If you’re like me, you grew up around friends that like to rag on each other. Maybe they’ll call you names and say you’re stupid, but it’s all in good fun. You do the same thing back to them. As long as its in a playful manner, there’s no harm done. As long as you believe in your own heart that they’re just playing around, you’re in the clear. When you start telling yourself those same things, that’s when the problem starts. It may start as a harmless razz to yourself, but that quickly spirals out of control. That playful little dig on yourself when you forget to go to the post office will turn into a bigger problem if you let it. The more you talk about yourself in a negative way, the more you start believing it.
Running Man
No matter how much other people try to build you up, you will never get better unless you believe you can. Belief drives results. For nearly all of human history, it was believed that it was impossible to run a mile in less than four minutes. Then Roger Bannister did it. After he proved it was possible, the floodgates opened. Now hundreds, if not thousands, of people have accomplished this feat.
Roger wasn’t the most gifted athlete on the planet. Despite being the first person on the planet to achieve this goal, he never won on the world’s biggest stage. The best he ever did was fourth in the Olympics. What he did have was a belief in himself. He set his goals past what was known to be possible, and he hit it. Without an unwavering confidence in his abilities, and a lot of hard work, he’d be just another runner who almost made it big.
When he was training, do you think Roger ever called himself an idiot? Do you think he told himself he couldn’t do it? No way. Nobody accomplishes incredible feats by believing they would fail.
You, too, can adopt this mindset. And your goal doesn’t have to be the world’s best at anything. Maybe your goal is to save $1,000 or to pay off your student loans. If you start with the belief that you can’t do it, you’ve already failed. Instead, change the way you view the situation. Change the way you view yourself. Give yourself permission to stumble and struggle. Roger sure did.
It won’t be an easy journey, but it all starts with the belief in yourself.
I can hear it now…
How many of you reading this are already making excuses?
“But I’m poor. I can’t become rich.” Bullshit.
“But I never went to college. I can’t get a good job.” Bullshit.
“But I’m black in America. I’ll never be able to get ahead.” Bullshit.
You’ll never succeed because you don’t believe you’ll succeed. If you believe that you will fail, you will. Trust me on that. Stop making excuses and put in the work.
Think you had it rough? Let’s hear the story of Halle Berry.
She grew up with an abusive father. He never laid a hand on her, but Berry’s mother would receive regular beatings. When she grew up and decided to be an actress, she moved to Chicago. She had a tough time getting recognized and her mom stopped sending her money. Berry had to make ends meet somehow so she started sleeping in the homeless shelter.
She did all this to make her dreams come true. She never stopped believing in herself and kept working towards her ultimate goal–becoming a famous actress. Years later, she went on to win an Oscar for Best Actress. She was the first woman of color to win the award.
Do you think she gave a shit about “the system”? Hell no. She kept driving towards her goal anyway.
Different strokes
Not everyone’s life is easy. I fully admit that I’m very fortunate in my life. Lots of people around me have struggled much more.
But some of those people that struggled more than me are way more successful than me, too. They didn’t give a shit about the system or their background or their race. They sucked it up, and put forward their best efforts anyway.
And some of those people that had an easier life than me have turned into utter failures. They refused to put in the work and make their lives better. They expected everything to be handed to them.
Newsflash: the world doesn’t care about you. How many homeless people are stepped over everyday without a second glance? Hundreds? Thousands? If you want something, you have to take it for yourself.
Conclusion
There’s always going to be 1,000 reasons not to do something. If the reason to do it is strong enough, the reasons not to don’t matter. To reach your goals, you need to believe in yourself first. Everyone has the power to make their dreams come true. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight, black, white, transgender, cisgender, man, woman, or dolphin.
I believe that you have the ability to reach your goals. Do you?
Thanks for reading!
Featured photo source: Chander R on Unsplash
[adinserter block=”1″]
[adinserter block=”2″]