Try this experiment.
Don't think about a pink elephant.
For just a moment, try really hard not to picture one.
What happened?
Most likely, a bright pink elephant marched right into your mind. That's because the brain doesn't process the word "don't" the way we expect it to. The mind has to imagine something before it can attempt to reject it. Your brain hears the image before it hears the instruction.
This time of the year (January) is often associated with setting new goals and resolutions for the coming year. But what about five, ten, or twenty years from now? Most giant timber bamboo takes five years to grow 90 feet in 60 days. So like timber bamboo, we must create a vision for what we want our bamboo to look like long term.
I’ve met many successful Bamboo Farmers throughout my life, many of which I interviewed on my podcast. What makes them so successful compared to someone who might not have the same level of success is that Bamboo Farmers water persistently.
Many years ago I wrote a poem about critics and one of the stanzas went something like this:
“Critics critics there are many, but you will never see statues of any.”
People who have great success are just like you--seemingly ordinary people--but they have developed a strong and unwavering conviction and expectation that they will achieve their visions.
Frankly, I get tired of people bashing management because it is almost impossible to function without good management. “Management” is the only group in an organization that people openly bash. I have read countless organizational consultants and strategists praising leadership skills over management skills as superior and more important.
When a person or a team sets a goal to do something extraordinary (aka your Bamboo Dream), whether that goal is to go to the moon, win a gold medal, or change an entire industry, critics, killjoys, and naysayers come out of the woodwork saying things such as: You are crazy. That will never work. Why are you wasting your time? What makes you think you are so special?
