there’s no speed limit so raise your expectations

I read an article back in December by Derek Sivers titled “There’s no speed limit (The lessons that changed my life.)” In the article Derek describes the music lessons he received from musician Kimo Williams. Williams taught Derek two years Berkley School of Music coursework in theory and arranging in only a few lessons. Derek then went on to test out of 6 semesters of required classes and graduated in two and a half years.

I love reading inspirational stories but I think this one had an especially acute effect on me. Williams motto was that “there’s no speed limit” in terms of what you can learn and how fast you can learn it. The only limit is your own expectations and your willingness to work hard. This got me thinking about all the different artificial limits that we are conditioned to accept as we grow up. Each year in school you are supposed to learn a certain amount of information that the higher-ups have deemed adequate for your grade. Each year you move up a grade and the level of what you learn raises a little bit more. Sure, some people go a little bit above that expected limit or some don’t quite reach that benchmark but by and large, there is a limit to what you are expected to do.

I wonder how many of us still operate with a similar limitation once we leave the organized school system? I’ve always been a pretty bright guy but for some reason I’ve never really sat down and challenged myself to the extent that Derek did during his lessons with Kimo Wiliams. There shouldn’t be anything holding me back. Between libraries and the amazing possibilities that the internet opens I have access to almost any information I could possibly want. The only thing that is preventing me from doing something with all that information is my own expectations for myself.

From now on I’m going to try to remember that there’s no speed limit. I can learn as much as I want and as quickly as I can handle it. I don’t have to wait to move up to the next “grade,” buy the next volume, or wait for anybody else around me. My own development is going to be set by my own expectations which, from now on, are going to be very high. If I don’t set my expectations for myself at an adequate level, there is nobody else that will. It’s up to me.

How high are your expectations? Are you meeting them?

Photo by sofakingon

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under dreams, personal, productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • This article is really inspiring. I never sat down and had a thought about the limitations I set on myself many years ago. You are really right in saying that we can do anything we want in anytime we want, with only being ready to work hard and search for inspiration.

    You are ridiciulously inspiring to me now to create a vision.. and even pursue it.
  • Sam
    @Michael

    I'm glad the article could be an inspiration to you. I'm excited to see what results from your inspiration :)
  • My contract bridge coach is brilliant ... absolutely brilliant. His command of this complex game is astounding. I often get angry and frustrated when he demonstrates a difficult concept to me which is way above my PERCEIVED ability to understand it and make it my own. "Why are you teaching me this stuff ... I don't understand it ... I don't get it." He looked at me with a smile and said, "If you think you can't do this, then you won't. I'm presenting this to you because if you've never seen it you won't be able to do it." Thanks to Corey, my bridge game has improved exponentially. Because he set high expectations for me, I have not only met them, but I have exceeded them. How I've learned bridge has assisted me in every area of endeavor because now I firmly believe what my bridge coach has instilled in me: that whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. So if I believe I can learn it quickly ... I most certainly will and I have.

    Thanks for a truly informative post, Sam.

    Vita Reid - The One Minute Minimalist.
  • Sam
    @Vita Reid

    Thanks for the thoughtful comment! I know what you mean about having demanding coaches-- I played elite level hockey growing up and had some real doozies of coaches.
  • There's a saying that the worst thing you can do to someone is to have low expectations for them. People have a tendency to tailor their efforts to expectations; that's why even overachievers often cluster around the same level of performance when expectations are involved. A great reminder for us all to take a good hard look at our expectations and how they might be holding us back.
  • Sam
    As a teacher, I know exactly what you mean. When setting expectations for students I've found that the higher I set them, the more they achieve them. I need to remember to set the same expectations for myself.
  • Thanks for the reminder, Sam. I can't remember who had linked to this Kimo story a month or so back but I remember reading it, feeling inspired to ramp up my learning and writing, then quickly forgetting. I need Instapaper for my brain.

    - Charley
  • Sam
    If you find Instapaper for the brain, be sure to point me in the right direction :)
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