A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains. All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs.

As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead they didn’t try to at all.

Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.

The trainer replied,“When they are very young and much smaller we use the same rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was because over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.

Moral of the story: No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can become successful is the most important step in actually achieving it.

For some, being open-minded is as easy as breathing. For most others, it’s a challenge- something they have to think about constantly and make a continual effort to keep and obtain. My favorite people to talk to are those who can make you see the world differently.

It is easy to expand on an idea that is familiar to you, it’s tougher to chase with the same zeal an idea that can seem opposed from your views. Poke holes in the things you believe in and entertain the things you don’t. This will help you have a better understanding of why other people think the things they do. Chances are it won’t change your mind but what it will do is give you the option to.  I’m not telling you how to think, I’m asking you if you want to.

Here's an inspiring artist for you all on this fine Thursday!

Jessica Hische is a hand lettering artist/typographer/graphic designer who has done work for clients such as Wes Anderson, Dave Eggers, Penguin Books, The New York Times, Tiffany & Co., OXFAM America, McSweeney’s, American Express, Target, Victoria’s Secret, Chronicle Books, Nike, MailChimp, and Samsung, among others. She's made the Forbes 30 under 30 list (twice), and has been named Print New Visual Artist, ADC Young Gun, and GDUSA Person to Watch. Needless to say, she knows what she's doing and she's got it goin' on.

One of the cool things about Jessica (aside from how talented she is) is her work ethic. The body of work that she's created in her career is immense. She's incredibly hard-working and is always creating. When she left her job to start her own business, she illustrated a "Drop Cap a Day" (a drop cap is a decorative element typically used in documents at the start of a section or chapter. It's a large capital letter at the beginning or a paragraph or text block that has the depth of two or more lines of normal text.) But she didn't just go through the alphabet once or twice, like most people would. She went through it 12 times! She's incredibly inventive and dedicated and is continually creating awesome work. Aside from that, she's refreshingly honest and transparent and just an all-around cool human being and I'm always inspired by her.

If you're interested in her work, you can check some of it out here.