A man was passing near the elephants,he suddenly stopped,confused by the fact that these huge animals are being held by only a single rope tied to their leg.No chains,no cages.It was obvious that the elephants could,at anytime,break from their bonds but they won't.
He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and make no attempt get away.
trainer replied"well,when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size of rope to tie them and at that age it's enough to hold them.As they grow up,they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away.They believe the rope can still hold them,so they never tie to break free."
The man was amazed.These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't,they were stuck right where they were.
Like the elephants,how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something,simply because we failed at it once before.
failure is part of learning;we should never give up our efforts and work.