When our leader exposes us to successful people, it not only inculcates certain values, it also convinces us that if they can achieve, so can we. Seeing another succeed somehow inspires us to succeed. For nine years the record for the mile hovered just above four minutes. As early as 1945, Gunder Haegg had approached the barrier with a time of 4:01.4. But many people said that the limits of physical capacity had been reached and that it was impossible to break that barrier. Then in 1954 Roger Bannister broke the tape at 3:59.4. And what was the result? As soon as the myth of the impossible barrier was dispelled, the four-minute mile was attacked and pierced by many with apparent ease. In almost no time the four-minute achievement was bettered 66 times by 26 different men! If one dismisses this as merely the power of competition, an important motivational point will be missed. There was just as much competition before the four-minute mile was broken. What the succeeding runners discovered from Bannister was that it could be done. An achievement previously thought impossible was not accessible, and the concrete evidence that success was within reach inspired them on to better and better records.