The “no” that cripples progress
A lot of people say “No” to something they don’t even know what they are saying “no” to.
Most people are brought up to reply with a “No” first before they start thinking through the answer , that’s if they even get to ever think it through again.
We live in a society that buries the curiosity of its citizens by feeding its children with so many negative words and phrases that they completely lose hope themselves and their own ability.
The children grow into adults with insurmountable fear of the unknown and a complete inability to try new things.
This children grow up learning how to pass this fear into anyone around them that tries to do a new thing.
That is why some societies have stayed exactly the same way for thousands of years — no technological advancements, no medical advancements, no new tools, nothing. They are stuck to the same animal skin clothes, arrows for hunting and hoes for farming forever.
Just because every time some outlier tries to do something new, the rest of the society scares them to death.
Many people’s lives and daily vocabulary are filled with so much “No”s that the only thing they say yes to is a no.
A very smart friend of mine sent me an IV to his wedding coming up this weekend. Unfortunately I cannot attend because of the distance. But how he met his wife is why I’m writing this.
I once invited him to an important event, he said “no”. I was going to leave it at that, but somehow I pressed on.
“Why no?”
“I don’t know.”
“How come you don’t know why you are saying, are you being controlled from somewhere?”
“Hahaha, I’m not being controlled”
“Were you programmed to reply no?”
“No, I just haven’t been to an event like that before.”
“ok, is that why you said no then?”
“no, yes”
“So whenever there is any new thing to try, your instinctive reaction is a no?”
“No, no, no, this one is just new to me.”
“Ok, so you said no, because its new to you?”
“No, yes”
“So you were programmed to say no then?”
“No, yes, no, maybe, if you say so”
We went on like this for a while until I was able to convince him to attend with me. That event was where he met the lady he is about to marry this weekend.
The bottom line is that sometimes our upbringing can limit us mentally with such a power that no amount of academic prowess can liberate us.
If you have a lot of “no”s in your life and vocabulary, this is a good time to remove them.
Is that some thing you can do?
No?
If you liked this write up, will you recommend and share it ? No
