E-couragement: Reflect
“Sometimes you’ve got to believe in someone else’s belief in you until your belief kicks in.” Les Brown
With the sky dark and temperatures well below freezing, I weave along Highway 220 South from Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia towards home in North Carolina. An hour after departing my boisterous family holiday gathering, I should be driving more slowly and more vigilantly, watching for the ever-elusive black ice. Instead, embracing the silence and solitude, I reflect back over 2010 and consider all those who have left their fingerprints on me and on EXTRAordinary! Inc. The images of clients, mentors, colleagues, and daughters immediately materialize as those who’ve impacted my success and supported my movement. Yet one face lingers longer than the rest—the one person who has fashioned a most extraordinary impression upon me.
Recently, we conducted the EXTRAordinary! Inc. 2011 strategy meeting with my partner-vendors Rod Clayton, Carla Mata-Sprinkles, and Jerome Daley. While discussing action steps for public speaking, my wife Ivy spoke up, “I don’t think Rich realizes how good he is. I’ve watched him. I appreciate these goals for him to improve and work with a speaking coach. At the same time, it’s important that he recognize the talent he already has.” In that moment, lingering doubts I’d been harboring subsided as Ivy reminded me of the vision I held for myself. I was able to embrace her belief in me.
The best way to describe Ivy’s impact on my life is to borrow Les Brown’s quote, “Sometimes you’ve got to believe in someone else’s belief in you until your belief kicks in.” I’m the person I am, doing the things I’m designed to do, because she often believes in me well before my own belief kicks in. She doesn’t simply believe—she speaks those beliefs into me. When I’m doubtful or wavering from my vision, she’s there handing me the courage necessary to move forward.
Who are the people that have propped up your confidence? Who has seen something in you before you had the courage to see it yourself? What are you doing now because someone else knew you could do it before you were ready to imagine it? None of us got to where we are by ourselves. Now is the perfect time to reflect and recognize those extraordinary people. Here’s to an amazing 2011 and the exciting things you’ll accomplish as your own belief kicks in! Peace.