Vital Life And Business Lessons From Thomas Shelby Part II

Yes, guilty as charged. I’ve been bingeing on Peaky Blinders… again.

So, continuing from my last post, another trait I find admirable in Thomas Shelby is his refusal to accept his allotted place in life.

Much like James Woods’s character in the film “Once Upon A Time In America”, he rises from the lowest position in society to one of the highest – a millionaire MP. In one particularly memorable scene, Michael tells Tommy his problem is he doesn’t know his own limitations. To which, Tommy replies: “I have no limitations.”

He simply goes after what he wants in life and to paraphrase Napoleon, he sees only his objective; the hurdles must give way. And as a result, he becomes truly unstoppable. As he says in the last episode (SPOILER ALERT), the only man who can kill Tommy Shelby is Tommy Shelby.

And what is the point in this?

Well, like the old Earl Nightingale story about the pumpkin that will only grow to fill the jam jar placed around its vine when pumpkins have the ability to grow much bigger, most people will only grow to fill the ‘glass jar placed around them’.

They will be forever restricted to the limits they believe have been placed on them, by parents, teachers, the media and the environment in which they live.

They will look at those ‘other’ people in life who achieve great things and believe they are blessed with great talent or luck that they don’t have. But, in truth, we all have the ability to achieve great things. It’s only our self-limiting beliefs that hold us back.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.”

So, what if, instead of accepting what you believe is possible for you, you choose to be like Tommy and refuse to accept you have any limitations. What could you achieve then? How would you live your life?