Framework Explorer

Understanding Framework Limitations

The essays in Part I of "Human Limit" explore how our mental frameworks create invisible boundaries that limit what we can perceive, think, and achieve. This interactive tool will help you identify and map your own framework limitations.

Perception Circles

Borrowed Frameworks

Certainty Traps

Identity Limitations

Invisible Edges

The Three Circles of Limitation

Click on each circle to understand the different layers of limitations that define your potential.

Unknown
Unknowns

Known
Unknowns

Known
Limitations

Known Limitations

These are the boundaries you're consciously aware of and actively working to overcome. Examples include skills you know you lack, knowledge areas you're trying to develop, or habits you're working to change.

While important to address, these limitations are the least dangerous because you can see them clearly.

Known Unknowns

These are areas where you recognize your ignorance but can at least articulate what you don't understand. You know these territories exist, but haven't mapped them yet.

These limitations represent growth opportunities you can consciously pursue.

Unknown Unknowns

This vast territory contains limitations, possibilities, and frameworks that remain completely outside your awareness. You don't know what you don't know.

These invisible boundaries are the most limiting because they restrict your potential without your knowledge. The exercises in this tool will help you begin mapping this territory.

Identifying Borrowed Frameworks

Many of our most limiting frameworks aren't ones we consciously chose but inherited from others. Complete this exercise to identify frameworks you've borrowed without examination.

Framework Source Reflection

For each area below, write down beliefs about what's possible or appropriate that you've absorbed from these sources:

Family Frameworks

Education Frameworks

Professional Frameworks

Cultural Frameworks

Framework Reflection Questions

Which of these borrowed frameworks most limits your potential right now?
Which framework would be most liberating to question or release?
What evidence do you have that contradicts these inherited limitations?
If you could design your frameworks from scratch, what would you choose differently?

The Certainty Trap Detector

Areas where you feel most certain are often where you're most limited. This exercise helps identify where certainty might be calcifying your thinking.

Certainty Inventory

List 3-5 things you "know for certain" in an important domain of your life:

Certainty Examination

For each certainty you listed, ask yourself:

How did I arrive at this certainty? Is it based on comprehensive evidence or limited experience?
What would it take to change my mind about this?
What if the opposite were true? What possibilities would that open?
Who disagrees with me on this, and what might they see that I don't?
How might this certainty be limiting rather than supporting my growth?

"The most dangerous words in any language: 'I know.'"

Identity Framework Mapper

Your self-definition often becomes your self-confinement. This tool helps you examine how your identity might be limiting your potential.

Identity Statement Inventory

Complete these "I am..." statements that define core aspects of your identity:

Identity Reframing

For each identity statement, consider these reframes:

Replace "I am" with "I sometimes..." or "In certain contexts, I tend to..."
Add "and" statements: "I am X AND I can also be Y"
Reframe as skills rather than traits: "I haven't yet developed the skill of..." instead of "I'm not good at..."
Consider: What opportunities or behaviors does this identity statement make "off-limits" for you?
Ask: If I released this identity label, what new possibilities might open up?

Mapping Invisible Edges

Your frameworks create perceptual boundaries that filter what information reaches your awareness. This exercise helps reveal those invisible edges.

Edge Detection Exercise

Select a domain where you'd like to discover new possibilities:

Edge Detection Questions

Framework Edge Exploration

To expand beyond your current perceptual boundaries:

Seek out perspectives from completely different domains and see how they might apply
Pay special attention to anomalies—things that don't fit your existing frameworks
Study people who've achieved what you consider impossible in this domain
Temporarily adopt contradictory frameworks to reveal limitations in your default thinking
Ask questions that feel "stupid" or "naive" to experts in the field

"The most fertile territory for discovery isn't deep within established frameworks, but at the edges between frameworks."