We have all had to do it – suspending disbelief – when watching movies or reading fiction. Simply stated, suspension of disbelief is possible when there is enough “human interest and a semblance of truth” in a fantastic tale or movie script so that you can suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. Otherwise the illusion is shattered and the movie, story or script fall apart.
You might be wondering what this has to do with personal motivation and development.
Sometimes, a strategy, tool, tactic or technique you learn might seem “too good to be true”. Unless you suspend your disbelief, you will prevent yourself from giving it an honest ‘go’ or attempt. That suspension of disbelief is really important in nuanced situations if you are going to marshal all the power of the Law Of Attraction that NECESSITATES belief.
Can you see the circular reasoning at play here?
Herein lies the dilemma of many of the most powerful personal development strategies – they are so quick, easy and simple that UNLESS you suspend your disbelief, you simply won’t believe they will work for you and you will only prove yourself right.
And that would be wrong.
There are other important reasons to do this as well. I have done the impossible on a couple of occasions. What really helped was that I didn’t know at the time that it was supposedly impossible.
So I didn’t have to suspend disbelief, I got that for free. But I remembered the lesson.
Since then however, I have tried to remain open to the possibilities. This has really helped with my current role running a company that designs other people’s products for them. Since technology is constantly changing what was impossible last year (or even just commercially not feasible) is not possible and even profitable. If I just stick to what I know, then I will design based on the past and miss the new opportunities presented by the new trends of today.
Some examples of how this has played out in the past 2 years are:
– Australian made smart grid enabled power controller that has leapfrogged the international competition
– tracking solar system that produces electricity and hot water in a single unit and in 1/4 the surface area of a convention set of solar panels
– 2.5KW full sinewave motor controller running from a car battery
For some people, the above are still impossible.
Ray Keefe
Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd
Electronics Future Award winner 2011, Industrial Electronics
Electronics Future Award winner 2012, Environment, Network and Communications
Casey Professional Services Business of the Year 2012
Award Winning Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development
Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development