Suspend Disbelief
- 18 Comments... What do you have to say?
I’m sure if we wanted to, we could think of a million reasons why we can’t do something (aka excuses). Here’s some if you’re running low.
- I’m too old
- I’m not old enough
- I don’t have enough money
- I don’t have enough time
- I’m not attractive enough
- I don’t have enough discipline
- I’m not tall enough
- I’m not strong enough
- I’m not smart enough
- I’m not athletic enough
- I don’t have the energy for that
- My grades aren’t good enough
- I don’t know enough about that
- I’m not blessed with natural talent
- I don’t have enough power for that
- I’m not confident enough
Those are just a few.
Maybe you don’t say “I can’t” or “I’m not”. Instead you identify with something you don’t want to be. I’m broke. I’m poor. I’m dumb. I’m useless. I’m lazy. I’m shy.
I’m definitely not immune to this way of thinking. I remember when I was younger I knew I wanted to start a business, but I told myself I was too young and that I’ll wait until I got older and had more money. Hey I was just a kid right? Now I look back and wish I had of started this back when I first had the desire, and I’m also seeing more and more kids start businesses.
Those reasons you can’t do something serve as an easy way out. You say “I’m not, I can’t” and your brain shuts off and goes on to something else. Saying “how can I” forces your brain to do some work to accomplish a goal. When you first wanted to start walking, did you think of all these reasons you couldn’t do it? Did you say “I don’t think I’m good enough to walk so I’ll just crawl for the rest of my life”? No. You went out and you did what you had to do.
Somewhere along the line you lost that boldness though. You let “facts” get in the way of experimenting and discovering. To me, the movers and shakers of the world prove “facts” wrong.
Before you start thinking about why you can’t do something, hold on a sec and
If you must doubt something, doubt your limits – Price Pritchett
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I think that is a great statement about doubting our limits. Too bad when we are young that we don’t have the wisdom and experience that we do when we are older. Nothing could keep us down if we did.
This is a great reminder – that all IS possible – and we shouldn’t give up on ourselves because of any of the myriad of excuses we can make. Carpe diem!
Hi Broderick. After reading Think and Grow Rich some more yesterday and adding more discussion to the forum at Journey to Success, I have been thinking very much about this idea of belief and how it is absolutely CRUCIAL in order to succeed.
I like your “how can I?†phrase. I use a similar trick on my mind by telling myself that something is possible. My mind will automatically come up with ways to make it happen. If I try and argue with myself that it is possible I just ask myself, “But what if it was possible? Then what would I do?” Works every time – my mind will show me that it is.
Oh yes…all the illusions that run amok in our heads! I enjoyed the quote that you shared “If you must doubt something, doubt your limits”. Thanks!
Hi, I’m Isaac Yassar and I help people reach success in self development, business, and blogging for free. Broderick, you got that right, look at me, I’m starting my business with no money at all. That’s exactly why I use Blogspot rather than my own domain, which I can’t afford. And you are absolutely right, never let excuses stop you! Our mind is our own limit.
By the way, if you wonder how to know whether your contents are delivering strong or weak value, Steve Pavlina’s article “How To Create Real Value” will be helpful I guess. Here’s the address in case you haven’t read it:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/12/how-to-create-real-value/
In my opinion, you shouldn’t worry about your contents’ value, just throw everything you got and soon or later you will deliver genuine value to people.
Have you read Steve’s first post? It’s a silly 3 paragraphs post, here’s the address:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2004/10/first-post/
Feel free to laugh :D
Hi Broderick,
I love the Pritchett quote about doubting only our limits. I’ll remember that. There’s another quote, I forget by whom, that goes something like this: for every hundred people telling you why something cannot be done, one person is busy doing it. Great post on self-belief!
Thank you all for the feedback. If you’re interested the quote comes out of the book You 2 by Price Pritchett. To me, that book has some excellent quotes and motivational words but that’s about it. There wasn’t much substance IMO.
@ Patricia – Yeah that would be nice. The world would probably be much more advanced than it is now if we had wisdom, experience, and boldness all while we were young.
@ Lance – That’s exactly the point I was trying to convey. I remember I heard someone say excuses are for losers. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but I do know anyone can make them all day if they wanted to.
@ Jennifer – I just finished Think and Grow Rich, and I’ll probably be going back to it a lot and do a review on it. It really showed me the power of the subconscious mind. Also, I will try your strategy and see how that works out for me. Thank you!
@Evelyn Lim – Thank you for the comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the quote. He has quite a few quotes like that in the book.
@ Isaac – Thanks for the feedback! I read that article by him a while ago and all I really remembered was the positive tangible results part. I guess he was expecting that since he put tangible positive results in bold letters. I went back and read it and it did have some stuff that I forgot about. Thanks for pointing me back there.
@Daphne – Thank you for the feedback and the quote! I gotta use that.
I love it. I will be sending some of my students to your blog, because I tell you, some of them need to read this post.
Well done on the blog carnival inclusion, that’s how I found you, so thanks from Australia.
your blog is something I hope mine will be one day. More content is key I’m guessing.
Glenn Twiddle
Success Book Reviews
Thank you so much Glenn! That means so much, and I’m very thankful for blog carnivals. There’s just so much opportunity in them. Be persistent with your blog and your work will pay off. The amount of content is important, but I try to focus on quality more. Running my old blog really let me see the benefits of having a lot of quality content. Thanks again for visiting!
I agree. Think of all we could do if we laughed at supposed limitations. Great post.
Thank you Damien! I appreciate you stopping by.
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