1. Is there any rational reason for such a belief?2. Could it be that I am mistaken in this belief?3. Would I come to the same conclusion about some other person in a similar situation?4. Why should I continue to act and feel as if this were true if there is no good reason to believe it?
Don't just pass these questions by casually. Wrestle with them. Think hard on them. Get emotional about them. Can you see that you have cheated yourself and sold your­self short—not because of a "fact"—but only because of some stupid belief? If so, try to arouse some indignation, or even anger. Indignation and anger can sometimes act as liberators from false ideas. Alfred Adler "got mad" at himself and at his teacher and was enabled to throw off a negative definition of himself. This experience is not un­common.
An old farmer said he quit tobacco for good one day when he discovered he had left his tobacco home and started to walk the two miles for it. On the way, he "saw" that he was being "used" in a humiliating way by a habit. He got mad, turned around, went back to the field, and never smoked again.
Clarence Darrow, the famous attorney, said his success started the day that he "got mad" when he attempted to secure a mortgage for $2,000 to buy a house. Just as the transaction was about to be completed, the lendor's w i f e spoke up and said, "Don't be a fool—he will never make enough money to pay it off." Darrow himself had had serious doubts about the same thing. But "something hap­pened" when he heard her remark. He became indignant both at the woman and at himself, and determined he would be a success.
A businessman friend of mine had a very similar ex­perience. A failure at 40, he continually worried about "how things would come out," about his own inadequa­cies, and whether or not he would be able to complete each business venture. Fearful and anxious, he was attempting to purchase some machinery on credit, when the man's wife objected. She did not believe he would ever be able to pay for it. At first his hopes were dashed. But then he became indignant. Who was he to be pushed around like that? Who was he to skulk through the world, continually fearful of failure? The experience awakened "something" within him—some "new self"—and at once he saw that this woman's remark, as well as his own opinions of him­self, were an affront to this "something."" He had no money, no credit, and no "way" to accomplish what he wanted. But he found a way—and within three years was more successful than he had ever dreamed of being—not in one business, but in three.