The differences between you and those you admire most are little.
If you’re seven feet tall, you have a 1-in-7 chance of getting in the NBA. At six feet tall, your odds are almost zero. A seven-footer is only 17% taller.
Though you are not seven feet tall and will likely never play professional basketball,
You have greatness in you.
You play small because you’ve played small.
You can play big — like those you admire.
How does someone become rich? One 24-hour day at a time.
Most of the rich don’t have outlier IQ’s. (More outlier IQ’s work on research and academic problems than as entrepreneurs, the primary vocation of the super rich.)
You’re not using your potential.
Why?
Because someone once told you that you should play small, choose a safer career, that you’re not special.
Those who told you that were insecure — and someone once told them similar things.
You play small because others play small.
You’ve been beat up by life. Oprah said, “Going towards the light threatens others.”
Right once you’re about to break through to a greater life, to a greater calling, someone puts you down — your “lizard brain” survival instincts kick in, triggering your protective responses, and you shrink back into safety.
A psychologist once gave me a children’s book about Gladys the turtle.
Gladys and her turtle parents had no shells. They thought nothing of it.
Gladys then goes to school, and other turtles make fun of her for not having a shell.
She recoils in fear and insecurity. She makes a shell out of wood so large and heavy that she can’t walk. She feels safe, and miserable.
Eventually, she forms a secret club — a club in which turtles are free to be themselves. The only requirement: leave shells at the door.
Your shell is holding you back from greatness.
No matter your age, it’s time to show the world who you are.
What do you really, really want?
You can have it.
You are great.
Here’s how:
First, decide what you want. Ask yourself this from Steven Pressfield: What would you do if you knew you were going to die in three months? What would be the last thing you would do?
(More on this question in Lesson 2.)
I won’t fill you with suggestions or ideas. I want you to come up with your own. Be your true self, without the shell.
Imagine, at least for a moment, anything is possible. You won’t get rejected. You won’t feel fear.
What would you choose?
Go in that direction.
Second, once you’ve decided what you want, how will you get there?
It’s easier than you think. Find someone who has already done what you want to do, and do what they did. Even better, ask them for help. (Most will give it.)
What you want to do has been done by someone else. Find them. Study them. Discover the path they took. Chart your similar path.
Third, do it. The simplest to say; the hardest to do. Nike is mostly right.
Why is doing it — following the plan — hard?
Because you don’t believe in yourself. You don’t think you can do it. Others, maybe; you, never.
You’re wrong.
You can.
You have greatness within you. You just don’t see it yet.
I believe in you. Others believe in you, even if they don’t tell you.
You learned to walk as a child. Crawl, wobble, fall. Wobble, fall. Again and again. Over and over. You achieved greatness.
Adults forget the process.
They try once, then quit. “It’s too hard.” “I’m just not good at it.”
They really feel afraid, shameful, inadequate — because of their shell.
They forget, they’re great. Capabilities unused, potential unrealized, greatness within.
Imitate the child. Fall and get back up.
Accomplish anything.
Your life isn’t over — far from it.
Let the world see who you are. It’s waiting.