Summary: No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity by John C. Maxwell

• If you are interested in how to motivate, set priorities and lead any team to optimal achievement, you might want to read this book review of [No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity by John C. Maxwell].
• To learn more about the book and its insights and recommendations for leadership, please continue reading the rest of the article. You will find a summary and review of the book, as well as some suggestions for further reading and resources.

Recommendation

Prolific leadership author John C. Maxwell targets a list of 17 core leadership capabilities – including creativity, discipline and character– and details how you can maximize your potential in each area. His primary message is that your personal abilities are unlimited, but you must work your way out of the mental limits – or “caps” – you’ve set for yourself. Maxwell assures you that when you eliminate the ways you tamp down your core capacities and stop holding yourself back, you can move from supposed limits to limitless potential.

Take-Aways

• Your potential is unlimited when you have the right attitude and make the right decisions.
• Focus on and expand your strengths; don’t dwell on your weaknesses.
• Achieving your full potential requires unleashing yourself and undergoing significant change.
• Set the goal of building your full capabilities.
• People have many kinds of capacities. Target the ones you can improve.

Summary

Your potential is unlimited when you have the right attitude and make the right decisions.

In the 1920s, mountaineer George Mallory led Britain’s first three expeditions to climb Mt. Everest. The first two expeditions were unsuccessful. During Mallory’s third expedition, an avalanche killed him and most of his people.

Back in England, the surviving expedition members participated in a banquet to honor those who had died. One of the survivors spoke vehemently, addressing the mountain directly. He issued this challenge: “I speak to you, Mount Everest, in the name of all brave men living and those yet unborn. Mount Everest, you defeated us once; you defeated us twice; you defeated us three times. But Mount Everest, we shall someday defeat you, because you can’t grow any bigger and we can!

A couple of decades after the Mallory tragedy, Englishman Edmund Hillary and Tibetan Sherpa Tenzing Norgay made it to the summit of Mount Everest. In the years since then, more than 7,000 people have reached that mountaintop – evidence of people’s ability to expand their personal capacities.

“Your life need not have limits.”

Mountains are static, but human beings are vibrant; they can grow, improve and achieve their goals. People can climb the world’s tallest mountains, dive into the deepest seas, hack their way through impenetrable jungles and traverse bone-dry deserts.

Focus on and expand your strengths; don’t dwell on your weaknesses.

Successful improvement follows a formula: “Awareness plus ability plus choices equals capacity.” Awareness is the controlling factor. Become aware of your special abilities and nurture them with a sense of confidence that you can improve them and bring them to full fruition. The “capacity challenge” is to make the right choices on the way to achieving your goals.

“When was the last time you asked for others’ advice and opinions? When was the last time you got better because someone made you better?”

Anyone can improve with sufficient will and determination. Anyone can become great and make a difference. People can grow to reach their full capabilities. The first step is to discard any limits you’ve placed on yourself, that is, remove “the caps from your capacity.”

That means building your strengths, not dwelling on your weaknesses.

Do you know how most pastors spend their time? If your answer is counseling their parishioners, that’s not exactly it. Most pastors spend their time equipping their parishioners. How does that work? Counseling people is about helping them overcome their weaknesses. Equipping people is about helping them extend and fortify their strengths.

Achieving your full potential requires unleashing yourself and undergoing significant change.

Achieving your full potential means accepting the need to change. Building your abilities calls for change, which always means taking action.

“Everything you want, everything thing you want to receive, is uphill. The problem is that most of us have uphill dreams but downhill habits.”

The changes you must undergo to attain your full capacity will be challenging and will take time. Plan on “slow and small” but meaningful growth. Accept this pace knowing that change isn’t easy or quick. Positive change is worth the effort.

If you don’t become aware of your need to change, or of any existing opportunities for change, you’ll never evolve. The essential process of change can be exhausting and depleting. It requires expending “mental, emotional and physical energy,” but it’s necessary despite these costs.

“The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” (gymnast Dan Millman)

To forge ahead, invest your energy and time wisely. Understand that even minor changes can be meaningful, particularly if you observe which changes will have the most positive effect on your life. Even though positive change is vital, many people resist it. They shun upheaval and want problem-free, immediate results even though productive change doesn’t happen overnight.

Set the goal of building your full capabilities.

Although Nick Vujicic is only in his 30s, he’s written five books. He’s been Oprah Winfrey’s guest on television, appeared in two movies and starred in a music video. He’s delivered inspirational speeches to “hundreds of millions of people around the world.” Not bad for a person who was born without arms or legs.

“The challenge for us…is to know our capabilities and recognize our limitations – and become the best we can be.” (Professor Catherine B. Ahles, Macomb Community College, Michigan)

Bullies tormented Vujicic when he was a little boy. This sadistic bullying hurt him deeply. Therefore, as an adult, he decided to become a motivational speaker and give speeches on the evils of bullying.

He was rejected by the first 52 organizations he approached for a paid speaking engagement. For his first paid speech, Vujicic asked his brother to drive him to a school two-and-a-half hours away. Only 10 students showed up for Vujicic’s maiden speech, which paid $50. Then he and his brother drove two-and-a-half hours back home. The speech was an inauspicious beginning for a want-to-be professional motivational speaker, and Vujicic felt like a fool.

However, during the next week, his phone began ringing repeatedly. Schools everywhere wanted him to speak to inspire their students. Now, Vujicic receives 35,000 requests each year to speak to groups all over the globe. Nick Vujicic was born with severely limited physical capacities, yet he has inspired millions to live up to their potential.

People have many kinds of capacities. Target the ones you can improve.

Each individual has strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

“Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination.” (William Arthur Ward)

Consider which of these 17 areas of your life offers you the greatest possibility of growing stronger and becoming the best you can be.

1. “Energy capacity”– Exploit your physical ability and build your strength with targeted workouts and exercise. Make the most of the things you can do. In fact, “it’s better to manage your energy than to manage your time.” Everyone gets the same amount of time, but when it comes to energy, you can increase your personal energy supply.
2. “Emotional capacity”– Work on becoming the master of your emotions. Your goal is to become “emotionally strong” and able to cope with whatever you must face. By building emotional resilience, you better equip yourself to handle problems, change and stress. Take charge of your emotions, and don’t let them rule you.
3. “Thinking capacity”– Develop your ability to reason logically. To increase your thinking capacity, create a reliable system for organizing and recording your ideas. Spend time with the most imaginative people you know to help spur your thinking. “Average thinkers” compare to great thinkers as ice cubes compare to icebergs. Little cubes don’t last long; enormous icebergs endure and have hidden depths. Superior thinking capacity pays a greater dividend than just being a supposedly smart person.
4. “People capacity”– How well do you initiate and sustain relationships? People who excel at developing relationships focus on helping their friends and colleagues achieve their goals, not on what others can do for them. Individuals with a notable capacity for relationships aren’t selfish; they value other people, pay attention to them and want those around them to do well.
5. “Creative capacity”– When you muster your creativity, you heighten your ability to find viable solutions to challenging problems. When you have a great idea, share the spark with the right people. Ask them to evaluate your idea from their perspective. If you heed their feedback, the result will be an expansion of your original idea beyond your personal frame of reference, giving a big boost to your creative capacity.
6. “Production capacity”– Productive people are futurists who want to make tomorrow better than today. They are not historians whose vantage point is the past, and they’re not reporters who are focused on the present. They learn from the past and make the most of the present to leverage the future and open its possibilities.
7. “Leadership capacity”– Do you have an open mind? Great leaders ask questions to connect with others and expand their thinking. This contrasts with supposed leaders who talk constantly and burden others with repetitive, pat answers. Instead of giving people directions, help them think about what they need and want to do, so they can carve out the right path for themselves.
8. “Responsibility capacity”– Responsible people take control of their lives. They accept accountability. They’re not like Donald S. Drusky, for example, who unsuccessfully sued God and “former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the television networks, all 50 states, every single American, the FCC, all federal judges and the 100th through 105th congresses.” Drusky went to court to blame everyone for his life not working out as he wished. You’re in charge of your life. Assume responsibility for it.
9. “Character capacity”– Your values count most in building character, and good character is the foundation of success. The decision to live according to solid values is a choice you must make many times each day. When you run from what you know is right or behave in small, sneaky ways that undermine your moral standing, you jeopardize your character.
10. “Abundance capacity”– This relates to having an “abundance mind-set”: thinking hopefully, trusting others, and feeling positive about yourself and those around you. Enjoy your life by believing that good things are always possible. Believe that there’s no limit to how far you can go or what you can do. This attitude tells you that yesterday was good, today is better and tomorrow will be the best.
11. “Discipline capacity”– When you exercise self-discipline, everything else will come together. You control your habits and you’re constantly busy, but you never make your pace an excuse for falling into bad practices or failing to fulfill your responsibilities.
12. “Intentionality capacity”– You want to understand what elements of your life are truly meaningful and significant. Intentionality has three aspects: 1) Deliberateness – You can’t achieve anything of substance if you’re not deliberate in what you say and do; 2) Consistency – When you do the right things on a regular basis, you reap compounded benefits; and 3) Willfulness – Apply your will, your deliberate attention, to everything you do in order to execute thoroughly and correctly.
13. “Attitude capacity”– No matter what happens to you, helpful or hurtful, big or small, maintain a positive attitude. That is a choice you can make. To support a positive attitude, keep your self-talk buoyant and upbeat. Positivity is infectious, so encourage and lead those around you to be optimistic as well.
14. “Risk capacity”– To move ahead, be willing to take intelligent risks. That may jolt you temporarily out of your comfort zone, but you can gauge whether your discomfort is leading you to grow and make progress or not – and adjust accordingly.
15. “Spiritual capacity”– If you are a spiritual person, building your spirituality capacity could give you an additional source of optimism and strength. Author John C. Maxwell, an ordained minister, explains, “My faith choice has been instrumental to increasing my capacity in every area of my life.”
16. “Partnership capacity”– Your capacity for collaboration affects how well your other capacity-increasing efforts turn out. Partnering well enables you to “quickly multiply the impact” of your other choices. Worthy collaborators help you move more efficiently and achieve better results. You balance one another’s weaknesses and strengths. As Mother Teresa said, “I can do things you cannot; you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” That’s the beauty of partnership.
17. “Growth capacity”– When you unleash your other capacities, growth is a natural outcome. Growth demands work and change, but it leads to practical results. As you endeavor to become as capable as you can in each area listed, you will attain a greater sense of personal confidence and autonomy over the way you build and direct your life and career.

About the Author

Author, speaker and pastor John Maxwell also wrote Developing the Leader Within You; The 5 Levels of Leadership; The Self-Aware Leader, and many other titles. Business Insider and Inc. have referred to Maxwell as the world’s most influential leadership expert, and his books sell in the millions

Genres

leadership, management, business, self-help, motivation, productivity, performance, teamwork, personal development, nonfiction

Review

The book is a guide for leaders who want to motivate, set priorities and lead any team to optimal achievement. The author, John C. Maxwell, is an expert in leadership and personal development. He identifies 17 core capacities that can help anyone reach their full potential. Some of these are abilities we all already possess, such as energy, creativity and leadership.

Others are aspects of our lives controlled by our choices, like our attitudes, character, and intentionality. Maxwell examines each of these capacities, and provides clear and actionable advice on how you can increase your potential in each. He will guide you on how to identify, grow, and apply your critical capacities. Once you’ve blown the “cap” off your capacities, you’ll find yourself more successful – and fulfilled – in your daily life.

The book is a useful and insightful resource for anyone who wants to improve their leadership skills and results. The author writes with clarity, authority and enthusiasm, and he draws from his extensive experience and research in the field of leadership. He provides a balance of theory and practice, and he presents his concepts and methods in a simple and accessible way.

He also challenges the readers to rethink their assumptions and habits, and to adopt a new mindset and approach to leadership. The book is not only informative, but also inspiring and motivating, as it shows how to lead any team to win, regardless of the circumstances and challenges.