Mar 27, 2011

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Posted Under: Tips & Tricks!

Recently I got tagged in a picture on Facebook, and to my surprise I wasn’t even in the picture. What was there in that picture was an image of an elephant and a short story… While I usually just untag myself from such unsolicited communication and move on with what I was doing, this short story caught my eye. Not only I enjoyed reading it but I could relate with it for myself in the past and for many of my clients that I work with everyday.

Here’s how the story goes…

As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Just like these elephants, many of us were brought up with a false self-limiting belief of some sort – ‘I’m not good enough’ or ‘why try if I am not going to make it’, or ‘success, riches & freedom are for the chosen ones’, ‘entrepreneurship is not for me’, ‘I’m only destined to do a job I hate & pay the bills’ and many more versions of this same belief that underestimates the capability, talent, and potential within us.

Consider this post a reminder, “Don’t be an elephant”.

Look at yourself, you’re smart, you’re talented, you’ve a gift, and you’re capable of doing anything you set your heart to… The giant iron shackle that’s keep you in the 9-5 jail is nothing but a weak rope of false belief… Break out of this false belief that you can’t do it, or you’re not good enough, or whatever it is that’s keeping you & your family away from the success & freedom you deserve! Come on, break it! Break free from 9 to 5 jail…

Success to all!