WHAT FLEAS CAN TEACH YOU

Ever wonder how people train fleas for a flea circus? Probably not, but the flea trainers actually have an important lesson to teach us about reaching our full potential.

You train fleas by putting them in a jar with a lid on top of it. Fleas jump, so initially they will jump and hit the lid of the jar over and over again. Eventually, they will stop hitting the lid. They adjust the height at which they jump to prevent themselves from hitting the hard surface. You can then take the lid off the jar and the fleas won’t jump out. They have conditioned themselves to jump to a certain height, so they won’t ever jump higher than that.

People are the same way. When we first start going after our goals or ambitions, life seems limitless. Along the way we hit roadblocks, fall down and drag ourselves back up again. We are susceptible to the negative influence of other people. Eventually we stop trying to jump quite so high. The realm of possibility seems much smaller.

A great example of this is Roger Bannister. In 1954, the thought of a runner doing a four-minute mile was unheard of. Everyone, trainers and doctors alike, agreed that it could not be done. Roger Bannister didn’t let this lid keep him down. In 1954 he ran the first four-minute mile. Less than six weeks later another runner broke the barrier. Soon athletes the world over started running four-minute miles.

So what happened in those six weeks? People didn’t suddenly become physically faster. The barrier was mental, not physical. People were breaking it because someone had shown them it was possible.

Creating these mental blocks for yourself (or letting them be created by others) cheats you of your true potential. The second you think, “I can’t,” it becomes true. If you don’t believe you can do something, there’s no way you’re even going to try, let alone succeed.

For example, let’s say you want to start your own business, but then tell yourself there’s just no way you’ll ever be able to afford the initial investment you need. You’ve just officially given up on your goal. You will never open your business because you’ve told yourself that it’s impossible.

Instead of saying, “I can’t,” start thinking, “how can I?” You open yourself up to a whole new world of possibilities. Maybe you couldn’t afford the investment by yourself, but by changing the terms of your thinking you might find another way to attain outside investors. Always explore more than one avenue. The mind is like a parachute: it only works if it’s open. With the right mindset, you can jump out of the jar.

Contributed by Solomon Brenner Author of Black belt Parenting and Master Instructor for Action Karate.