Cicero, the Roman statesman and philosopher, pointed that out some 2000 years ago when he listed the 6 mistakes of man. The 6 biggest mistakes were:
- The delusion that personal gain is made by crushing others.
- The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
- Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
- Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
- Neglecting the development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and studying.
- Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.
When I read this, I loved this.
I am going to put my 2 cents in for each of these
1. Power Vs. Force is a great book that talks all about this. How Force or “crushing others” and Power is Inspiring others. It is not about dominating others to win, but empowering others that causes you to win
2. Worry is useless. Check out my past article on worry here
3. Just because it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean it is impossible. Just because we do not know how to do it does not mean it is impossible.
There is so much that so many people have said are impossible. Only to be proven wrong 10-20-2000 years later. The most famous is Henry Ford’s top engineers in the world said it was impossible to cast a V-8 motor in one single cast. For a year they told him this. For a year, he said make it possible.
Now every car manufacture has a V-8 engine exactly like this.
4. People are so caught up in being right, that they often will lose deal, lose great information, lose help, lose their life, because they are attached to being right. Even when the thing they are being right is not that big of deal.
5. This one is self explanatory. Thinking you “know” is the worst enemy. People thinking they already know something has been one of the biggest downfalls of many once great people.
6. Getting people to change to your religion, your beliefs, your lifestyle, unless they want it, is impossible. Quit trying. |
