The Dumbo Principle

The Dumbo Principle

Written & brought to you by

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach.

I am assuming that those reading this have seen at one time or the other the cartoon produced by Disney called Dumbo.

Dumbo is the story of a little Elephant with a dream and a great mouse for a coach. The mouse kept telling him that the very thing everyone laughed at and the thing that embarrassed him was actually an asset – he had huge ears. By looking at his big ears he could either feel badly that he looked and was different, or else he could look at his ears in a totally different light. The mouse finally convinced him that he could fly by using his ears – something no other elephant could do. He was different alright but that was not a bad thing it was good thing. But Dumbo had a hard time believing he could fly; that is until the mouse gave him a “magic feather”. Dumbo believed in magic and when he held the magic feather he felt enabled to fly and so he tried. It did not work well immediately but his efforts and coaching or encouragement from the mouse soon saw him flying and life for Dumbo forever changed.

Then one day while performing his flying act in the greatest circus, Dumbo dropped his magic feather and suddenly he panicked and lost his ability to fly. Was it really the “magic feather” that caused him to fly? Soon Dumbo came to see that it was not the feather after all, and once again he spread his ears and flew.

This is all cute and all, but does this really happen to real people? The answer is absolutely “Yes”. Many of you have heard of a man named Michael Landon. Michael became famous for his acting in the TV series, Little House on the Prairie. But let me tell you about Michael Landon. Michael was a scrawny less than average little boy. As many like him he was teased and not “part of the in crowd”. Then as it happened, Michael was required, along with all the students to learn track and field events at school. The first event they tried out was throwing a javelin. Michael had never thrown a javelin before. But on his very first attempt, Michael threw the javelin 30 feet further than anyone his age had ever thrown it. He became a star and a sensation overnight. From a nobody to a hero. Michael had found his talent and worked on it passionately. He started going to a gym, working out and strengthening his upper body so that he continually lead his school in winning at javelin throwing events.

Michael went on to get a scholarship at a major university because of his achievements but then tragedy struck. Some of the “jocks” at university felt threatened by him and did not like Michael. It was 1950, when crew cut hairstyles were the norm. But Michael was hardly the norm. You see, Michael had very long hair. So the jocks caught him one day and cut off all his hair. After this happened, something very strange happened. Michael was no longer able to throw the javelin like he used to be able to. He tried working out harder and tried everything he knew how to get back into form but without avail. Then one day in an exerted effort to overcome his problem, Michael threw out his shoulder and his fame and career as a javelin thrower came to an abrupt end. So what happened? As it was later learned, the reason Michael had long hair was because from an early age Michael loved the story of Samson. He truly believed that long hair was what gave him strength and subconsciously when he lost it, he lost his strength just as Samson did. But was long hair the reason he could throw the javelin? Of course not. It was his deep seated belief that his hair caused him to be that way. Unlike Dumbo however, he never did learn that the “magic feather” had nothing to do with his achievements. Strangely it actually affected his physical body so that he could no longer do what he had done hundreds of times previously.

WE UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF BELIEF

The experience of Michael and Dumbo is not so strange actually, because every one of us has limiting beliefs. By limiting, I mean we have come to false conclusions about our abilities and who we are. We have also failed to see that our inadequacies and our differences from others are the very thing that make us unique and empower us to be exceptional in life. We have limited our experience by the very things we believe deep down inside. If you believe you can – you can and if you believe you can’t – you can’t. Our beliefs cause us either to try or give up before we even begin.

So what do you really believe? What “liability” have you been hiding behind or making excuses for? What makes you “different” than others and how can that make you special instead of a freak or useless? Whatever God has allowed in your life he ordained for strength and not weakness. They tell me that blind people often excel in one or more of their other senses. Instead of focusing on the blindness and being filled with self pity, many have resolved to focus on what they still have for abilities and since their focus became limited (focused), they excelled beyond anything most people could ever imagine.

Dear fellow businessperson, I want to encourage you to be thankful for the way God made you – warts and all. I want to help you see that those very things you have always been ashamed of or embarrassed about may in fact be a gift from your creator to make something great out of your life with – if you will only believe it. You don’t need to change a thing excepting what you believe.

Ken Crause – Business Transformation Coach

Email: ken@crauseco.com