"I think sometimes people limit themselves and so much of what we can do is in our own minds"

Mary Barra points to a universal truth: the hardest ceilings are often the ones inside our heads. We construct invisible fences out of doubt, habits, and borrowed judgments. Self-limiting beliefs whisper that we are not ready, not qualified, or not the kind of person who does that. Psychology calls this low self-efficacy; culture calls it playing small. Either way, the result is the same: we act within a shrunken map. The mind edits possibility before reality gets a vote, turning imagined risks into certain barriers and treating temporary setbacks as verdicts rather than feedback.

What we can do expands when the inner narrative changes. A growth mindset reframes ability as something built, not bestowed. Mental rehearsal, clear goals, and deliberate practice align attention with progress. Tiny experiments, send the email, build the prototype, ask for the stretch assignment, create evidence that contradicts old stories. Fear rarely disappears first; action earns courage retroactively. It also helps to separate real constraints from perceived ones: budgets, laws, and physics are nonnegotiable; insecurity and perfectionism are not. Surroundings matter too. Psychological safety and leaders who reward learning over posturing widen the runway for initiative. The brain takes cues from norms; if questioning assumptions is celebrated, more minds engage.

There is also a moral and organizational implication. When talented people silence themselves, teams lose ideas, customers lose solutions, and industries lose progress. Expanding the mental frame is not self-help solitaire; it is a contribution. The practical path is simple, not easy: notice the limiting thought, rephrase it into a testable hypothesis, run a small test, harvest data, and iterate. Over time, the map grows truer and larger. The mind can be a prison or a lever. Choose the lever, and pull. Start where you are, with what you have, and let results teach you what’s actually possible.