Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

CONSIDER THE CONSTRAINTS
A good way to trigger creative solutions to your problems is to apply
the “theory of constraints.” This theory says that, in every process or
series of activities, there is a 
limiting factor
. There are constraints or
bottlenecks that determine the speed at which you get from where
you are to where you want to go. The very act of identifying the crit-
ical constraints in your environment often triggers ideas and in-
sights that help you to alleviate them.
For example, let us say that your goal is to double your income
over the next three to five years. You begin identifying the con-
straints on achieving this goal by asking,
“Why isn’t my income twice
as high already?”
Be honest. Ask yourself the brutal questions: Why aren’t you 
al-
ready
earning twice as much as you are earning today? What is holding
you back? Of all the things that are holding you back, what is the ma-
jor limiting factor that will determine how fast you achieve your goal?