In psychology, the term 'personal ceiling' describes the metaphorical barrier between where a person is now and where they want to get to. The person is comfortable with where they are now, though they realize they could potentially achieve more or become more successful.

With regards to weightlifting, you can think about this as a person who goes to the gym regularly, has good weightlifting technique and lifts good numbers. They sometimes try to lift more and go for PRs, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t. They are completely happy with what they are doing and just strive to maintain it.

Now, I wonder why that lifter doesn’t especially want to achieve more? The first reason is what I just said, they are happy with where they are now. The other reason is where the personal ceiling comes in.
The thing about the personal ceiling is that it is the point at which in order to progress the effort that must be put in is disproportionately greater than the results it would lead to.

That basically means that a person has to do an awful lot of work and won’t be an awful lot better off for it.

The conclusion for many people is often that it’s just not worth it.

A relevant, simple example might be a weightlifter who has been lifting 100kg for many years. They are proud of that and happy to maintain it. To lift 101kg seems to be extremely difficult. There seems to be a block.

This block is known as the personal ceiling. The personal ceiling is mostly psychological. We all know already how much mental effort comes into play with weightlifting. There are plenty of tricks weightlifters use to try to overcome their mental barriers, such as loading the bar first with 0.5kg plates and forgetting they are there over the course of the workout while loading the bar normally – ultimately leading to the person lifting 1kg more than they thought! The personal ceiling is not just psychological, though. It is just the nature of life. For example, illness, injury, family, holidays, job changes, natural disasters, grief, a new baby, etc. all can prevent people from achieving their goals. Most of us can probably identify with the scenario where we very nearly got what we wanted… but something got in the way!

Overcoming a personal ceiling is therefore incredibly difficult. It requires substantial effort, a fair amount of luck, and also probably some sacrifices. For example, when a weightlifter is preparing for a competition, they will probably be sacrificing certain things (such as time with their family) in order to try to achieve the result they want.

Personal ceilings won’t just occur in weightlifting, they occur in all aspects of our life.

Some things are just extremely difficult to do. They’re all personal (hence the name), so different people will find different things difficult.
 
For example, a person might wish to earn more money in their job, but they come to the realization that the work involved for that new job isn’t worth the extra money, and actually, they’re pretty comfortable with what they are earning already. Their income isn’t great, but it’s enough. This person has reached their personal ceiling.

Or how about when thinking about whether to re-decorate your house? You decide that your house is nice enough already. “It’ll do,” you think! You don’t think it’s worth the stress and commotion of having decorators in and being disrupted. This is another example of someone reaching their personal ceiling.

Why is it good to go beyond your personal ceiling?

• Well, it might make you better than average. If you push through a barrier where other people got stuck, you will likely be more successful or more skilled.
• It will also teach you plenty of skills along the way, such as the ability to be extremely disciplined and focused and committed to a goal. If you wish to go through your personal ceiling then you’ll need to change your psychological mindset and physical routine.
• It might make you a bit happier. Note the words “a bit.” As I mentioned at the start of the article, the personal ceiling means doing a whole lot of work for not that much more achievement/skills/happiness.

Why might it be better to stay beneath your personal ceiling?

• Having incredibly big goals can be hard on a person’s self-esteem. Working really hard for something and never quite being able to achieve it can make a person feel really down.
• Continually working extremely hard for big goals also puts a person under enormous pressure. This can be tough on mental health as well.
• There’s a lot to be said for feeling content. Many people strive for more or for better, and are never truly happy. Being beneath your personal ceiling because you feel content that life is “good enough” can actually be quite a lovely situation to be in. A lot of people are not fortunate enough to find contentment, and it’s really important to be able to do so.
• If you are beneath your personal ceiling, you probably don’t have to make as many sacrifices. Consider this—a person has a goal of lifting X amount of weight. They spend a year completely focused on that goal and go about achieving it in every way they know how. They do achieve their goal by the end of the year, however, it’s at the loss of their relationships. They gave all their attention to lifting the weight and none to maintaining their relationships. Although this might be okay for some people, it won’t be for others. For most people, such sacrifices aren’t worth it.
• You can have a more ‘normal’ or more ‘varied’ life. Although it might be amazing for some people to spend all their days lifting weights and doing nothing else, it’s not realistic for most of us. Most of us have and enjoy other activities away from the gym.
•  In relevance to weightlifting especially, you might be less likely to have injuries. If you are generally always lifting inside your ‘comfort zone’ and maintaining rather than striving for more or different, it might be better for your health in the end. To understand this simply, many people rarely max out.

I hope you find some comfort in realizing that there is a reason why it might seem unbelievably hard to progress in your weightlifting. We all have personal ceilings and they can be present in all aspects of life. I hope you realize that it’s okay—and in many cases, advantageous—to just lift sensibly, consistently and for enjoyment, rather than because you have to “be the best.”