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I love the story of Roger Bannister. He was a runner that ended up becoming famous. You see, for the centuries that track and field records had been kept, nobody had ever run a mile in four minutes. It was deemed impossible for a human to run so fast for such a distance. It was an obstacle that no person could overcome. That was, until May 6th, 1954. Roger Bannister had resolved to be the first person to run a mile in four minutes, and on that day, he ran a mile in three minutes and fifty-nine seconds, breaking through barriers that had stood for centuries.
However, the truly incredible part of this story is that his record lasted for only forty-six days. Moreover, within the following ten years, 336 other runners had also broken the four-minute mile record.
How could it be that no human could run a four-minute mile for centuries, and then suddenly, over 300 people can do it within ten years? The answer lies in the fact that the barrier was not a physical one—it was a mental one. It existed only in the minds of runners, and it crumbled as soon as Mr. Bannister proved that it could be done.
Often, our own barriers do not exist outside of us but within us.