You Can Become Anything You Want, If You Do This
by Danny Forest
1. Did You Know that Rubbing Your Toes Makes You Smarter?
1.1. My grandmother told me: if I rubbed my toes right before bed, I would be smarter the next day.
1.2. I rubbed my toes every single night for nearly a decade after that.
1.3. I did very well in school, and I believed it was because of this ritual
2. The Truth
2.1. When I went to see my grandmother for the last time, I rubbed her toes
2.2. She said, “I have no idea if that is true. I only told you that so you would go to sleep.”
2.3. I was amazed. Slightly shocked. But we laughed together.
2.4. Did rubbing my toes every night make me smarter?
2.5. I wrote this article to ask the questions — not to tell you the answers. But I will say this: how you answer that question is important.
3. You Are Not Simply a Product of Your Past
3.1. When sports teams study their opponents, they look at the film from prior games. Because it works.
3.2. In general, most people tend to do what they have always done. But it does not need to be that way.
3.3. Even better sports team study their own film. They look at the past and know this: the film from the past is not the future.
3.4. Our past does not have to dictate our future.
4. Can Your Thoughts Make You Taller?
4.1. Your height depends on a number of factors like your genes, diet etc.
4.2. But what about your mind? What about your beliefs? Can your thoughts make you taller?
4.2.1. Michael Jordan is at least 6’6” tall.
4.2.2. His parents were no taller than 5’9” and 5’5”.
4.2.3. His siblings were under six feet.
4.2.4. In one summer, after he famously did not make the varsity basketball team, he grew over four inches.
4.2.5. Do you think that Michael Jordan grew because of his biology, or because he had to grow — he needed to be tall?
4.2.6. Did Michael Jordan will himself to grow so he could be better at basketball?
4.2.7. Does it even matter what you think? Or just what he thought at the time?