Deception and Imagination

Have you ever played a party trick on someone where you get them to walk along something very narrow and set them up so they think it is quite high above the ground?  Not at a deadly height, but maybe waist height or just above?  And not so narrow there is a strong likelihood they will fall.  If so, you will know that the way they walk is very different from how they would if they knew they were only a few inches off the floor.  In some cases they will refuse to walk across it at all, even if promised a reward if they do so.

Why is this?  As already stated, the width is not so narrow they are likely to fall, so why should they worry?  Why should some people walk very falteringly and others refuse to do it at all?

The answer is two-fold.  First, they have been deceived about the possible consequences.  They believe those consequences are that in the unlikely event they do fall they could hurt themselves.  Secondly, their imagination then takes over and puts all kinds of pictures in their head about those consequences.

Deception and imagination.  A very powerful combination that conspires to prevent all of us achieving what we really want to achieve.

For many people, this spells the end of their dream.  They decide that it is not worth risking suffering those consequences and they give up before they have even started.  For many others, they start anyway, but instead of stepping out boldly and announcing to the Universe that they are here and ready to reap all the benefits they begin the efforts in the same way as those tentative and stumbling efforts of the victim of the party trick.  What they are doing by being so tentative is making it more likely that they WILL fail.  And when they do, that inner deceiver will say "I told you so!", setting them up to be even more nervous they next time they try to achieve anything worthwhile.

I am not suggesting, of course, that you should ignore all the possible negative consequences.  For any new project, for any dream you want to follow, you do need to list all the pros and cons.  This will allow you to make an informed decision.  Certainly consider what you will do in each case of those negative consequences, so you are prepared for any likely outcome.  But then weigh up those pros and cons and don't allow all the negatives to put you off unless you logically reason this is not for you - at least not at this point in time.  And if the decision is to go ahead, don't allow the great deceiver within you to magnify those negatives.  Don't allow your imagination to dwell on them.  You have sensibly considered them but now your focus must be on the postive outcome.  That is the only way you are really likely to succeed and achieve your dream.