Dare to You
The question: How do I become that confident? Zlatan doesn’t just say that he is a great player, he doesn’t just say that he’s a winner, he believes it.
Manchester United (a small football team in the north of England) won the English Football League Cup competition over the weekend, thanks mostly to two goals and an impressive display from one Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Now, Zlatan is quite the character, noted for his dominant and powerful playing style, but mostly for his supreme confidence. To pen the stereotype, Zlatan only knows how to do Zlatan.
In his post-match interview Zlatan told the press, “This is what I came for, I came here to win, and I am winning….Where ever I’ve went, I’ve won.”
This is nothing new, in the past he’s coined some iconic quotes such as ”If they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me, then I will stay”, “I can’t help but laugh at how perfect I am”, and most memorably, “Zlatan doesn’t do auditions”.
Now what to take from this; “Who does he think he is?”
Rather, “How do I be him?”
To be more accurate, how do I become that confident? Zlatan doesn’t just say that he is a great player, he doesn’t just say that he’s a winner, he believes it. He truly and deeply believes that he is the person he thinks he is; the persona of exemplar that he portrays. And that’s powerful.
That belief is his driving force, it’s his mantra. The one thing that gets him out of bed in the morning is that one thought in his head, “I am the best.”
When you have that much belief in yourself, it can propel you to incredible heights (like winning the league with every club you’ve played with). But that belief isn’t what lead Ibrahimović to his accolades, it was the drive that belief gave him to work for his accolades. Zlatan is always depicted training, not showing off his skills; shown trying to hone his skills, and to prove to everyone (including him-self), that he is as great as he says he is.
To be our best selves we have to work hard towards our goals, we have to be willing to put in the hours to master our craft and our-selves. Developing an inner self-confidence, can be the driving force to help us along the journey of being our best selves.
In times where self-confidence is at a low, and insecurity is at a high, we could all channel our inner Zlatan; learn to love our selves, learn to believe in our-selves, and then work our hardest to make our inner mantra, our reality. Dare to Zlatan, Dare to You.
By Ola: @o14_Fisayo
