Don't Waste Our Life Believing (Oct 18, 2009)
The words we think and say affect our mind. If we want to be successful, we need to learn to get the phrase “I can’t” out of our mind. The phrase can disempower us. You will be amazed by the amount of negativity that is expressed in this phrase. Individuals constantly expressing “I can’t” become tagged and labeled with a negative attitude.
In one of the seminars I attended in 2003, the trainer used a technique called kinesiology to test people’s muscle strength as they said different phrases. I was called to the stage and asked to stretch my left hand to my left side. The trainer pushed down my left hand to see what my normal strength was. Then I was asked to say out loud something that I believed I could not do, such as “I can’t fly”; I did as I was told. My trainer then pushed down my left hand again. I could feel that I was weaker. However, when I was asked to say,” I can do it,” my hand became stronger.
Paul R. Scheele, Chairman, Learning Strategies Corporation, a person who has facilitated the realization in millions of live to achieve extraordinary results in works, money, relationship and health, said “the phrase “I can’t” is the most powerful force of negation in the human psyche. Therefore, it is important for us to remove “I can’t” from our vocabulary before we can achieve great success in life.”
In 2007, I attended a Psychological course conducted in Kuala Lumpur; we were taught swallow flames. All the course participants were fearful at the thought to swallow flames; we worried that we would burn our mouth and we believed that there was no way we could do it.
Our coach asked us to write down all the “I can’t” that we had such as “I can’t find the perfect game I like”, “I can’t be rich and wealthy” and so on. Then we were led to form a mental picture whereby all the “I can’t” that we had were burnt and went out in flames. Few hours later, 200 over of us queued up to take turn to swallow flames. All of us went through the challenge without anybody getting burnt. That night, we learned that just like the belief that we couldn’t swallow flames without burning our mouth was deception, all limiting beliefs about our abilities were merely deceptions.
Statistics have shown that beliefs in us are more important than knowledge, training, or schooling; 20% of America’s millionaires never studied in college; 21 out of the 222 Americans listed as billionaires in 2003 never got their college diplomas; 2 never even finished high school!
Ralph Lauren, a famous fashion designer, grew up in the Bronx and worked after school to earn money to buy stylish suits. Ralph Lauren went to the City College of New York studying business, but dropped out after two years. After a stint in the Army, he worked for Brooks Brothers as a salesman and created the label Polo, then a necktie business. Ralph never attended fashion school but this did him no damage. He’s now worth $3.6 billion and that’s a lot of neckties.
Another real life example is Li Ka-Shing, Hong Kong self-made billionaire and the Asia’s richest man. He is also the richest Chinese in the world. Forbes ranked him as the 10th richest man in the world. When he was 12 years old, Li and his family fled to Hong Kong when Japan invaded China. When he was 15, Li’s father died and he was forced to drop out of high school to support his family. Li started as a salesman selling watches at his uncle’s store. He soon proved to be a diligent worker; he worked 16 hour days, visited customers during the day and worked at the factory at night. Determined to better himself, Li even found a tutor to teach him English every night.
When he was 21, Li opened a plastic manufacturing company and grew his business by selling high quality plastic flowers. When Li was 30, he got into real estate because he couldn’t renew the lease of his factory and was forced to purchase and develop a site himself. From there, Li diversified into electronics, telecommunications, retails, ports, power and electricity. Li is also noted for his philanthropy. He has donated millions to various universities and disaster-relief.
Of the hundreds of successful people I have met, almost all of them shared that though they were not necessarily gifted or talented in their respective fields, they chose to believe that all things were possible. They learned, studied and practiced; they worked harder than others and that was how they got to where they are now. They turned thoughts into reality by learning the skills and taking actions.
If a college dropout could become a billionaire, we can accomplish anything if we strongly believe that it is possible. When we realize that some great people are college dropouts, we must learn to see that we can start from anywhere and create a successful life for ourselves.
I strongly believe if we are going to be successful in life, we must first learn to have the right attitude and never tell ourselves that we can’t. Check that “I can’t” should not always be our first response. I can is the basic key word to archive success in life. As someone has said “Success comes in cans”.
In one of the seminars I attended in 2003, the trainer used a technique called kinesiology to test people’s muscle strength as they said different phrases. I was called to the stage and asked to stretch my left hand to my left side. The trainer pushed down my left hand to see what my normal strength was. Then I was asked to say out loud something that I believed I could not do, such as “I can’t fly”; I did as I was told. My trainer then pushed down my left hand again. I could feel that I was weaker. However, when I was asked to say,” I can do it,” my hand became stronger.
Paul R. Scheele, Chairman, Learning Strategies Corporation, a person who has facilitated the realization in millions of live to achieve extraordinary results in works, money, relationship and health, said “the phrase “I can’t” is the most powerful force of negation in the human psyche. Therefore, it is important for us to remove “I can’t” from our vocabulary before we can achieve great success in life.”
In 2007, I attended a Psychological course conducted in Kuala Lumpur; we were taught swallow flames. All the course participants were fearful at the thought to swallow flames; we worried that we would burn our mouth and we believed that there was no way we could do it.
Our coach asked us to write down all the “I can’t” that we had such as “I can’t find the perfect game I like”, “I can’t be rich and wealthy” and so on. Then we were led to form a mental picture whereby all the “I can’t” that we had were burnt and went out in flames. Few hours later, 200 over of us queued up to take turn to swallow flames. All of us went through the challenge without anybody getting burnt. That night, we learned that just like the belief that we couldn’t swallow flames without burning our mouth was deception, all limiting beliefs about our abilities were merely deceptions.
Statistics have shown that beliefs in us are more important than knowledge, training, or schooling; 20% of America’s millionaires never studied in college; 21 out of the 222 Americans listed as billionaires in 2003 never got their college diplomas; 2 never even finished high school!
Ralph Lauren, a famous fashion designer, grew up in the Bronx and worked after school to earn money to buy stylish suits. Ralph Lauren went to the City College of New York studying business, but dropped out after two years. After a stint in the Army, he worked for Brooks Brothers as a salesman and created the label Polo, then a necktie business. Ralph never attended fashion school but this did him no damage. He’s now worth $3.6 billion and that’s a lot of neckties.
Another real life example is Li Ka-Shing, Hong Kong self-made billionaire and the Asia’s richest man. He is also the richest Chinese in the world. Forbes ranked him as the 10th richest man in the world. When he was 12 years old, Li and his family fled to Hong Kong when Japan invaded China. When he was 15, Li’s father died and he was forced to drop out of high school to support his family. Li started as a salesman selling watches at his uncle’s store. He soon proved to be a diligent worker; he worked 16 hour days, visited customers during the day and worked at the factory at night. Determined to better himself, Li even found a tutor to teach him English every night.
When he was 21, Li opened a plastic manufacturing company and grew his business by selling high quality plastic flowers. When Li was 30, he got into real estate because he couldn’t renew the lease of his factory and was forced to purchase and develop a site himself. From there, Li diversified into electronics, telecommunications, retails, ports, power and electricity. Li is also noted for his philanthropy. He has donated millions to various universities and disaster-relief.
Of the hundreds of successful people I have met, almost all of them shared that though they were not necessarily gifted or talented in their respective fields, they chose to believe that all things were possible. They learned, studied and practiced; they worked harder than others and that was how they got to where they are now. They turned thoughts into reality by learning the skills and taking actions.
If a college dropout could become a billionaire, we can accomplish anything if we strongly believe that it is possible. When we realize that some great people are college dropouts, we must learn to see that we can start from anywhere and create a successful life for ourselves.
I strongly believe if we are going to be successful in life, we must first learn to have the right attitude and never tell ourselves that we can’t. Check that “I can’t” should not always be our first response. I can is the basic key word to archive success in life. As someone has said “Success comes in cans”.
