Earl Nightingale if my mind can conceive it, if my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it." (Muhammad Ali) "All dreams are within reach. All you have to do is keep moving towards them.” (Viola Davis) "Be stronger than you excuses." (Unknown) "To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities." (Bruce Lee) "The only place where your dreams become impossible is in your own thinking." (Robert H. Shuller) You read these sayings and you just think to yourself: No. To be able to do anything if you believe in it strongly enough - that was, is and will never be a reality for most people on this earth. For example, a woman can dream of getting hold of a managerial position.
But statistically, for the longest time, she had worse odds than someone just named Thomas or Michael. You can't even imagine that. And then we can tell ourselves mobile number list so often that we just have to believe in it hard enough. It is difficult for us to counter the Thomas cycle. Likewise, it will be more difficult to realize oneself if one has to contend with racist or ableist structures. Or with homophobia, violence or with xenophobic people amount of strength, which in turn is then lacking for self-realization. Just imagine how women in Iran read "Your only limit is your mind You would like to apologize collectively for all people who post something like this without thinking.
Therefore: No, we are not 100% responsible for our success and failure. Our background, circumstances and the political system into which we are born do play a role. We can work on our “wrong” mindset as often as we like. Yes, we can motivate or limit ourselves with our own thoughts, no question. ( And I myself am also in favor of powerful thoughts that strengthen us. ) But of course always within the framework of our individual, social, societal and political possibilities . And the fact that people still don't understand this in 2023 is really getting on our nerves.