Sometimes it's what you don't know that will get you what you want. Take the case of Cliff Young, once an Australian potato farmer. Cliff liked to run and no one else around him did so, when he heard about a six day, 600 mile ultra-marathon scheduled in Sydney, Cliff, 61 years old at the time thought, this was a chance to run with others who like to run.
When Cliff showed up for the start of the race in overalls and leather work boots the 'real' competitors laughed. Have you ever ran a marathon old man? Cliff had not run a marathon but he had chased his farm animals for days on end and as he figured it he must have chased a whole lot of miles.
Here's what Cliff did not know about the race: you were supposed to run 18 hours per day and then sleep. So, Cliff just kept running and running. He ran continuously for 5 days straight and when he reached the finish line first, he broke the record by 12 hours! What Cliff didn't know is what won him the race. He did not even know there was a $100,000 first-place price. When the organizers handed him the booty he divided it up and gave his winnings to the other runners.
If you believe it to be true than it's true. If you believe you're a success than you are successful. What you don't know might just help you get to your finish line. The smartest characters in Shakespeare's plays were the fools.
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