Inspired by his eight-year-old son’s passion for ‘Mythbusters,’ Thomas Fiffer tackles a major way we hold ourselves back in life.
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My younger son, who’s eight, watches a show on the Discovery Channel called “Mythbusters.” Watches isn’t really the right word. He’s obsessed with it. In the show, a group of young men and women conduct experiments to test and, if possible, bust popular theories and myths. The shows often involve car chases, explosives, science experiments, and other elaborate set ups to determine the truth through exacting science.
When my son learned that National Geographic Kids puts out a series of “Myths Busted” books (unrelated to the “Mythbusters” show), we had to order not one but two from Amazon, and yesterday, when the first book arrived, he read nearly the whole thing to his brother and me, myth after myth, until we both begged him, “No more!”
The truth is you can also balance that egg or broomstick on any day of the year if you are patient enough. You just wouldn’t try on any other day …
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One of the myths he mentioned struck me as immensely important in helping us realize more of our potential, or see that we have more potential than we realize. You’ve probably heard the myth that you can balance an egg on its end or a broomstick on its handle on the vernal equinox. Well, you can. But the truth is you can also balance that egg or broomstick on any day of the year if you are patient enough. You just wouldn’t try on any other day, because the myth leads you to believe that you can only accomplish it on one particular day of the year.
The myth—which seems to be about the positive possibility of doing something extraordinary—actually limits achievement by precluding you from trying except on the day you believe the feat is possible. It’s an inversion that cuts you off from your power to accomplish something.
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Think about how this same type of inversion might affect you in other areas of your life.
The best sex you ever had was with a person with blond hair, so you figure it won’t be as good with with brunettes or redheads.
You met your first love at a museum, so you put blinders on at bars, parties, or the gym.
You aced a job interview in your favorite dress or suit, so you wear that “lucky” outfit to every subsequent interview, even as its condition worsens.
Your vegetable lasagna turned out great with expensive organic provisions, so you doubt it might taste as good with conventional ingredients.
You poured your soul out in your journal and made profound discoveries about yourself while traveling, so you don’t try to write at home.
You can surely think of many other examples in your own life of how a belief that you can only do something a certain way or at a certain time or in a certain place or with a certain person limits you from trying—and succeeding—differently.
Remember that those optimal conditions may not have been the reason it worked.
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So the next time you’re stopping yourself from trying something because the conditions are not optimal, remember that those optimal conditions may not have been the reason it worked. They may not be the cause. They may not even be correlated. They may just be a myth you’ve bought into or sold yourself that limits you from breaking out and exceeding your expectations.
Photo—James Jordan/Flickr