Robin J. Elliott: Joint Ventures with the Prophet of Profit, Training, Strategic Alliances

Psychologists put four monkeys into a cage. In the cage, they erected a pole with a platform on top of it. They put a huge bunch of tantalizing, ripe, yellow bananas on the platform. Soon the monkeys smelt the bananas and eagerly started to climb nimbly up the pole to get at them. Immediately, the psychologists started squirting the monkeys with strong jets of icy cold water from fire hoses. They did this every time the monkeys tried to get to the bananas, and, naturally, soon the monkeys gave up trying. They sat around getting hungry. Then the psychologists removed one of the monkeys and replaced him with a new monkey who had never experienced the wrath of the fire hoses. Soon the enticing aroma of bananas assailed nostrils and he started climbing up the pole towards them.

What do you think the other furry fellows did? That’s right, they grabbed the newcomer and pulled him down from the pole, preventing him from getting at the bananas. At this point no fire hoses were used. Well, they removed another the monkey and brought in a new one. Now, even the monkey who had never been squirted by the fire hoses, joined in to stop the latest addition from climbing up the pole! One by one they removed the monkeys and replaced them with new monkeys, each of which was stopped from climbing the pole by the other monkeys, all of which, eventually, had never even been squirted with water!

That’s how belief systems and rumors work. We start to believe the myths and urban legends. We become the victims of the limiting beliefs of others and accept those lies as our own, and then we, in turn, impose them on others, believing that we are helping them!

You’ve heard the story of the woman who regularly cut off the ends of a ham before putting it into the oven, haven’t you? Well, eventually the husband asked why she cut the ends off and she said she was taught to do so by her mother, who was a great cook. The husband asked his mother in law why she taught her daughter to cut the ends off hams. She didn’t know – HER mother had taught her to do so. Eventually, the husband found out that the grandmother’s oven was too small – that why the ends had to be cut off. And even though his wife’s oven was quite spacious enough to accommodate three hams, she continued to cut the ends off.

Perception is reality. We tend to make the reality of others, our own. We say we want to learn from their mistakes, but we often learn to limit ourselves with their false restrictions. We allow fear instead of faith to guide us. Ducks fly in flocks and stay close to the ground. Eagles fly alone and high. Eagles don’t fly around with ducks, or they might start quacking before too long. When the mob runs south, Eagles stroll northwards.

Small elephants are tied up with a strong chain until they realize they can’t escape. When they’re grown, a thin rope that they could snap very easily will enslave them to the extent that they have staved to death and burnt to death because they believed a meager rope was a powerful chain. What is your rope? What beliefs do we have that are preventing us from happiness, health and hilarity? Are we monkeys or monarchs? Minions or miracle workers? Let’s dare to dream. Easy is not an option. Quitting is also not an option. Let’s have goals that are bigger than our fears.

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