In Business Since 1986
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What Can You Learn From This Rat Test?

A small brown mouse swimming gracefully through clear water with a green blurred background.

In the 1950s, Dr. Curt Richter from Harvard University conducted a BRUTAL study to test how long rats could tread water before they gave up and died.

On average, it was only 15 minutes before they gave up.

But right when they started to sink due to exhaustion, he lifted them from the water and let them dry off while giving them some brief moments to recover. Then, back into the pool goes our poor rat, who just swam until he started to drown not that long ago!

How much longer do you think this second round lasted?

Another 5 minutes? Maybe 10 minutes at most!?

No way – 60 HOURS!!!

Dr. Richter believed that the rats felt no hope on the first trial. But, they believed they would eventually be rescued if they kept going on the second trial. Because of that, they could push themselves beyond what seemed possible.

Now, how does this apply to you?

People who really succeed know that they will, no matter what. That belief is so strong that no matter what obstacles are placed before them, they smash through them. They believe they cannot fail.

People who start a business and then quit are like the first trial of rats. When it gets too hard, they lose hope and quit.

Those who succeed are like the second trial. Successful people know that if they keep on keeping on, they will accomplish what they set out to.

Does this make sense to you?

This also relates to another post I made here.

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Michael Gravette is the founder of Safety Technology, a company that specializes in providing non-lethal self-defense devices. He is an Air Force veteran, serving in Vietnam in 1969 at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. He started this business in 1986 with just one product, stun guns, operating from his home. Over the years, Safety Technology has grown to become one of the largest drop ship wholesalers of self-defense products in the country; offering a wide range of items including stun guns, pepper sprays, personal alarms, hidden cameras, and knives.

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