Today I had the opportunity to meet some amazing young black professional entrepreneurs who are living and thriving in Costa Rica. As we sat around the table exchanging our thoughts on living abroad I started to wonder why are others not doing this.

I remember when we first shared with friends and family that we were retiring and making the move to the CR the response was, “How is that possible?” My response back was always you can do it too with a plan of action.

This got me thinking about how people’s limiting beliefs are holding them back – chained elephant syndrome. Let’s look into how circus elephants are trained. A small rope is tied around the neck of a baby elephant and then to a secure stake in the ground. The baby elephants naturally try to walk away and are stopped by the rope. They pull and twist and eventually figure out that they just aren’t strong enough to break free of their shackles, so they stop resisting and just stay where they are. This happens over and over until eventually, when the rope is put over their heads, they no longer try to break free because they know it is futile.

The elephant becomes so accustomed to being held back by the rope, that merely the rope itself keeps the animal in check. If only they knew that by the time they have grown up, even a rope “secured” to a pole can no longer contain them.

Sad to say people are no different. The chains that hold us back are all in our minds. If we just changed our mindset we could break free to live the lives we were destined to live and not the ones designed by fate.