It’s hard to believe a lightweight rope tied to a stake can confine an elephant to a small perimeter. A creature that weighs about 7,000 tons could pull that stake up in an instant and go wherever he pleases, yet the repetition of training teaches him he can only move so far when he’s tied up.
Training begins when the elephant is very young. Handlers tie him with heavy ropes to large, unyielding tree trunks. The elephant tugs persistently until he is fatigued. In time, he learns he can’t move far when he is secured. So he stops trying.
Gradually, trainers use smaller ropes and stakes, both of which are no true match for the weight and strength of an elephant. But what the elephant has come to know has more power than what he really can do. With a frame of reference of constraint, the elephant stays put in a designated area. Voilá!
Personal beliefs are very similar to lessons learned by trained elephants. If as we grow up, authority figures in our lives convince us we can’t become a senator, or can’t finish a marathon, or can’t develop a cutting edge medical procedure…then chances are we grow to believe them. Their judgment and lack of faith can be as confining to us as a small rope and stake are to a trained elephant.
The reality is, what we CAN do often trumps what we believe we can’t do. Aspirations outside our realm of believable possibility are actually within reach. We needn’t be confined by the opinion of others. We must heed the whispers of our intuition, the fire in our souls and the cues life delivers that tell us: “That which we seek is possible.”
Mindset is a significant part of the process of accomplishment. Put your mind to good use. It’s stronger than an elephant.