Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Being the Underdog
Earlier this week, Iceland shocked the world when they defeated England and eliminated them from the EURO 2016 tournament. They effectively gave England a comprehensive dose of what a Brexit really feels like with a 2–1 victory that saw England exit the tournament in the round of 16.
Just so you know, I am in no way attempting to discount the English national team, they have great players and at some point, they were even considered as one of the favourites to win the tournament this year. What I am highlighting is Iceland’s shocking feat as the clear underdogs. Going into the game, no one expected Iceland to outplay England but they did and the underdogs defeated the favourites.
This article is by no means a sports commentary, but as a sports fan, I enjoy expressing the relevance that sports has when used as an analogy to point out some important truths in business.
Today’s truth:
You shouldn’t worry about being the underdog.
Whether you’re the Iceland football team, an entrepreneur entering a new market or a marginalized minority in the workplace — You should never allow being the underdog to cause you to worry and not pursue your goals. Why? Because being the underdog allows you to:
· Push Yourself: The thing about being an underdog is that you have nothing to lose. When you have nothing to lose, you put everything you have into what you do because the only place you can go is up.
· Gain Strength: There are no two ways about it — being an underdog, you will fail at some point. What’s important is that you never lose sight of what you are working towards. The failures you will encounter will make you stronger. The key is to never give up.
· Gain confidence and self-belief: To succeed in anything, YOU must be YOUR biggest fan. This applies even more to the underdogs as doubt is already cast on your abilities by others. Once you’ve gain the strength from your experiences of failure, you will gain confidence by believing in yourself and your abilities and this is what will take you to where you want to go.
That being said, if you consider yourself to be an underdog, don’t worry because you actually have some advantages of your own!
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