Do you know that you and your life are greatly influenced by what you believe?
What you believe shapes your life.
If you believe that you are destined for big success, you are right. If you believe that you are a good-for-nothing person and won’t amount to much, you are right, too…
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.”
Henry Ford
You don’t have to take in everything people tell you as truth.
If your teacher or your parents told you that your math is lousy, should you believe in them?
Well, most people will take it and believe so.
However, if you think about it, why would your parents or your teacher say so in the first place?
Is it maybe you fail your recent math test? Or maybe you find it difficult to understand math? Does that mean that you are not good at math?
When you believe in something, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and you make it real.
When you believe that the economy is bad, you will never want to put more money into advertising. And as a result, your sales suffer and this makes your beliefs stronger, believing that the economy is bad.
So, how did our beliefs shape us in life? Through mental conditioning…
The Barracuda Story
Scientists used to do this experiment on the Barracuda fish. They put a Barracuda fish into a big fish tank. This Barracuda swam freely in the tank.
After a while, the scientist put a glass panel in the middle of the tank to split the fish tank in half. The Barracuda was at one side. On the other side, the scientists put in some small fishes.
At first, the Barracuda saw the small fishes, and it swam over, trying to eat the small fish. However, the Barracuda was blocked by the glass panel.
No matter how many times the Barracuda tried, it failed to reach the small fish. Eventually, the Barracuda stopped chasing after the small fish.
After some time, the scientists took away the glass panel. This time, the small fish and the Barracuda were able to swim freely passing by each other. There was nothing there to block the fierce Barracuda.
Surprisingly, the Barracuda did not try to chase after the small fish and to try to eat them. It had bought into the belief that no matter how many times it tried, it can never reach the small fish, even without the glass panel there.
Are you acting like the Barracuda?
The Elephant Story
Have you ever wondered how people trained elephants in the circus? Elephants are the biggest animals on land. They can push down trees with their trunks, and they are powerful.
Well, the story is almost the same as the Barracuda. When the elephants are small and in baby size, people chained their legs.
And because the baby elephant is small and has yet to develop its strength, it can’t escape from the chain on its leg.
No matter how many times the baby elephant tries, it has not enough strength to break the chain and free itself.
This will go on for days. After that, the baby elephant will slowly buy into the belief that as long as the chain is leased on its leg, it can never break free.
Even after the baby elephant has grown into a big, gigantic animal, it still has that limiting belief with it.
Hence, as long as the chain is on, it will never try to break it and escape. It believes that the chain is there to stop it.
Are you acting like the elephants?
What Can You Learn From Les Brown?
Well, you probably can’t relate to animals, but our limiting beliefs are just like the barracuda and the elephants.
Now, let me share with you the story of Les Brown, the motivational speaker.
When he was young, Les was an active boy, but he has a short attention span. Thus, he cannot focus much when it comes to doing his homework and study.
As a result, he did not score well in school. His teachers labeled him as EMR, “education mentally retarded”.
And guess what, like the Barracuda and elephants, young Les Brown bought into the mental conditioning that he cannot do well in school.
Luckily, one day he met a teacher, which also became his mentor, Mr. Washington who one day changed his life.
Young Les told Mr. Washington that he was education mentally retarded and he couldn’t do well in school.
Mr. Washington then looked at young Les Brown and told him…
“Don’t let someone’s opinion of you become your reality.”
Les Brown
These words changed Les Brown’s life forever. He started to dream big and wanted to build a successful life.
After Les got out of school, when he was looking for jobs, people around him told him to work in the post office or the sanitary department. Why? Because he did poorly in school and most people think that he couldn’t amount to much.
So, these people suggested Les Brown take a job that has something to do with his hands, rather than using his head. Some even asked him to join the army.
Fortunately, with a lot of dedication, commitment, perseverance, and hard work, he followed his dreams. He ended up working as a DJ. And eventually, Les Brown used his talent and passion for speaking to transform himself into a motivational speaker.
Les Brown is considered one of the most prolific motivational speakers today and has inspired thousands of people around the world.
Imagine what would happen if young Les Brown believes what others told him about working in the post office or the sanitary department.
What others say about you may impact your life.
You have to be the sole judge to determine if what people say about you is true or false. If a statement about you isn’t going to be helpful, then DON’T buy into it.
Never let the opinions of others trapped you and limit your potential.
Always choose to believe in yourself.
Are You Trapped By Your Own Limiting Mental Conditioning?
You can choose to believe whatever you want.
You can choose to believe that you are smart, clever, handsome, cool, talented, a good writer, hard-working, someone who never gives up on his dream, destined for big success, etc.
On the other hand, you can choose to believe that you are not good with writing, you can’t speak English because it is not your first language, your math is not good, running a business can be hard, the economy is soft now, things are difficult, etc.
Whatever you choose to believe, it will become real to you.
Why do you think Steve Jobs spent millions on developing products from Apple? This is because he believed that his products work and people wanted them.
If he did not believe in his products, probably he won’t be spending millions of dollars on building and growing Apple.
The same goes when it comes to investing in the stock market or real estate.
Most people buy real estate because they believe that the market is going to do well or that they have found a piece of good investment.
If they don’t believe that the property they found is a value buy, do you think they will buy? Of course not, they won’t.
And understand that your beliefs are REAL ONLY to you.
A company once sent two staff to Africa to do market research on selling shoes. One staff comes back reporting to the company that there is no market because most people in Africa don’t wear shoes.
After a few days, the other staff returns with good news, reporting that there is a huge untapped market because most people in Africa are not wearing shoes.
Can you see it now? Same incident, but with different beliefs and thinking.
When you think that it is hard to start a business or too competitive to sell your products, think again, there will be someone out there who thinks otherwise.
If you want to be successful, you must adopt beliefs that will empower you to reach your goals and live your dreams.
Picking up limiting beliefs will only slow you and stop you from achieving what you want in life.
Question Everything
If you want to break free from limiting beliefs that stop you in life, you have to shake those beliefs by questioning them.
Challenge what you think is stopping you from moving forward and reaching your goals and dreams.
Here are some great questions to start:
- What is limiting me from moving forward and realizing my dreams? What is stopping me from going further and growing to the next level? Am I too afraid? Did I fear to fail? Am I not good enough? Is money an issue that is stopping me?
- Why do I have this limiting belief? What is causing me to think this way? Did someone tell me that? Did something happen before? What is the reason I’m afraid to proceed? Why did I think I’m not good enough?
- How do these limiting beliefs have stopped me so far? What decisions and actions I let go of because of these limiting beliefs?
- What would happen if I continue to believe in these limiting beliefs? What would it cost my life; financially, spiritually, in relationships, in my career, and in my personal life?
- What if these beliefs are not true and I can change them? What if I can become the person I want to be, achieve all my goals, and make all my dreams come true? What can I be more successful than I ever thought possible?
These are just some questions you can ask to shake your limiting beliefs.
Try to question everything.
Learn to Become Unstoppable
Most people are trapped because of their own mental conditioning. And most people fail to move forward and live the life they want because of their limiting beliefs.
Hence, if you are serious about achieving great success and you want to live a better life, the first thing you need to do is to get rid of your limiting beliefs.
Don’t trap yourself in your own mental conditioning. Here’s another great saying from Les Brown…
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
Most of the time, the thing that stops you from living your best life is… YOU.
You don’t want to be stopped by anyone, including yourself.
When someone tells you that something is impossible, don’t buy into it.
When you doubt yourself, don’t believe it.
I suggest you take this training to learn directly from John Assaraf, the leading mindset and behavioral expert:
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Conclusion
Whether you believe you can do it or you can’t, you are right.
How you live your life and what results you get are greatly impacted by your beliefs. Some beliefs are empowering, while some are limiting.
The key is to identify what are the limiting beliefs that stop you from getting ahead, and then get rid of them.
Choose to believe in something that will support and enrich you and your life.
Don’t let your own mental condition turn you into the barracuda or chain you like an elephant. Once you break free, you will unstoppable and success will be within reach.
So true – thank you
Yea, too often, we forgot about these mental conditioning that limit us in life. 🙂