by Marge "Magic" Powers
“The
miracle power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry,
application, and perseverance, under the promptings of a brave determined
spirit.” – Mark Twain
Many
motivational experts like to say that winners are made, not born. I would argue the exact opposite. I believe we are all natural born winners,
but have been deprogrammed along the way.
As children, we were natural winners - curious and humble, always hungry
and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredibly vivid imagination; we knew
exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we
wanted, and had the ability to motivate, inspire, and influence everyone around
us to help us in accomplishing our mission.
So why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened?
As children, over time, we got used to hearing, “No,” “Don’t,” and “Can’t.” “No! Don’t do this. Don’t do that. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. No!” Many of our parents told us to keep quiet and not disturb the adults by asking silly questions. This pattern continued into high school with our teachers telling us what we could do and couldn’t do and what was possible. Then many of us got hit with the big one – institutionalized formal education known as college or university. Unfortunately, the traditional educational system doesn’t teach students how to become winners or leaders; it teaches students how to become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and think for themselves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep the corporate machine humming.
