What if you adopted a new story?

Our aptitude for success begins with our beliefs about ourselves and our abilities. We remain at jobs we cringe at for pay that sucks, to fund a life of little fulfillment because we don’t think we’re worthy of anything better.

However, the tide changes when we silence demotivating thoughts and turn up the volume on the support around us.

Some folks in your life genuinely wish for your success. They’ve known since day one that you were built for more and need you to set that example they can follow. Others are ready to pay you for your business idea or connect you with referrals to amplify it further. Those are the voices and actions of people we must recall in adopting a new story to believe.

So much of my confidence can be traced back to the praise I earned for drawing portraits of my classmates in middle school rather than anyone who thought my work was whack, even though it probably was, ha!

This little act of simply putting pencil to paper to doodle some lines and not freaking out or hiding when people noticed impressed the kids and teachers. There was no timidness in my performance. I got lost in the sauce of telling stories through my pencil-game.

Imagine if I gave up honing my skills every time somebody said one of my drawings was lame. Firstly, that type of comment got rejected and ridiculed quickly by those in awe. Secondly and more importantly, I don’t remember this ever happening, even though I’m almost sure it did. The difference is that I turned up the volume on all that love around me and muted the naysayers to the point of non-existence without letting them get in the way of all my academic studies.

We must do fulfilling work that builds our confidence irrespective of any outsider’s opinion, good or bad. What matters first and foremost is what we believe about our own limits, skills, and heights. That boldness radiates outward like a beacon, signaling to others that there’s a lighthouse nearby.

People dig seeing other people doing their own thing like nobody’s watching. Support follows. So will doubters.

But your attention is like a radio station tuner. What if you changed that station from what hurts you and discourages you to the one playing your greatest hits? What if you then pumped up the volume? What if you played those songs on repeat? Would you then adopt a new story?