The Power of Belief – Real Life Inspirational Stories From History
By Anubhav Srivastava ( Register for his Workshop – Build Super Confidence For Super Success!)
The power of belief is an amazing thing, it has helped people accomplish some of the most incredible feats in history. Feats that no one thought were possible, until someone with incredible belief showed it was possible. In this article I am going to share with you various stories that demonstrate the power of belief and then I am going to tell you how you can actually build that belief and make your own life goals come true.
The Invention of the Airplane
One of the greatest inventions ever has been one that has made the world a smaller place. It is the airplane This is the story of two brothers who dared to believe That they could make men fly.
Their names were Wilbur and Orville Wright. Neither of the Wright brothers had finished high school. Infact they both owned a bicycle shop. Imagine what would have happened If they thought they were no good since they had little formal education Imagine if they listened to everyone who said man could never fly
Somebody else might have made the aeroplane but the world would have never heard Of these two men. The Wright brothers accomplished the unbelievable because they had the courage to harness the power of belief and combine it with action. And that’s precisely why they will be remembered as long as man records HISTORY
The V8 Engine by Ford
The greatest motivator anywhere in the world has always been the power of belief. Henry Ford the great Car Maker was one trying to get an engine called V8 made. Now the V8 had some structural requirements which were considered impossible to actually be implemented practically. He told his team I am intelligent enough to understand that a V8 can be built, but only you people can build it because you have the skills. They told him, you are our employer and we can’t argue with you but it cannot be built. IT is an impossibility. He said , go build it. 6 months went by, no luck, 8 months went by, no luck. An year went and there were still no results. Finally he said don’t come back until you have my engine. I don’t care how it is done, I just know it can be done. Guess what they finally found a solution and the V8 engine was actually built. See the incredible power of belief?
The 4 Minute Mile by Rodger Bannister
The final story that demonstrates the power of belief is the story of breaking the 4 minute mile barrier. Before May 6th 1954, no one in human history had run the mile in less than four minutes. Most people believed that this thing was physically impossible. A lot of so called experts believed that it was beyond the capability of the human body to run the mile in such less time. In fact they want on to say that a person who seriously attempted this feat would end up with lungs that explode and certain death. For many many years this particular belief was perceived as a fact and during this period, a lot of athletes tried to break this barrier without any success.
However a man named Rodger Bannister, armed only with the power of belief and incredible determination, ran the mile in 3 minutes and 59 seconds on May 6th, 1954. By doing so he did not just create a world record, he also broke a false belief that existed in the minds of thousands of runners. To run a mile in less than 4 minutes was no possible. An year later many many more people broke the barrier and now this is common place. So what does it mean. It means the barrier never existed at all, it was just a barrier that existed in the mind, not in nature! The “impossible was accomplished.”
What is the takeaway lesson from all these stories?
The most powerful thing in the world is not a weapon. It is a persistent belief that is so deeply engrained in your subconscious mind that it propels every decision you take in life. People possessed by such intense beliefs have the capability to change the world, for the better or worse. Because the stronger their belief and subsequent action is, the more the chances are for others to become affected by it and start believing in it. Just like it happened in the case of Ford, the Wright Brothers, Rodger Bannister and thousands of other examples all over the world.
Limits of The Power of Belief
Can belief can make you do ANYTHING? The answer is No. The power of Belief has its limits. If you believe you can swim, you can with time because swimming is something that can be done by humans. But can you fly without any sort of a machine, just by flapping your hands if you believe? Of course not! Also you probably can’t perform a bypass emergency surgery on your loved ones just by believing you can, without learning the practical knowledge involved (Unless you want them dead)
I have a story to tell you, when I was young, I had a friend’s dad who was a millionaire. So he had this habit of saying I am a millionaire because I believe in myself. I am a millionaire because I believe in myself. Finally someone got irritated and said, hey you are a millionaire, THAT IS WHY you believe in yourself!!
And that’s a very interesting point. It’s kind of a Catch 22 Situation. You won’t believe it unless you have done it, and you can’t do it, unless you believe in it AT SOME level.
How do you learn how to swim? Do you do so by proclaiming I believe I can swim and jump in the ocean? Look if you do that untrained, God will discover a lot of love for you. In other words You are going to die. If you are Ranikanth or Chuck Norris, you can jump in the ocean and you don’t have to swim, the ocean will start swimming around you. But for the rest of us, it is a bad idea.
You do so by taking a leap of faith in a swimming pool at a depth you can handle, usually accompanied by an expert swimmer. You don’t believe you can do it but you take a leap of faith in a small way. You don’t take leap of faith in the ocean with no one around.
And then what that leap of faith helps you actually learn how to swim a bit, you then tread deeper waters and you start doing it alone and you become more and more confident. In other words you take on bigger challenges and succeed because you believe and your belief becomes stronger as you succeed!
So number 1 way to build the power of belief is by taking a leap of faith and doing things one step at a time. Some people are born believers, they don’t need to do things in a small way to believe they can, they already know they can do it. so they either do things in a great way or they screw up in a great way. But for most of us, this is a pretty safe method.
SUMMARY
1) The first step to achieving anything great is having incredible self belief. Only people who believe that they can make things happen will ever put in the hard work to actually make things happen.
2) The Power of Belief has its limits. It can make you do things that YOU may think are impossible but are not impossible according to the laws of nature.Second Belief is not enough. Belief needs to be built. Belief needs to be combined with SKILL.
3) Best way to build the power of Belief is by DOING things one step at a time. The more you do, the more skill you acquire. The more skill you acquire, the more capable you become. The more capable you become the stronger that belief becomes.
About the Author
The author of this article, Anubhav Srivastava is an author, motivational speaker and the director of Carve Your Destiny, a first of its kind inspirational documentary featuring some of the most famous personalities from diverse fields, who teach the viewers how they too can make all of their dreams come true. The movie itself has been seen on Youtube by close to 700,000 people. Anubhav has also been featured in numerous International and India Media outlets such as BBC , The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Rediff.com, Leicester Mercury and many others.
For coaching, consulting or speaking engagement related queries email Anubhav Srivastava at anubhav101@gmail.com. Facebook Profile: http://facebook.com/anubhav981
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