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Sometimes we wonder why a certain team or individual will have success at some endeavor when they don't appear to have the qualities that most think is necessary for success. A certain student makes all A's, a football team wins a game against a superior opponent or a business has great success despite a down turn in the economy. Many times we are successful because we believe we can do it. We refuse to listen to the naysayers and other people that tend to drag us down. Most of the football teams I have had over the past few years could have accomplished more if they had believed more. In the movie Rudy (the story of a walk on football player at Notre Dame who defied all odds to become part of the team) Rudy says, "All my life people have been telling me what I couldn't do. I have decided not to listen to them anymore." It was the first piece of the puzzle he solved on his way to his dream.
Sooner or later to be successful you have to believe in yourself. That confidence comes from experience. The reason you believe you can catch the football is because you have spent so much time practicing it. A doctor can help cure your illness because he went to school for years to learn about that illness and what medicine to prescribe to make you better. Whatever you spend your time doing you will probably be good at doing. You believe you can do it because you have already done it many times before. When you get started you have to believe you are going to get it done. If you don't reallybelieve, it just doesn't ever seem to happen. Belief is a very overlooked quality but a very important part of success.
Tonight Ben Raulerson, Chris Lloyd and Brian Beckham spoke to our team. They were all important parts of our 2000 State Championship team. That team was successful because they believed in their coaches, their teammates and themselves. They recognized that other teams were more physically talented but they didn't care. They believed that if they stayed in the game they would find a way to win in the fourth quarter. Belief in one self and the others you work with is an incredibly powerful thing.
My son Wil has a black lab named Riley. Ever since he was about 6 months old when Riley would enter the backyard he would see a squirrel and chase it. Everyday he chased squirrels. He would chase them over the fence and up the trees. He would be in his pen and the squirrels would know it. They would run along the fence and tease him. As soon as I let him out, he would chase them as fast as he could. Everyday he would chase the squirrels. Despite his best effort he wasn't quite fast enough to get one. He is now almost two years old. He is really fast. Everyday I let him in the back yard, he chases the squirrels. Now this is important to understand. He has been chasing squirrels for a year and a half. He has been wide open every day. He has never caught one. But he chases them as fast as he can each day anyway. Why? Doesn't he get it? Doesn't he know that the squirrel will always be one step faster?
There are three important things for you to understand about Riley and squirrel chasing. 1) He believes that he is going to catch the squirrel. Riley sees himself as being successful. In his mind, he knows that one day he will taste that squirrel. 2) He knows that the only chance he has to catch the squirrel is to try as hard as he can each time. Anything less will than his best will not allow him to accomplish his goal. 3) TODAY may be the day!! So I must run hard today!
Yes we could accomplish much more if we just believed!
