievable? Reach beyond what you think is unattainable? How about now?

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