Knowing Your Limits
We often think that having limits is a bad thing, that having limits is a dream-stealer, potential-stopper, & purpose-killer. Knowing your limits is actually a GOOD thing. Every single human is different. We each have unique strengths, skills, gifts, personality, character, dreams, passions, etc. Each of us are great at some things, mediocre at some things, and bad at some things. What our society teaches us is that if we don’t have something, we need to put all of our time & energy into getting it. What we should be teaching is that the things we do have, we need to hone in on & grow them. The things that we don’t have, we can lean on the help of others that do. That’s why it’s so important for us to actually recognize that we have limits. Otherwise we will end up spending our lives exhausted, doing things that are not helpful or beneficial to ourselves.
The biggest reason I wanted to share this with you is because one of the things I have personally struggled with the most is juggling my work load & my every day life. My unhealthy behaviors are taking on more work than I need to because I thrive off of achievement and taking on more work because I want to do whatever I can for any person that asks. It’s good that I have the self-awareness of it, but it still gets me in trouble if I’m not careful. When I take on too much, that leads to burnout & being behind.
For my photographer friends out there, I used to (and still sometimes) get discouraged when I’m not booking as much as I want to. Even when I know how much strategy I’ve put in to reaching my ideal client & knowing that is targeting an audience unique to my work, I still get wrapped up in the fact that I’m not doing as much as I think I should or could be. I have set a limit of 10-15 weddings a year (including second shooting opportunities & not including sessions) because that is my threshold. I know there are other photographers shooting 60 weddings a year and that’s so awesome if that is in their capacity to do so. Just because someone else is doing it, does not mean that it’s good for you to do too.
The truth is, knowing my limits actually helps me to reach my dreams & my potential. It helps me to focus on what I am great at instead of wasting time on things that I am not. I would rather live my days doing things that I know I can truly pour myself into, rather than trying to do as much as I can & not being as effective as I could. The reward is in doing a few things well.
XO, Dakota Chasity
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”