It’s amazing what we as humans can accomplish if we put our minds to it.

But it’s equally amazing how easily we can sabotage our efforts with a simple belief…

Depending on how you look at things, including yourself, determines what you believe you are capable of achieving, and that is directly proportionate to what you actually achieve in reality!

I heard a story once at a seminar that was funny but at the same time really sheds some light on how perspective and beliefs can really change what you are capable of doing.

It’s been a while so I may change it a little bit… But the story goes something like this…

There once was a young duckling lost in the middle of a dark and scary forest. The duck was wandering around trying to find his way out of the forest, when a ferocious leopard spots him.

The leopard starts stalking the duckling thinking to himself, “I’ve never seen a creature like this before, but he sure looks tender and juicy…”

The duckling realizes he’s being stalked and is terrified, he has to find a way out of this predicament!

Over near a tree he spots a pile of bones leftover from someone else’s meal, so he goes over to the pile and waits for the leopard to approach.

As the leopard gets close enough to pounce, the little duckling rubs his belly and says ” Mmmm that was a delicious leopard, I wish I could find another one to eat, I’m still hungry!”

As soon as the leopard hears that, he starts to run away, not knowing what this creature was capable of.

In a nearby tree, a monkey was watching the entire scene, he’s furious at how the duckling tricked the leopard so he goes running to the leopard and proposes a deal: ” Hey leopard, says the monkey, I’m in need of some protection, so how about you protect me and I’ll give you some valuable information?”

The leopard agrees and the monkey tells him what he has seen. The leopard is furious and tells the monkey to get on his back, they’re going to catch them a duckling!

As the leopard approaches for the second time, the duckling is again terrified and finds himself in the same situation as before, how is he going to get out of this one…

Once again as the leopard is in pouncing range, the duckling says angrily ” where is that darn monkey? I sent him out to get me another leopard over an hour ago!”

So that evening the leopard had monkey for dinner…

So, could the leopard have easily eaten the duckling, Sure!

But because he was unsure of himself and the words of the duckling changed his perspective, he no longer believed he could.

The moral is: Believe in yourself, maintain your perspective, and don’t listen to what other people say about you!

I hope you liked the story! Feel free to pass it along and tweet it.

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