The Fuel of Belief

What do you believe is possible?

How often do you stop yourself because you don’t believe you have the right (fill in the blank) credentials, degrees, confidence, body, financial stability, etc. etc.

We do this until we realize that what stops us is our belief that something that seems impossible really is possible. Then, we might procrastinate even longer because we don’t realize how valuable it is to practice even when we fall on our faces.

The movie, The Last Dance describes Jordan’s bumpy first starts.

It’s hard to imagine that Michael Jordan failed to make the basketball team in 10th grade. He could have given up then but his parents helped him understand that just because he was tall, it didn’t mean that he would automatically qualify. He was told to use his summer to practice so he made sure he was ready for tryouts in the fall.

When he made the team in the fall, it may have given him the confidence to want to take himself further. That confidence grew as he became more and more skilled at his craft.

One thing builds on another but we so often don’t have enough belief to even make one attempt at trying something out. We assume we have to get something right the first time and if we don’t, we have failed and we quit.

We look around us and compare ourselves to those around us who are better looking, fitter, smarter, funnier, most successful, richer, etc. Our perception is skewed.

A friend was looking through an album of pictures of herself at a younger age. She said: “I always thought I was fat, but looking back I was actually quite slim.”

I’m not sure why, but our society tends to look at what is wrong rather than what is right. We do that in our personal lives too. Our perceptions that seemed so correct at the time, turn out to be skewed.

We all have gifts and we thrive when we use them.

Sometimes friends, teachers, mentors, or parents point these out – often it’s friends who mention something in passing. We don’t always pay attention at first. Our real friends, the persistent ones who want us to hear them, will nudge us- gently or otherwise, until, at last, we hear them and start considering the possibility into which they invite us.

We chicken out at an idea presented, not giving a moment of time to even consider it because it is daunting, feels too difficult, or seems way beyond our reach.

We refuse to realize that the magic lies in the risk we take to explore what might be possible.

If we can get ourselves to believe in a possibility — even a tiny one, then be willing to be open to exploring it and practicing whatever it is without harsh judgment, we will discover things we never imagined.

If you wonder how to discover what’s possible for you, make a list of the things you fear. It’s a great place to start exploring. Then, pick one thing and list 3-5 things you could do in that one area.

Next, raise your awareness of your thinking, especially around your assumptions. Make notes about the things that might have held you back the past. Pick one area of action and choose several ways to express yourself. Then get into action.

Action creates confidence and is the barometer of what works. The practice is the discipline that perfects the process.