Understanding Your Own Personal Limitations

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.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hi folks. Well, I'm back the old jarhead giving you great career advice, advice that's guaranteed to help you. And so listen up, and these short podcasts can add a whole lot to your professional life. So let's get started. So last week so this is kind of a continuation of last week, and last week we talked about limitations and how they apply to your tasks that you're given at work. And just to kind of recap that discussion, because I think it'll better help you understand today's podcast, we call it limitations.

Speaker 1: 0:44

We were defining as two different types restraints, those things you cannot do, and constraints, those things you have to do, and how those two were applied to work assigned to you. For example, let's say that you're a baker and a customer comes in and orders two dozen sandwich rolls for a family picnic the next day. A restraint something you cannot do might be you can't use a certain ingredient in those rolls because of an allergy. One of the picnic goers has A constraint. Something you must do might be to pre-slice the roll so the picnic goers do not have to do that during the picnic. So if you're a baker and you're not aware of these limitations, you risk producing a bad product. In the case of the allergy. Potentially very serious mistake In case of pre-slicing. If the picnic goers are frustrated by having to slice their own rolls during a picnic, you risk losing customers. Okay, none of these outcomes are good for you as a baker.

Speaker 1: 1:44

The point is that all tasks have some things you cannot do and some things you must do, and if you want to be successful, you need to know what those limitations are. 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 failure by assuming Ask Okay. So now you're saying, okay, old jarhead, time to move on. What's what about today's topic and what are you talking about with? Uh, you're understanding your own personal limitations. Well, I'm gonna take that concept of limitations and apply it to your professional life. So not exactly not a one-to-one comparison, but it'll work.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Okay, you want to think about what limitations meaning restraints and constraints you have and how they pertain to your professional life. It's a good idea to think about this before you start a career or job. It could help you avoid taking on a job that does not fit your life, and this also applies to deciding what you want to major in in college too. So let's get going on this thing. First, let's think about restraints, things you cannot do. So for this you know personal professional development. I'm thinking of things that you strongly do not want to do. Okay, for example, a strong career restraint might that you don't want a job now. You can't take a job now that involves a lot of traveling because of family responsibilities. You just can't be away from home for days on end, right, so that's something that's a no-go. Another restraint might be that you want a job that is compensated by, or you don't want a job that's compensated by commission instead of salary, because you need a steady, reliable source of income. In either case, if you aren't aware of your restraints or ignore them, you risk taking a job or pursuing a career that does not fit your life. You will not be happy and that will reflect in the quality of your work.

Speaker 1: 3:46

So now let's look at constraints. These are things you must do Now. Let's think about this as things that you absolutely must have in your professional life. So one example could be a job with upward mobility. You want a job that, if you work hard and do well, you have the chance for advancement. So I'll tell you a short sea story now. When I left my beloved Marine Corps, I felt this was a constraint I had. So I was offered a job with great 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 the chance of my advancing was very, very slim. I turned down that job offer, even though it had great pay. But I've never regretted that decision. Okay, enough C stories from the old jarhead. Now Another constraint or must-have in your job or career could be that you work remotely, for example from your home, at least a portion of the time.

Speaker 1: 4:45

This could be due to family commitments or anything else. But if it's a strong must-have, then you better be aware of it and make sure that you do not jump on a job that does not allow this to work at home just for your example, because the pay is good. The point here is that, in either case, if you ignore the constraints, the must-haves in your career, you risk taking a job that does not fit your life and, just like ignoring your restraints, you will not be happy and your performance will suffer. Well, I think I about beat this topic to death, but it's important. So take some time to think about your professional limitations and use that information to get a job that fits your life. And if you want more information about this topic, get a copy of my book Find a Job that Fits your Life, because I go into a lot more detail on how to use this information. It's a proven process that I guarantee works All right. Well, thanks for listening and I hope you got something out of it and take care Bye, thank you, thank you.