Don’t Let an Invisible Lid Hold You Down

by Brother Carlton 
09/14/26
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Zig Ziglar used to tell a fascinating story about training fleas.

The idea is that you put fleas in a jar and place a lid on top.

At first, the fleas jump as high as they can. They keep hitting their heads against the lid.

But eventually, something happens.

The fleas learn not to jump quite so high.

They adjust themselves so they can jump without hitting the lid.

Then you can remove the lid.

And guess what?

The fleas continue jumping at the same height.

The physical barrier is gone, but in a sense, the barrier remains in their minds.

We Can Do the Same Thing

I think there’s a tremendous object lesson here.

Sometimes we create ceilings in our own minds.

Maybe we’ve failed at something before.

Maybe somebody told us we weren’t smart enough, talented enough, educated enough, or good enough.

Maybe we tried something once and it didn’t work out.

So we stop jumping.

We tell ourselves:

“I could never do that.”

“I’m not qualified.”

“What if I fail?”

“What will people think?”

And before long, nobody has to hold us down.

We hold ourselves down.

Sometimes You Just Have to Try

I remember something that happened to me years ago when I was attending the University of the Pacific.

One day I was near one of the piano practice rooms when I heard this gal singing.

I peeked in, knocked on the door, and asked her what she was doing.

She told me she was practicing a song because she was preparing for an audition for Brigadoon.

I said, “What’s Brigadoon?”

I had never even heard of it!

She explained that it was a musical and encouraged me to come out and audition.

So I did.

I liked to sing, and I had been in a couple of plays years earlier, although I’d only had very small parts.

I didn’t sit around thinking:

“I’m probably not good enough.”

“I’ll never get a part.”

“Everybody else is probably better than me.”

I just went.

My Audition Song: “Happy Birthday”

When I got to the audition, I didn’t even have a song prepared.

So the director had me get up on stage and sing “Happy Birthday.”

That was my audition!

But apparently he heard something he liked.

The next thing I knew, he took me into a back room, sat down at the piano, and had me sing a couple of the lead songs from Brigadoon.

A day or two later, I went over to look at the board to see whether I had gotten a part.

I saw my name next to Tommy Albright.

I asked,

“Who’s Tommy Albright?”

Another guy looked at me and said something like:

“Dude, you got the lead!”

I couldn’t believe it.

Then the Fear Hit Me

Now I was scared.

Getting the part was exciting.

Playing the part was another matter!

I was already on the speech team, preparing a ten-minute communication analysis speech called “The Ethics of Persuasion in Televangelism.”

Now I discovered that I had all these lines to memorize—and something like four songs to learn.

Suddenly, the opportunity looked a whole lot bigger than it had when I walked into that audition.

But I was glad I had taken the chance.

Because think about it.

What if I had listened to an imaginary voice saying:

“You’re not a good enough singer.”

“You’ve never even heard of Brigadoon.”

“You don’t belong up there.”

I might never have discovered what I was capable of doing.

David Refused to Accept Someone Else’s Limitations

The story of David and Goliath reminds me of this principle.

When David heard Goliath challenging Israel, almost everybody around him saw the same thing: an impossible situation.

Goliath was too big. He was too experienced. He was a warrior, and David was just a young shepherd.

Even King Saul told David, “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him” (1 Samuel 17:33).

Think about that.

David was being told by the king himself, “You can’t do this.”

David could have accepted Saul’s assessment and allowed somebody else to determine his limitations.

But David remembered what God had already enabled him to do. He had faced the lion. He had faced the bear. And he believed the same God who had delivered him before would deliver him again.

David wasn’t merely practicing positive thinking. His confidence was ultimately in God.

That’s an important distinction.

There are some things we truly cannot do. But we should be very careful about creating limitations that God never placed upon us.

Sometimes the voice saying “You can’t” isn’t God at all.

It may be fear.

It may be another person’s opinion.

Or it may simply be an invisible lid we have been living under for years.

Don’t let somebody else’s lack of faith become the ceiling over your life.

What Invisible Lid Is Over Your Head?

That’s what I like about Zig Ziglar’s flea story.

Sometimes the lid isn’t really there anymore.

We just think it is.

And sometimes there never was a lid in the first place.

We simply assumed there was one.

There are opportunities all around us that we may never discover because we have already decided what we cannot do.

You don’t have to know that you’re going to succeed before you try.

You don’t have to feel completely confident.

You don’t have to have everything figured out.

Sometimes you simply have to knock on the door.

Take the audition.

Make the phone call.

Start the business.

Give the speech.

Write the book.

Apply for the position.

Try something you’ve never tried before.

Could you fail?

Of course.

But there’s another possibility.

You might succeed beyond anything you expected.

I walked into an audition without even knowing what Brigadoon was.

A few days later, I discovered I had the lead.

So don’t spend your life jumping underneath an invisible lid.

The lid may already be gone.

Take the chance.

Make the jump.

You might be surprised at just how high you can go.

Brother Carlton is a former U.S. Marine, author, podcast host, and speaker with a passion for proclaiming biblical truth and encouraging Christians to pursue the lasting riches found in Jesus Christ.

 He is the author of Digging for Spiritual Treasure: Meditations From My Hollywood Apartment and host of The Brother Carlton Show, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

 Through his writing, podcasting, and speaking ministry, Brother Carlton addresses faith, culture, Christian living, and biblical discernment, with a clear call to seek the eternal treasures of God’s Word rather than the fleeting promises of the world.

 Drawing upon both biblical truth and lessons learned through a lifetime of varied experiences, he brings a practical and personal perspective to his messages.

 Brother Carlton is also available for speaking engagements, bringing Scripture-centered messages designed to challenge, encourage, and strengthen audiences in their walk with Christ.