Forget the influencers, you are the strongest influence on yourself there is
Author: Daniel J Bockman
The main idea
Trust Yourself First
I love studying animals and sports icons when it comes to concepts of mental toughness and being successful. Animals such as predators and racehorses are so primitive and instinctual for not only their survival but, in their domination. Sports icons such as Kobe, Michael, Brady, Tiger, and Mayweather’s domination is also instinctual in that they are used to being bad asses by nature of their work. A sports icon will just tell you right to your face how they feel about you completely unfiltered. Like the animal kingdom, sports icons are totally desensitized to harsh criticism and blame.
This is why I generally do not follow or study business icons such as Mark Cubin, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk. They too are iron fisted leaders demanding nothing but perfection from their operations but because they are now in the public spotlight, they tend to put on a more democratic or sensitive front. I find it inauthentic. Their influence is in action only.
Take the lion on the Savana. He’s not the biggest, he’s not the fastest, and he not the smartest. Yet, he’s the King. You can put the lion in a cage for the public to admire. You keep him feed, comfortable, and with no worries in the world and he will just lie down, be lazy and worthless. He has no fight to get out of the cage and he submits to human will because he doesn’t have to work to survive. And again, this is what we consider the King. Sitting there fat, happy, and content completely packed full of savage instincts that do virtually nothing. But let him out of that cage and he will show you just what he’s made of!
Why does the lion get to keep his Kingship when he actually lacks so much in what it takes to be the King? The answer- Because he doesn’t know he not supposed to be! He wears the crown and doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks of it or thinks of his behavior. He’s completely self-influenced.
I once listened to Kobe Bryant being interviewed by Patrick Bet David. Kobe was asked how he became so great at such a young age. Kobe said, “I already knew I supposed to be great at this. All I had to do was work to get there.” What Kobe was saying is that in his mind, he was predisposed to greatness in basketball long before he was one of the greatest. He looked at it like he was anointed by God to be who he was so all he had to do was fulfill that destiny. Whether he was truly anointed by God to be one of the greatest or not actually doesn’t matter. He believed it! After all, wasn’t it God who gave him the love of the game?
You could fill a library with stories just like Kobe’s. The greatest Icons of our time just don’t know that it’s possible to be average. Their brains just do not function on the average and mediocre channels of life. Even the biggest names in business and the A-listers in entertainment just do not think in terms of the ordinary. These people just do not recognize social compression chambers of the average, ordinary population. Their minds are autodidact (self-taught) and thirst for the way they learn on their own.
Like the lion, they have influenced themselves into greatness. We all look at these big names in business, sports and entertainment and it’s easy to think they were just lucky or were born with incredible talents. Believe me, people who are not successful are the only ones keeping that misconception alive today. In fact, most all of these people who are extremely successful are telling you it’s not talent and inborn giftedness that got them there. Just listen to the words of hip-hop artist. I am willing to bet most kids know every word to Eminem’s song “Lose yourself” but have never really listened to what is being said in the song or have an inclination to be inspired by it. Or… even try to apply it to their own life.
The self-inflicted success influence sets in and creates hyper levels of self-confidence. The kind of confidence that in turn, creates fear immunity. They end up only trusting themselves because the only thing they fear is that having help from someone else will only slow them down. The single most significant thing that hold most people back from realizing greatness is their fear of failing at it. And they are right, they will fail at it! In fact, they will fail at it so badly that the vast majority will eventually give up. But the icons have an immunity to the fear because their self-confidence is so high. Those who have achieve virtually nothing in their lives have classified this level of confidence as narcissism and grandiose nowadays.
The self-influence of the successful is so strong that a person who has only achieved a mere existence in their own life cannot be taken with any level of significance. I know that sounds harsh, but how can you compare someone who knows no fear to someone who’s entire life is driven and influenced by it? Basically, there is so much opportunity and so much freely published unlimited information in the world today that being unsuccessful is now looked at as a choice. It’s just been done too many times now. And done by people who were not supposed to be successful according to the traditional vehicles of success to be considered valid.
Influencing yourself for success starts with having a belief in it. I know, you’ve heard that hundreds of times and it’s so basic. But the fundamentals in any game are the root to all success. Jesus had 12 disciples that believe in his word. After his crucifixion, these disciple were questioned by the Romans where to find the remaining agitators. They answered with joy on their faces, and in the face of their own death, “They’re everywhere!” That my friends is true belief! The idea of Christianity is over 2000 years old. No amount of science or atheism has ever been able to undermine it in that time. Believe me, belief is the catalyst to all things that have ever been successful!
Gandhi moved millions of people in the same direction with only the wave of his hand, the robe on his back, and some grain in his pocket. You have to have something to believe in to self-influence. Find a way to create your beliefs to be so strong that your self-confidence cannot be measured anymore. Once your confidence is off the charts, become immune to the fear.
We all want life to be easy. We work for the modern conveniences and a lifestyle void of pressure and stress but would rather success come to us, vs going out and getting it. We were taught to follow the rules and conduct ourselves in a democratic way. We believe all people want what any reasonable person would want. We think that success is a process that must be curated over time and in a manner befitting of the sophisticated good citizen only to come up short of our dreams.
In 2021, belief is a real paradox. The rules seem to have changed and now belief has become a weapon. To believe or not believe is now the line in the sand of our socioeconomic existence. The, “you are with us or you are against us” is a real thing especially today. But this is not a new concept. I think you will find that belief has always been the weapon of choice by overlord and conquerors of the past. Wars have been fought since antiquity over beliefs and in the way people think. In fact, belief is virtually the only thing wars are fought over. While God-given freedom is arguably the most dangerous concept in worldwide human history, belief is the axis in which that danger revolves on. Humans kill other humans for only the reasons of belief. That’s how strong belief is!
But remember, a true man of power invites conflict. He no longer fears it. Conviction becomes much stronger than his fear of virtually anything. Failure, losing money, loss of credibility, even death itself gets laughed at for no other reason than the self-influenced person’s immunity to the fears of it.
Wear the crown. Do the work. Believe in something. And create your own influence. King Charles I of Great Britain, 1625 to 1649, believed he was anointed by God to be the King. It was his divine right to be the king and ruler and he was doing God’s work. Charles lived and breathed the notion that the Kings powers were bestowed upon him by God. After all, wasn’t it God that made him King in the first place?
Your will is God’s will. You are then God-like in your achievements. While the concept of the royals is a vestige of days gone by, you can still think and believe like a King in our modern democratic age. Self-influence your mind to be successful, believe in something, and be completely immune to your fears.
