Positive expectations

During the first half of the twentieth century, scientists, physicians, athletes and trainers believed that it was impossible for a human to run a mile in less than four minutes. People had tried unsuccessfully for decades to break this barrier. The conventional wisdom held that the human body was physiologically incapable of running at this pace — that the cardiovascular and skeletal systems simply would break down before the four-minute barrier was crossed.

Then, on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. He did this because he believed he could. And once he had done it, everyone else suddenly believed it could be done, too. Within 3 years, another runner had broken the four-minute barrier. Now, there are thousands of people who have run a mile in under four minutes.

For over one hundred years, runners had tried unsuccessfully to break the four-minute barrier. Then, after one person had done it, thousands more were able to do it. Did the physiology of the human body suddenly change? No, of course not. The thing that changed was expectation. People replaced a limiting expectation (under four minutes is impossible) with an empowering expectation.

True expectations influence every area of your life, and that is how they work their magic. You can work hard for 10 hours every day, and if you just expect to barely get by, that’s what will happen. Work those same 10 hours with the expectation of getting wealthy, and suddenly you’ll find all sorts of opportunities and possibilities that you never would have seen before.

Our minds work by association. There is so much information coming at us on a daily basis that we can’t possibly process it all. So we experience life and relate to the world in terms of things we already know. You create a model in your mind that allows you to make sense of the world around you. When that model is positive, and focused on your goals, then you see the opportunities in all situations. When you regularly visualize yourself as successful and effective, then your mind will find a way to bring that visualization into reality.