
I Don’t Believe Me
When Aubrey Marcus was asked if he believed his company (Onnit) would be the size that it is today he always felt as though it were a trick question because, he says, if he didn’t have the belief, then he wouldn’t have gone through all of the blood, sweat, and tears it took to make the business the success that it is today.
The question may be tricky, but so too is his answer…
Sure, there are those few who have a “birthed belief-” the anomalies who say they kneeeeeww they were going to be a success. But what about those of us who didn’t know. What about the masses of the you’s and me’s who needed that someone to believe in me for me.
We’ve either heard, read, or we’re personally living our stories of adopted belief. The grandmother who lived in a window unit shotgun house yet somehow managed to scrape together enough money to send you to summer camp each year; the uncle (who really wasn’t any relation) who took you under his wing and taught you how to be mechanically inclined; the 5th grade English teacher who insisted that you could do more, be more and that your current location had nothing to do with your future destination; or the hard ass 9th grade coach who always seemed to single you out for punishment, yet cried and embraced you when you signed your full scholarship.
They adopted a belief in us when we were too weak to believe in ourselves. When it felt as if the world was kicking you out, it was him, her, or them who took you in. When all you could recall was problems, they saw your unmined potential. They took stock in you, when you were unable to take inventory of yourself. It was the whispers of guidance, winks of encouragement, and wisps of lofty expectations that made you push against the lures of complacency. When you wanted to give up, give in, and turn back, it was the faces of those who’d invested so much staring back at you that caused you to push forth and press on to see the manifestation of what was once only a dream.
The rub to life is that in vowing to not let them down, you learned how to not let yourself down in the process. What was once adopted by others is now owned by you… a belief in you by you.
And now you need to thank them.
Sure, the special dinners, materialed thank you’s, and appreciative shout outs are all important, but paying it forward bears significance.
It’s now your turn to find someone to adopt and invest your belief in them. All is takes is an awareness.
Someone could be in 11th hour of quitting and it may be your wink, nudge, words of encouragement, forsight, & mentorship that restores their strength, gets them back on track, and bring their dreams into hard fought, worthy realities.
As it is written, do it for others what’s been done for you. As it is implied, do for others even when it wasn’t done for you. Ripples of belief cause waves of change.
I’ll see you on the Blacktop!
