Posts Tagged ‘conviction’

Recently my brother and I were swapping stories about our childhood peccadilloes and the punishments that usually followed. One thing was certain: When Mom and Daddy caught us in our misadventures and promised to tend to us later, they kept their word. We not only learned that actions have consequences, we learned our parents meant what they said.

Most people seem to take a more ambiguous approach to life than our parents. They’ve discovered the easiest way to avoid conflict is to avoid making firm commitments or saying anything meaningful. Instead they waffle and warble, acting out the advice Rolling Stones’ front man Mick Jagger once said he picked up from singer Fats Domino: Never sing the lyrics very clearly.

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After J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up debuted at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London in December 1904, English children soon began demonstrating the courage of their convictions. In the story, Peter told the Darling children that if only they believed with enough conviction, they could fly. And like the Darling children in the play, the children in the audience believed. They believed with such conviction parents soon began complaining to Barrie that their little ones were beginning to suffer injuries as they tried to take off but fell back to earth. The playwright resolved the problem by introducing another necessary ingredient to his formula for flying: fairy dust.

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Did you ever stop to think that success and failure are all in your head? No, that doesn’t mean the Olympic medals Apolo Anton Ohno added to his collection at the 2010 Winter Games are a figment of his imagination. It means the champion short-track speed-skater had to make the decision to succeed or fail long before he took the ice in Vancouver.

It’s simple. If, in your mind, you believe success is possible, it is. And if, in your mind, you believe failure is inevitable, it is. You can’t necessarily ensure your success by believing in success, but at least you give yourself a fighting chance. You can, however, ensure your failure by believing in failure. If you believe failure is inevitable, your preparation will be half-hearted. Or you may stop preparing. You may stop trying. You may neglect to show up at all. Why bother? You can’t win.

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