Understanding Your Own Personal Limitations

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Podcast Episode Summary: Understanding Your Own Personal Limitations

In this episode of the career advice podcast, titled "Understanding Your Own Personal Limitations," the host dives deep into the importance of recognizing and managing your personal and professional limitations. This episode is especially beneficial for young professionals, career starters, and ambitious individuals aiming to navigate their career paths effectively.

Key Points Covered:

• Recap of Last Week's Episode:
• Discussion on limitations as they apply to work tasks, breaking them down into two types:
  • Restraints: Things you cannot do.
  • Constraints: Things you must do.
  • Example: A baker dealing with ingredient restrictions (restraints) and customer requirements (constraints).
  • Applying Limitations to Professional Life:
  • Personal Restraints:
  • Avoiding jobs that require frequent travel due to family responsibilities.
  • Preferring a steady salary over commission-based compensation for financial stability.
  • Personal Constraints:
  • Seeking jobs with upward mobility for career growth.
  • Preferring remote work options to balance family commitments.
  • Professional Anecdote:
  • The host shares a personal story from post-military life, highlighting the importance of upward mobility and how turning down a high-paying job without growth opportunities was the right decision.
  • Key Takeaways:
  • Ignoring personal restraints can lead to job dissatisfaction and poor performance.
  • Failing to acknowledge constraints can result in taking jobs that don't align with your life goals, affecting your happiness and work quality.

Call to Action:

• Take some time to reflect on your personal and professional limitations. Understanding these can help you make informed career choices that align with your life and aspirations.
• Tune in next week for more insightful career advice. Don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast with anyone who might benefit from these tips.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi folks.
Well, I'm back the old jarheadgiving you great career advice,
advice that's guaranteed to helpyou.
And so listen up, and theseshort podcasts can add a whole
lot to your professional life.
So let's get started.
So last week so this is kind ofa continuation of last week,

(00:26):
and last week we talked aboutlimitations and how they apply
to your tasks that you're givenat work.
And just to kind of recap thatdiscussion, because I think
it'll better help you understandtoday's podcast, we call it
limitations.
We were defining as twodifferent types restraints,

(00:47):
those things you cannot do, andconstraints, those things you
have to do, and how those twowere applied to work assigned to
you.
For example, let's say thatyou're a baker and a customer
comes in and orders two dozensandwich rolls for a family
picnic the next day.
A restraint something youcannot do might be you can't use

(01:09):
a certain ingredient in thoserolls because of an allergy.
One of the picnic goers has Aconstraint.
Something you must do might beto pre-slice the roll so the
picnic goers do not have to dothat during the picnic.
So if you're a baker and you'renot aware of these limitations,
you risk producing a badproduct.
In the case of the allergy.
Potentially very seriousmistake In case of pre-slicing.

(01:34):
If the picnic goers arefrustrated by having to slice
their own rolls during a picnic,you risk losing customers.
Okay, none of these outcomesare good for you as a baker.
The point is that all tasks havesome things you cannot do and
some things you must do, and ifyou want to be successful, you
need to know what thoselimitations are.

(01:54):
If you don't or you're not sure, you need to ask whoever it was
that was giving you the task.
Don't risk professional failureby assuming Ask Okay.
So now you're saying, okay, oldjarhead, time to move on.
What's what about today's topicand what are you talking about
with?
Uh, you're understanding yourown personal limitations.
Well, I'm gonna take thatconcept of limitations and apply

(02:19):
it to your professional life.
So not exactly not a one-to-onecomparison, but it'll work.
Okay, you want to think aboutwhat limitations meaning
restraints and constraints youhave and how they pertain to
your professional life.
It's a good idea to think aboutthis before you start a career
or job.
It could help you avoid takingon a job that does not fit your

(02:41):
life, and this also applies todeciding what you want to major
in in college too.
So let's get going on thisthing.
First, let's think aboutrestraints, things you cannot do
.
So for this you know personalprofessional development.
I'm thinking of things that youstrongly do not want to do.
Okay, for example, a strongcareer restraint might that you

(03:05):
don't want a job now.
You can't take a job now thatinvolves a lot of traveling
because of familyresponsibilities.
You just can't be away fromhome for days on end, right, so
that's something that's a no-go.
Another restraint might be thatyou want a job that is
compensated by, or you don'twant a job that's compensated by
commission instead of salary,because you need a steady,

(03:28):
reliable source of income.
In either case, if you aren'taware of your restraints or
ignore them, you risk taking ajob or pursuing a career that
does not fit your life.
You will not be happy and thatwill reflect in the quality of
your work.
So now let's look at constraints.

(03:48):
These are things you must doNow.
Let's think about this asthings that you absolutely must
have in your professional life.
So one example could be a jobwith upward mobility.
You want a job that, if youwork hard and do well, you have
the chance for advancement.
So I'll tell you a short seastory now.
When I left my beloved MarineCorps, I felt this was a

(04:10):
constraint I had.
So I was offered a job withgreat pay and work I would enjoy
.
But when I asked what was next,I was told the job was it Okay,
boss is sticking around and thechance of my advancing was very
, very slim.
I turned down that job offer,even though it had great pay.
But I've never regretted thatdecision.

(04:31):
Okay, enough C stories from theold jarhead.
Now Another constraint ormust-have in your job or career
could be that you work remotely,for example from your home, at
least a portion of the time.
This could be due to familycommitments or anything else.
But if it's a strong must-have,then you better be aware of it
and make sure that you do notjump on a job that does not

(04:54):
allow this to work at home justfor your example, because the
pay is good.
The point here is that, ineither case, if you ignore the
constraints, the must-haves inyour career, you risk taking a
job that does not fit your lifeand, just like ignoring your
restraints, you will not behappy and your performance will
suffer.
Well, I think I about beat thistopic to death, but it's

(05:18):
important.
So take some time to thinkabout your professional
limitations and use thatinformation to get a job that
fits your life.
And if you want moreinformation about this topic,
get a copy of my book Find a Jobthat Fits your Life, because I
go into a lot more detail on howto use this information.
It's a proven process that Iguarantee works All right.

(05:42):
Well, thanks for listening andI hope you got something out of
it and take care Bye, thank you,thank you.