back every now and then and ask ourselves, “Am I setting my goals high
enough to challenge my capabilities?”
MENTAL BARRIERS
A great story is told about farm boys recruited and trained to
be pilots in the pilot shortage crisis during World War II.
With the sudden outbreak of World War II, the U.S. Air Force
found themselves with a shortage of pilots. They recruited farm
boys from the Midwest and gave them their wings. This group of
men one day brought forth the ingenuity and design of the first su-
personic jet.
This design team was not trained in the classical schools of aero-
nautical engineering like their predecessors. Had they been trained
like the others, they would have been taught that flying past the speed
of sound was impossible. In those days, the aeronautic engineering
schools taught that supersonic flight was unattainable because:- The weight of the fuel required would make the plane too
slow and cumbersome. - Reaching the speed of sound would cause spontaneous com-
bustion, and the plane would blow up.
When questioned about how they had achieved such a remark-
able feat, these men replied, “We did it because nobody told us we
couldn’t.”
The barriers we cross in our lives may not be as dramatic as the
sound barrier, but we too must overcome the scrutiny of “experts” or
those who believe there is only one way of doing things. Remember,
those who tell us “we can’t” are usually those who “didn’t.” Barriers
of achievement are meant to be broken—no matter what the “ex-
perts” teach. —The Daily DoseSELF-SABOTEURS
My personal epiphany regarding a personal lack of resilience and
weak expectations taught me a lasting lesson about shutting down the self-
sabotaging voice that whispers when we embark on a new mission. I was driv-
ing home from a speech and listening to an audiotape from the Chicken
Soup for the Soulseries. It told a story about an 88-year-old lady who was asked
about the regrets she had in life.
104 SELLING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE