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Beliefs can make ordinary people do awesome, extraordinary things but holding on to limiting Beliefs can also cripple the most talented
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hy is it that some people are able to achieve so much more out of their lives than others? Why are some people able to produce such outstanding, even extraordinary results… far exceeding what is commonly expected?Is it because they have a lot more talent, acumen, capability? Do they have superior resources that other people lack? You and I both know by now that this is not true at all.
Did the Wright brothers, inventors of the airplane, have more aerodynamic and engineering expertise than all the engineers and inventors of their time? No. They were simple bicycle repairmen.
MASTER YOUR MIND DESIGN YOUR DESTINY
Did Mahatma Gandhi come from a powerful family that enabled him to establish a power base to liberate India from the British? No. He was just an ordinary man, a lawyer. And using the law taught to him by his colonial masters certainly wouldn’t have freed India. Instead, gentle Gandhi used the power of peaceful assemblies, bringing tens of thousands to sit in peaceful civil disobedience…until the British caved in.
Was Ho Chi Min a mighty general who trained the Viet Cong to first drive out the French and then the Americans? No, he was an intellectual and a journalist who didn’t even have the heart to kill the pests who shared the many jails he was thrown into as he fought for independence for his beloved Vietnam. Ho made friends with the insects!
Neither Gandhi or Ho Chi Min had any measurable resources to do what they did… and history is peppered with many such outstanding individuals.
What set these men apart were the incredible beliefs they had about the moral rightness of their cause. That gave them extraordinary strength to fight on, against all odds, and win. David against mighty Goliath.
Beliefs are what empower seemingly ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. At the same time, limiting beliefs are what keep most people, despite all their resources, from achieving what they really can.
Our beliefs are like the operating system to our brain. They determine what we expect from ourselves and how much we get out of ourselves. First of all, your beliefs define your expectations.
If you believe that you can become a millionaire, a CEO or a President, then that is what you will expect from yourself. If you believe that you will never have the capability to earn more than $40,000 a year, then that is what you will expect from yourself.
If you believe that you can lead others, then you will expect to attain nothing less than a management position. If you believe that you are nothing more than a follower, then you will not expect anything more than being just a front line employee. At the same time, your beliefs will drive the actions you take, and how much of your personal potential you will tap. When you believe that something is possible, you will go all out 86
87 THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF BELIEFS
to make it happen. You will take massive action and have the commitment to keep doing whatever it takes to achieve it. As a result, you will tap a lot of your personal potential.
What kind of results do you think you will produce? Great results! When you get great results, it will reinforce your empowering beliefs even more! For example, if you have an empowering belief that you can build a highly successful business that will positively impact millions of lives, this belief will drive you to take massive action.
You will start innovating new product lines, probably invest in R & D to create entirely new products or processes. You will develop a business plan, attract investors and launch your marketing campaign. Sure you will have lots of obstacles along the way, but your beliefs will drive you to turn any failure into feedback and to change your strategy until you get the result you want. Even if you don’t achieve the exact targets you set for yourself, you are going to produce some great result.
However, if you believe that something is impossible, that it cannot be done, will you take action? Not likely. Even if you did, you would probably stop the moment you hit a problem. As a result, you may have all the potential in the world, but you will not tap into it. And sure enough, you will not get the results. When this happens, it will further reinforce the belief that it just can’t be done.
BELIEFS
Expectation
Action/Effort
Potential
Results
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For example, if you don’t believe that you can ever build a successful company, you won’t even attempt it. Even if you did go into business, you will quit the moment something goes wrong because you had limiting beliefs that ‘It is just too difficult’ or ‘I don’t have what it takes’.