The Story of the Elephant and the Rope
My friend was passing a group of elephants one day and suddenly stopped. He was confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.
“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller, we used the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.
According to a 2013 study published by Pew Charitable Trust, 70% of those raised in poverty will remain in poverty.
Why are so many poor people unable to break out of poverty?
They believe it’s impossible to break free from poverty. They have a Poor Thinking Mindset, or limiting belief.
Conversely, those with a Rich Thinking Mindset believe they can change their circumstances, no matter how wretched their circumstances might be. They do this by creating a blueprint of their ideal, future lives – they become clear on their desired destination.
The Rich Thinking Mindset can break the cycle of generational poverty, enabling the poorest of the poor to achieve great things in life. If this was not true there would be no Andrew Carnegie’s, no Oprah Winfrey’s, no Ralph Lauren’s, and no Howard Schultz’s (Starbucks).
Your beliefs anchor you to poverty or rocket you to riches.
thanks for this amazing lesson