bcg blog

A Chance to Believe

Being from St. Paris Graham, there’s a few things you are required to know: 1. What a Trucker’s Special at Mixin’s & Fixin’s is; 2. The difference between straw and hay; and 3. Wrestling. I’m well versed in all three. The Trucker’s Special is enough food for you to not eat for the next three days. Straw is yellow, hay is green. And, wrestling is a sport I’ve grown to truly appreciate - even as a basketball coach. The sacrifice and humility it requires is inspiring. And, it’s really cool when that sacrifice and humility meets an opportunity to believe.
Welcome to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Rulon Gardner walked onto the wrestling mat as a 2,000:1 underdog. 2,000:1! His opponent was Aleksandr Karelin, the most dominant wrestler in history. Karelin was a three-time Olympic gold medalist, had won 887 of 888 matches, hadn't been beaten in 13 years, and hadn't surrendered a single point in six years. Three years earlier Gardner was one of Karenlin’s casualties, losing miserably and breaking two vertebrae in his neck. Literally no one believed Gardner, who had never finished higher than fifth in international competition, had a chance.
A month before the Olympics, Gardner had been pinned by the number two Russian wrestler in 13 seconds. He wasn’t from wrestling royalty and didn't even make his high school wrestling team until his senior year. Gardner was a country kid from Wyoming who had developed his strength not through elite training programs but through twice-daily milking sessions and hauling countless bales of hay on his family's dairy farm. By every measurable standard, this was not a match. It was a hoop Karelin needed to jump through to claim his fourth consecutive gold medal.
But Gardner saw things differently. While the world saw an impossible challenge, he chose a different perspective. Against all odds, the farm boy from Wyoming held on for a 1-0 victory that shocked the world. Gardner said afterward, "All those people who told me I could never get here and get on this stage, I'm going to show them.” The challenge everyone else saw as impossible became the chance Gardner used to believe.

Why Should We Care?
A challenge, regardless of how daunting it may seem, is not an obstacle to overcome. It’s an invitation to believe. Most people look at challenges and see reasons to doubt, but leaders who pursue excellence have learned to flip their perspective. They see challenges as the very context that makes belief meaningful. After all, belief isn't required when success is guaranteed. It only matters when the outcome is uncertain. The greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity to demonstrate what belief can accomplish.
Belief is fascinating because of how it shapes our performance. Gardner didn't beat Karelin because he was physically superior. He won because he approached the match with a mindset that allowed him to compete at his highest level. Leaders who view challenges as chances to believe access potential that doubt-filled competitors never discover. They prepare more because they believe preparation matters and they persist longer because they believe persistence will be rewarded. The challenge doesn't change, but the mindset you approach it with changes everything about what becomes possible.
High achievers who struggle often do so because they've allowed challenges to become evidence for doubt rather than opportunities for belief. Individuals who learn to reframe challenges as invitations to believe find inspiration when they realize the size of the challenge is actually the size of the opportunity. When you embrace challenges as chances to believe, you stop being limited by circumstances and start being defined by conviction.
REAL TALK - Action Steps
Operating from a challenge and opportunity mindset requires deliberate practices that train our brain to see opportunity where others see obstacles. Here are a few ideas to get started:

• ‘I Will’ Statements 
  
  • Identify the biggest challenge you're currently facing. Write down all the reasons this challenge seems impossible. Then, write a single sentence that begins "I will overcome this because..." Find genuine reasons for belief. Your belief statement becomes the mental anchor you return to when doubt creeps in.
    

• Immediate Reframes
  
  • When you encounter a new difficulty or setback, train yourself to immediately say “What an opportunity!” The reframe doesn't ignore reality, it just shifts your relationship victim to reality. Note these reframes in a journal and review them regularly to strengthen the mental pattern.
    

• Build Evidence
  
  • Create a running document of times when you succeeded despite long odds, when belief proved more powerful than circumstances. When your brain tries to convince you that a challenge is too big, you'll have concrete evidence that challenges are exactly where belief does its most important work. Or, just watch a Rocky movie every week.
    

Every challenge you face is asking you the same question: Will you use this as evidence for doubt, or as an opportunity for belief? The circumstances don't determine the answer, your mindset does. 

Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here!