Take the restrictor plate off.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Old School with Will Ferrell is the scene when his character, Frank “The Tank” is working on his muscle car, “The Red Dragon”

“Took the restrictor plate off to give the Red Dragon a little more juice. But it's not exactly street legal, so keep it on the down low.”

I’m one of those guys that loves to quote movie lines and Old School has too many of them to count. Yesterday I was thinking of self-limiting beliefs and for some reason the quote popped into my head. For those that don’t know, the restrictor plate is a device you install at the automobile engine intake to limit its power. In auto racing they use the restrictor plate to equal the level of competition. Another example would be the “governor” on a riding lawn mower— essentially different technology but the same idea.

Yesterday I found myself in a contemplative mood in the afternoon. I just started a new sales year in my software selling job and I was putting my plan together for the coming year. Like so many people I find myself often fighting a constant battle to overcome the seeds of doubt that fester in my head— essentially those times when I’m restricting my own success through self-limiting beliefs. It dawned on me that all too often I’m letting fear and doubt literally restrict my performance.

How often are we limiting ourselves by putting a restrictor plate on our efforts?

As someone who’s worked in tech for years, I’ve long been a fan of the Dilbert Comics by Scott Adams. So many of the absurdities of office life that I’ve experienced in my sales career are captured so perfectly. In the past few years Adams has emerged as a major figure in the political space due to his prediction that Donald Trump would win the 2016 Presidential Election. In addition to his comics I’m a huge fan of his book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. In the book Adams tells his life story with great emphasis on the tools he’s used to become a successful cartoonist and entrepreneur. Like you would expect from the guy who gave us Dilbert, it’s a pretty funny book, but also very inspiring as he details his determination to overcome some serious health obstacles while starting several companies.

Take the Restrictor Plate Off Your Mind: Dealing With Self-Limiting Beliefs

You Need a System: The Best Thing I Learned from Scott Adams