Self-Help Tactics: Are You a Chained Elephant?

 

Limitations and self-doubt are stronger than steel. Each limitation adds a link to the metal chain: I’m too stupid…I’m not good enough…everyone is better than me…you’ll never make it. Chain-links keep you wrapped around a limited ideal of who you are, or what you want to achieve. Some of the chain-links have been forged by other people, such as family, friends, teachers, and, of course, your enemies. Perhaps you were given the prestigious title of being a “slow learner”, or perhaps a nasty jerkwad called you ugly. And you believed all of it—allowing the chains to keep you from becoming the person you deserve to be.

Have you ever been to the circus? Perhaps you giggled at a gang of clowns while they juggled poisonous vipers, and perhaps you were secretly intrigued by a sexy bearded lady. Let’s not forget about the obscene contortionist. Everyone loves a contortionist…right?

There’s another oddity at the circus—a 7 ton mammal with a very long nose and massive ears. We call ’em “elephants”.

After the circus elephant has completed its very important duties, such as lugging around a handful of pipsqueak humans, a simple chain is wrapped around its fat leg. Think about it…how the hell can a measly chain keep a 7 ton elephant from stampeding all the way back to Africa? The answer is self-doubt.

 

 

The circus elephant was spiritually demoralized, and it also forgot it’s true capabilities. Specialized trainers forced a particular kind of belief upon a young elephant, and that’s how a weak chain becomes stronger than a 7 ton monster.

An adult elephant can take a single stride and snap the chain into a pile of rusted metal. But the elephant chooses not to. If self-doubt can anchor an elephant in place…what about you?

 

Break the Chain

Your limited beliefs hold you hostage to certain ideas. We either forge our own chains, or the chains are forged by other people, because that’s what people are good at. They don’t want to see you succeed or change. They don’t want you to realize your true potential. They don’t want to see you evolve. No one likes to be proven wrong. If you get bigger, someone else must get smaller. It’s simple physics.

 

• Confront your self-doubt
  

 

If you no longer want to be constrained by self-doubt, confront your belief system and prove yourself wrong. Are you supposedly a slow learner? Go read some big books. Learn as much as you can. Become your own teacher and figure out what works best for you. Were you called a weakling? Lift something heavy. Are you too slow? Start sprinting. Don’t make enough moolah? Get a financial education. Develop resourceful habits and the chain-links will start to bend. Maintain your healthy habits and the chain-links will bust apart. It’s simple physics.

Don’t become overwhelmed. Confront each chain-link and concentrate all your efforts into breaking it apart. Don’t be scared by the length of the chain, either. The chain of self-doubt may seem mighty, but you’ll gain the strength which is associated with confronting your specific problems.

 

• Cultivate Confidence

 

You’ll gain confidence when you snap a chain-link. No one will be able to take that away from you. Use the momentum and continue snapping your problems in half. Each chain-link becomes easier to break. The first chain-link is always the hardest to snap. Don’t be discouraged—even if you fail.

What happens when a chained elephant becomes pissed off? Exactly! Everyone gets the hell out of the elephant’s way, or they pay a severe price. The angry elephant stampedes through town, crushing cars and store windows, just like an oppressed mob. You need to transform yourself into a pissed off elephant. Go ahead. You have my permission.

Take a wide stride forward, push everything out of the way and don’t worry about any consequences. You will be judged by your unexpected actions, and possibly confronted or tranquilized. But it’s your life. Do you want to risk never becoming the embodiment of your full potential? For what? Because of someone’s bullshit limitation which they placed upon you?

 

A Matter of Perspective

Listen…I’m not some guru who mediates on top a snowy mountain. I’m just a 33-year-old dude. These concepts and ideas have been explored many times throughout history. I’m not perfect and don’t claim to have all the answers, but I’m smart enough to know if there’s a damn chain attached to my leg. I don’t like chains wrapped around my leg and neither do you.

 

Are you ready to join the stampede?