 Are You Being Conditioned To Fail? |
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Whether you realize it or not - you've been conditioned from the moment you opened your eyes. You've been conditioned by your parents, your schooling, the TV, your colleagues, and the people whose ezines you read online. Most of the time - without even knowing that it's happening! Welcome to the world we live in. One that you live primarily based upon how OTHER people think. Now...some of this conditioning you can trace directly back to the views your parents had (for example about food, politics, relationships, religion, and money). Others can be traced back to your own experiences - like the fears you may have about heights, spiders, snakes, success, and failure etc. But...it may surprise you to find out that some of the most powerful beliefs you have were probably put into your mind without you having the faintest clue about how they got there! This is the realm of unconscious (or what most people call subliminal) conditioning. - Do you read a newspaper? Unless you're a hermit then I bet that you may do a few of these things. Which means that your world is partly defined by the opinions and views of OTHER people based on their OWN experiences. Of course...most of it (if purposely done) might well be with good intentions - but that can often be just as bad as being influenced in a 'negative' way. Let me illustrate a point so you see what I mean... ========== You read a novel about an ex-government hero who finds out about a plot by the director of the CIA to cause an explosion on a train, blame the terrorists, whom are then caught with a great fanfare thanks to the knowledge of the director of the CIA and his team, and sentenced to life in Guantanamo Bay without a trial. The director becomes a public figure - and this PR enables him to leapfrog the political ladder and become a close allay of the president, and favorite to become the next president of the current terrorism-fearing country. ========== Bet you've now got an opinion about the director of the CIA now, right? Well...even if you don't consciously have - your little brain is ticking away there - weighing up the injustice of the story and perhaps adding to your distrust of the government etc etc. The trouble with all this is that your brain hasn't got a CLUE what is 'real' or not! If the story is exciting, involving, and well-written - then you can't help to involve your FEELINGS about what you are reading. And...once your feelings get involved - then a stronger connection is made to similar (based on real experiences) feelings you already have on a particular topic. The result? You now have some other 'truth' to back up what you already believe. Now...perhaps you may not agree with that example - so let me give you another one based on MY own 'actual' experiences... ========== The Internet's culture is U.S. based. It's currency is the $. The vast majority of (English language) users live in the U.S. You automatically expect ME to be American - that's just the way it is. I live in the UK...but I have been to a number of seminars in the U.S. over the last couple of years, and have many friends from 'over the pond' because of it. I even write in U.S. English! So...I'd like to think that I have some experience of how us 'entrepreneurs' are viewed. ========== Here's my take on the cultural (and therefore conditioning) differences between how most people view entrepreneurs and self-starters in the UK and U.S. - U.S. - Respected for what they have done. (Remember - this is MY take from the outside looking in) UK - Grudgingly respected for what they have done. These opinions, of course, aren't totally across the board - though you would be surprised at the sheer numbers of people who share them. So can you see from this how much more 'difficult' is to be seen to be successful here in the UK than in the U.S.? Of course - we are gradually getting more into the 'celebrity' model of success like our U.S. cousins i.e. famous for being a sportsman, famous for being famous, famous for not actually having a job but for having photographs taken - that sort of thing. What this ultimately means is that my 12-year-old daughter is conditioned at an early age (unless I teach her differently) that the best way to earn your fortune is not to become an entrepreneur - but to be seen with the latest soccer player on her arm! So what does this mean for YOU? Well...for a start - a lot of your beliefs are someone else's put upon you. Secondly - a lot of what you ASSUME about how your life 'will' turn out is based very little on actual fact. Thirdly - what you think about yourself and your capabilities is a product primarily based upon parents, friends, colleagues, and even advertising. And lastly - you don't have to become bankrupt first before you can lead the life of your dreams! Remember - just because someone else tells you something it doesn't mean that it's a FACT! In fact, where your ability to be successful is concerned - when you really think about it - there are very few 'facts' out there that are exactly that. Unless you choose to believe them, of course.
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