I came across something very interesting and inspiring today, and I wanted to share with you.

Did you know that for decades the greatest doctors and researchers believed that stomach ulcers, which eventually would become stomach cancers, were caused by stress, spicy foods, and acid in the stomach? In Australia, there was a physician and also microbiology researcher by the name of Barry Marshall. He did not believe that stressful life and spicy dinner would cause ulcers. He actually believed it was caused by a bacteria. This specific bacteria was called Helicobacter pylori.

Obviously, he could not prove it, so he and his partner decided to prove to the whole world that they were right. They had a grant. They were experimenting on pigs, but in no way they could make a connection between this bacteria and stomach ulcers. It came to be that they were running out of money, and he decided to take extreme measures. What did he do? He decided to take the experiment to the next level.

Basically, he tested it on himself. He took the drink of that bacteria and actually swallowed it and didn’t eat for the rest of the day. Three days later, he started to feel nauseous. Five days later, he started to vomit three days in a row. And while all this was happening, his partner was taking bacteria from his stomach lining and recording his physical condition. Basically, within short time, he developed a severe case of gastritis. And two weeks later of self imposed hell, he basically was able to prove with enough information that his theory was correct.

Obviously, luckily, thank G-d, he started to take antibiotics two weeks later, and within a month, when he fully recovered, they submitted the experiment and the results to the Medical Journal of Australia as a publication to show the whole world that actually that’s how it works.

So it was fascinating that they did prove the point. It got to the point where in 2005, both of them Barry Marshall and Robin Warren got a Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology.

Basically, why am I telling you this story? Why did I find it inspiring? In a previous video, I mentioned that I strongly believe that success is acquired through commitment, discipline, and consistency. But just that is not enough. If you see the commitment that Barry showed, he was willing to risk his own health and life to bring himself into the condition where he was creating a cancerous disease in his stomach to prove the point.

Obviously, nobody’s asking us to do that, but we should ask ourselves a question: He was willing to do that. What am I willing to do to achieve my success? Am I committed? Am I driven by emotion? Am I just interested in to get there where I need to get or I’m fully fully committed and I’m willing to do on a consistent basis whatever needs to be done to get there?