What is Holding You Back?

What ideas, thoughts or beliefs are holding you back? What should you be doing now that you aren't and why?

“There is no reason why anyone
would want a computer in their
home.”
Ken Olsen
Founder, Digital Equipment Corp.
1977

“This telephone has too many
shortcomings to be seriously
considered as a means of
communication. The device is
inherently of no value to us.”
Western Union internal memo
(1876)

“ I think there is a world market
for maybe five computers.”
Thomas Watson
Chairman, IBM
1943

A bit absurd now, aren't they?

If you wrote your beliefs out and looked back at them in a few years, what would they say to you and to others?

In today's business world, it is hard to fathom what can't be done.  If you aren't questioning your beliefs (beliefs, not values) when faced with possible opportunities, then you are missing out.  I remember several years ago, a company who started manufacturing big trash cans on wheels wanted to hire me.  Their key point of differentiation was that they were going to have trash trucks fitted with a mechanism that would dump these large rolling trash cans into the trash trucks making garbage pick-up more efficient.  I thought, NO WAY.  Why would anyone buy these large trash cans when, forever and a day, people have always used tin trash cans with tin lids.  AND, how costly would it be to fit trash trucks with these dumping mechanisms.

Needless to say, I learned a life lesson.  We currently have two of these large trash cans at our house and they are now the standard being used in the industry.