The boundaries of your environment

Can’t remember where I found this quote, but I love the extreme-ownership-ness of it:

Once you see the boundaries of your environment, they are no longer the boundaries of your environment.

Marshall McLuhan

I used to complain about not having enough time to run. Then I planned my ideal week and saw my time boundaries right there as events on the calendar. I pushed them around, removed some, combined others, and made time. Now I’m a runner.

I used to complain that writing performance evaluations was hard and took forever. Then I realized my boundary was an implicit expectation that managers write performance evaluations alone. Now, I write them together with each direct report, slowly over the course of the cycle.

List all the boundaries of whatever’s bothering you. Then, destroy them. Because remember, you have the life you’re willing to put up with.