General Napoleon famously said that, “Men will die for ribbons.” What does this mean?
It means that there’s a lot more going on that most of us realize. What Napoleon was tapping into was the ancient need for social recognition.
There’s a reason that “home field advantage” factors in when Las Vegas oddsmakers are trying to estimate who’s going to win the game, and by how much.
In American Football, home field advantage is worth at least one touchdown. So if you’re evenly matched with the other team, just by showing up on their own turf, you’re already down six points.
Now, most of us can understand this. Well, maybe not understand this, but “get it.” If you’ve got tons of raving fans cheering for your success, you’re going to be able to dig deep and perform a lot better.
Similarly, if you feel that everybody is against you, you might not do so well. Or at least as well as you could have.
The truth is that there’s plenty of these unconscious triggers that will spur us to action, or get us building our own imaginary road blocks that will keep us from getting what we want.
A lot of this is based on our beliefs, and has nothing to do with reality.
For example, I’m sure you’ve heard the famous phrase:
“If you think things will be difficult, they will be. If you think they’ll be easy, they will be. Either way, you’re right.”
Another way of stating this is what the “thinker thinks, the prover proves.”
Meaning that part of your brain is in charge of coming up with beliefs and ideas of how you perceive the world. Then another part of your brain is responsible for finding evidence that you’re right.
Ask anybody who has any kind of extreme political belief (either to the right or to the left). They’ll tell you that they’re right, and the other side is wrong.
They’ve chosen a belief system, and they only find things that verify their belief system.
Just like you can hypnotize somebody to forget the number four when they count to ten, we can hypnotize ourselves to ignore things that contradict our closely held beliefs.
But they are just beliefs. They aren’t reality.
Just think of some of the things you used to believe, that you don’t believe any more.
And while you’re thinking of how you don’t believe them any more, think of all the people that STILL believe them.
Despite what most people desperately WANT to believe, the human mind is far from logical.
We are filled with triggers, blind spots and automatic responses. If you don’t understand what they are, and how they operate, you’re going to be at a disadvantage.
However, by understanding them, you’ll be amazed what you can see.
Check them out here: