You do less, but you get more.

Well, hey there. Welcome back. Do you have any limitations? Oh, yes, of course you do. Let’s talk about them. And I think your first reaction is, “Well, here we go. We’re going to explore how I’m not good enough at something or how I don’t even do a thing.” Nope, we’re not doing that at all. In fact, we are going to look at why limitations are so important and how they actually make a product, a business, and a person better. What is this? Real life? Yes, I’m here to tell you yes, it is.

The Danger of Trying to be Good at Everything in 2026

I read a book a while back called The Myth of Excellence. And one of the things it says in the book, and I’m paraphrasing, is the best way to sort of destroy your business and go out of business is to try to be good at everything. Years ago, I worked at a firm that had that same motto. And they tried to be good at everything and tell all of their clients that they could do anything and everything that their clients were asking. And they couldn’t. In their quest to be good at everything, they were essentially good at nothing.

The Success of the 10-Minute Podcast Constraint

When I started this podcast—and we are approaching 300 episodes in 2026—when I started it, the very first episode, I set a rule for myself. I set a limitation and the limitation was I would keep the episode if it was just me to about 10 minutes. I have adhered to that and every so often I go over to maybe 11 or 12 minutes and then I apologize profusely. That limitation has helped me to have a better show. It has helped me to have a show that’s better because it forces me to be more concise, but it also makes my show very different.

When people find out that my show is only 10 minutes long, they’re shocked. And they’re shocked in a very pleasant way. They’re like, “Oh, I can digest that. Oh, I’ll just go empty the dishwasher and listen to your show.” “Oh, okay. Wow, that’s it.” I’ve had multiple people come to me and say, “Oh, yeah. I listen to like seven of your episodes.” Wow. Like so that’s really a cool thing that limitation has been very advantageous.

Defining Strategic vs. Self-Improvement Limitations

At the time of year that this podcast episode is coming out is we’re we’re we’re ending the year and it’s when everyone is making New Year’s resolutions and saying they’re going to be better and this and that. They’re probably looking at limitations as something they’re going to overcome. And yes, there are certain things that you want to improve. You want to be better at weight loss. You want to be better at at consistency at this that the other thing. Yes. So, you’re sort of overcoming your scale and you’re saying, “I want this to be a seven when it’s only a three right now.” That’s fine.

What I’m talking about are limitations that are typically self-imposed for a reason. If you’re running a business and you set limitations, you will find that very comforting. You will create a sort of comfort zone for you, your skills, your people, and yourself. You can do that for yourself as well where you have a limitation in something that you do whether it’s well when people ask for rides or they ask for favors I have a limitation of such and such and it can help you to maintain consistency and integrity and you’re kind of shaking your head right now going wait I never really looked at it that way it’s a positive thing yes it’s an absolute positive thing.

Maintaining Professional Integrity with Time Limits

Getting back to my use of it when I interview people and I am exceeding exceedingly grateful for the chances I’ve had so far with interviewing people. When I interview people, I always start it by telling them when I first approach them, I’m only going to use an hour of your valuable time, no more. I promise. And I’m surprised at how many of those people view that as they they act like this is a new thing. Like no one has ever approached them for an interview and said, “Here’s our time limit.”

And there are obvious reasons for that, right? If you are running a show and you get somebody that you think is going to be really good, you want to squeeze every single delicious minute out of them that you can. So, you are actually doing yourself a disservice in their shortsighted view of it of saying, “Hey, I I told the guy it was only an hour, but he was willing to go longer. Darn it. Why did I do that?” Well, if he is willing to go longer, then you can go longer. And I had a guest that easily did an hour and a half and wanted to actually do more where I actually had to push back and say, “You know what? Why don’t you come back?” So again, a limitation simply related to the podcast and timing.

And I want to stress again that these limitations, unlike self-improvement limitations per se, are self-imposed limitations that have to do with something that you think is a good thing. Like for example, this is not, oh, I’m just going to limit myself to have only one and a half cakes. No, I’m not talking about like limiting your eating and things like that. Those are just that’s a different concept. This concept is there’s a thing that I do or enjoy or or could do, but I don’t.

The Business Advantage of Scarcity and Brand Recognition

Getting back to the business again, if you’re a creator and let’s say you create 3D printed objects, you may limit yourself to things that are not so fragile or things that are small or things that are really easy to ship. Can you create and print the larger things? Absolutely. Are those high ticket items? Absolutely. Are those things that people request? Sure. But you may just say, “No, I limit myself and I don’t do those. Maybe if I do a a in-person fair somewhere, I may print those and bring those with me. But when it comes to my online store, I limit myself to only doing the little tiny things.”

Could Chick-fil-A be open on a Sunday? Yes, but they limit themselves and they’re not open on a Sunday. Not being open on a Sunday costs them an estimated 1 billion with a B dollars of revenue, but they actually gain more than that because it gives them more brand recognition. It increases scarcity because people think, “Oh, I want, oh, it’s closed. Oh, I better go there on Tuesday then.” So, it’s a net gain for them limiting themselves of actually not allowing their customers to buy their products on one day every single week. Hobby Lobby is the same way and they both create a certain image in the mind of many consumers, an image that they cannot create without creating that limitation.

Setting Social Boundaries to Protect Your Time and Energy

If they say, “Oh yeah, we have morals and ethics and this and we want our people to be taken care of.” Sure, any business can say that. But a business that actually forces itself to be closed on a specific day can say that you too can create that perception. And I don’t mean just a perception like it’s false. I mean a perception in other people of your behavioral patterns by enforcing a limitation.

You can present yourself as someone who’s very friendly to your friends and say, “Oh yeah, I’ll help out anytime. Just call me.” Okay, but a lot of people say that. But if you say, “If you want me to help you, let me know.” but you’re going to give me some lead time or I can’t help you. It shows them that you’re serious. It shows them that you actually are committing to helping them, but they are going to also have to come step up to you and say, “Hey, you know, I didn’t just think of this out of nowhere. I actually need help and I’m going to do some planning.” You know, do emergencies happen? Of course. But I’m saying by pushing back and forcing a limitation on your kindness in a way it can help people to say, “Oh, he’s actually serious about that.”

Conclusion: Why Doing Less Allows You to Get More

Banks, restaurants, retail, etc., etc. The list goes on. There probably isn’t a business out there that doesn’t have a limitation that they self-imposed. There isn’t a business out there that some of the people in a round table, CEO, CFO, what have you, see people, marketing, what have you, sat down and said “well you know we could do this right?” and the answer was yes but we’re not going to and we’re not going to because it is a limitation that we are imposing and there’s usually push back of yes but we’ll see this increase in revenue yes but it’s just not part of our brand or it’s just moving forward not something we really want to do.

Imposing limitations on yourself, your business, etc. can be extremely valuable. It can be something that reduces your stress, reduces your time, energy, ...