In Breaking Bad, while talking to Walt, Saul explains how if you are committed enough, you can make any story work. He then says, “I once told a woman I was Kevin Costner, and it worked because I believed it.”
I’ve written extensively about how what we believe, both consciously and subconsciously, deeply influences us. There is a lot of truth in what Saul says. If you convince yourself of something, you will believe it. Even if it isn’t true.
This got me thinking back to a new story I read early last year. This 9-year-old boy from Brazil, boarded an airplane alone without a ticket or going through security. He travelled over 1,500 miles across the country before anyone noticed. How did this happen?
After googling “how to get on a plane unnoticed”, the boy snuck out of his house and headed to the airport. Where was he going? Turns out he wasn’t running away. He just really wanted to visit family living in another part of the country.
You can read the story in full here.
What can we learn from this?
1. There is no real security at the airport (only Zuul). But we knew it was just theater, precious. Yes, yes, yes!
And
2. This kid believed it was possible to do this, so he did. He googled it and gave it a shot. And it worked.
He wasn’t accompanied by anyone, didn’t have a ticket and didn’t have any luggage, either. And no one asked any questions until this kid was on the other side of the country after he was reported missing by his family.
Not only did he believe he could pull it off, but all the people he encountered on his journey believed this unaccompanied 9-year-old was where he was supposed to be. Maybe they just didn’t want to believe he was travelling solo.
What I love about this story is that it highlights that children are more apt to believe that these things can be done, when most adults don’t. Children aren’t constrained by the same filters and reasoning that adult possess about why something won’t work.
And sometimes that is a good thing. But it can also prevent us from seeing incredible possibilities and opportunities simply because we don’t believe they are possible.
