Yes You Can – Moving beyond your labels

Can you move beyond the labels others place on you? Yes you can. It’s a trait we were all born with. All we need do is 1) realize it, and 2) rise beyond it.

What, are you stupid or something? You are such an idiot. Don’t even bother trying to do that. You are too old. It’s not in your DNA. Girls just don’t have upper body strength. You’ll never understand math. Loser!

Has anyone ever said one of these things or something similar to you? Or worse still, have you ever said something like that to yourself in your mind?

Here is a frightening secret: When you tell yourself something, when you pin a negative label on yourself, every cell in your body listens to what you said…and believes it!

On Sunday night I watched Sixty Minutes with my wife. It’s part of our Sunday ritual. There was an uplifting story about chess in Franklin County Mississippi. Here is how Sixty Minutes describes Franklin County:

“Tucked deep in the southwest corner of Mississippi lies remote Franklin County, where the trains don’t stop any more. Half the county is covered by a national forest, and the other half it seems is by churches.

“This is the buckle of the Bible belt. Seven thousand people live here and no one’s in a hurry. There are only two stop lights in the entire county and one elementary school.”

It was the story of Dr. Jeff Bulington, sent there by a wealthy benefactor, to teach the children how to play chess, and see what the results were. Once the children removed the ignorant label “dumb hillbilly” from their psyche, here is what they did:

· They dominated the Mississippi State Chess Championship.
· They improved their school grades in all subjects.
· Only a year previous there were seven of the 93 Franklin County High School graduates that went on to college. Now, every chess player plans to attend.
· In the National Chess Championship the fifth graders placed number eight, and the sixth graders placed tenth. That’s in the entire nation!

So when you believe in yourself, (like the Franklin County children did,) and when others believe in you, (like their parents and Dr. Bulington did,) you have just taken the first step in achievement. Congratulations! There is lots of hard work ahead, to be sure, but remember when I said that when you pin a negative label on yourself, that every cell in your body listens to what you said, and believes it? Well, the same is true for a positive label. The children found this out.

What, are you stupid or something? No, I’m not stupid.
You are such an idiot. Not.
Don’t even bother trying to do that. I will.
You are too old. I’m never too old.
It’s not in your DNA. We’ll see!
Girls just don’t have upper body strength. Watch me!
You’ll never understand math. Yes I will.
Loser! Winner!

Check. Checkmate!