Elephants are one of the most powerful creatures on the planet. Their mammoth-like size and strength would allow them to crush any obstacle and go anywhere they please. Nothing could stand in the way of a determined elephant. How is it then that so many elephants are passive, sitting in zoos and circuses without incident?
Historically, many elephant trainers have engaged in a practice known as elephant chaining. The concept is simple. When an elephant is a baby, you tie them to chains or ropes that are too strong for a baby elephant to break through. As they struggle against the rope, it burns and tears into their skin, causing pain as they try to free themselves. To avoid that bad feeling, they stop trying to escape. As they grow to a full size, the trainers will continue using the same flimsy ropes that an adult elephant could easily break through. The elephant, remembering the pain of struggling against the rope, will never again test it to see if it can escape. The rope, no matter how weak it may be, will hold the elephant forever.
Why don’t you sign up for that difficult class? Why don’t you study all out for that test to see how high a score you can get if you really try? Why don’t you try out for that competitive sports team? Why don’t you ask your crush out? For most of us, these questions yield similar results to the elephants. We’ve been burned in the past. Someone said you weren’t good enough and you’ve allowed yourself to believe it. Your past experience led to a failure that you haven’t been able to overcome. A chain from your past has held you in place, no matter how easily you could tear through it today.
If we allow ourselves to be chained by past experiences, we deny our ability to reach our full potential. So many of us slip into the pattern of only trying at things we know we will succeed in. That ensures that we will stay exactly where we are and never advance. Words, rejections, and failures from years ago can haunt you and hold you in place. These chains may not be physical, but a limitation to your mindset can be much more dangerous!
Ironically, overcoming these chains will feel easy when you do it. Similar to an adult elephant snapping a small rope, once you get past your insecurities and go for it, you will typically find a quick reward, whether it is success, or at least a realization that you can do better than you thought you could. Here’s an example I see every year: As a teacher, I send about 20 students per year from a regular English class to an Honors English class. I hear the same excuses from so many – “The work will be too hard… I’m not smart enough… I can’t pass those tests…” Once they accept that the move to honors is happening, they are forced to change their mindset and try their best. For the hundreds of students that I’ve sent to honors, not a single one of them failed their class. In fact, most of them received A’s and B’s! It was never an issue of intelligence. It was simply an issue of their belief in themselves and a limitation on what they could do.
A chained mindset can be the largest obstacle to your success. The next time you feel yourself afraid to tug on the rope, fearing rejection or failure, consider the benefit of taking the risk. You will win, or you will get better. The only way you can’t improve is if you do not try. Don’t allow yourself to be caged and limited by your own mind. Break through and live to your potential!