The video below serves as a follow up to a past entry. Within that entry, I discussed the potential fault in taking someone else’s word for the way things should be.
There are different types of people in this world. Some automatically heed the advice of others without questioning it. They never search for their own answers. If so-and-so said so, it must be true. The puppet master is always right, as the follower is lost without someone or something to follow. Others (such as those highlighted in the video above) are too proud and stubborn, and rarely take someone else’s word. They will hear what others have to say, but hearing and believing are not the same.
I am a proud member of the latter group. I can’t imagine living any other way. I will gladly listen to the advice of others, but I don’t assume it to be true. I’d rather come to my own conclusion. No one lives inside my body. No one can tell me what I can or cannot do.
Even science isn’t always right. Humankind has a history of mistakes. Who knows what will happen in the next 100 years. I’m sure that future generations will look back and laugh at some of the ideas that we assumed to be true. And if you don’t have the patience to wait it out 100 years, start following a current scientific journal. Conflicting studies are regularly released. Who is right when one study “proves” fault in another? I’m sure both parties were pretty damn sure they had it right the first time around.
Often times, we are not as smart as we think. Humans are far from perfect. We all make mistakes and even the know-it-alls have been wrong before. When someone tells you what you can or cannot do, how do we know it isn’t one of those times when human error has reared its ugly head? Wouldn’t you rather find out for yourself?
As a kid, I remember hearing how children of divorced parents were more likely to have this problem, that problem, and then another problem. The list of problems seemed endless. According to these researchers, I was doomed. My first thought however was that they were full of sh*t. They don’t know me. They didn’t study me. I’m not like anyone else, so how can the results of others somehow determine what will happen to me?
This is how I thought as a kid, and in many ways I still have this mentality today. Some may say that I’m ignorant or stubborn, or a combination of both (and then some), but no one else lives my life, so I honestly don’t care. Why worry about what someone else thinks? Who cares what so-and-so said I can do?
As much as we know about the human body, there is far more that we still don’t know. The complexity of our inner workings stretch far beyond our own comprehension.
As a coach, I will gladly train the youngster who walks into the gym with an unstoppable mindset. I want the kid who will try to fly if I tell him he can. It is these people who often exceed their supposed potential (according to others). Believing in yourself and going against the grain when necessary will often take you places that you’ll never reach otherwise.
As the legendary Babe Ruth once said,
It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
Ross
