“Whatever the Mind of man can Conceive and Believe, it can Achieve!” Napoleon Hill
As someone who has been an entrepreneur in different industries most of his life and continues to be one, I had some tremendous successes and but many, many more rejections. In times of failure, I’ve always believed that I could overcome the obstacles and achieve my goals.
Our belief can come true when we ‘Articulate the Narrative’ and ‘Deliver the Message’ that makes our listeners take an action. As Maya Angelou said, “If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy (or belief) can totally transform one million realities.”
You have to believe in yourself and if you don’t, I promise you there are ways to make you a believer.
After so many “No’s,” I got inspired. Each rejection made me look for a different solution…and made me stronger. Maybe it was to let those players who didn’t believe in me say, I should have believed in that guy.
People don’t achieve because they lack self-belief. I know, as I have a great interest in neurology and the incredible chemicals in the brain that can rule us unless we rule them. The mind is such a powerful instrument as it controls our days and our destiny.
Many human beings don’t believe and retreat: going one step forward and two steps back. It’s my belief that you have to go out of your comfort zone and overcome your fears to take your belief and execute it and thus get a result, or at least try.
Last night on Netflix, I had the privilege of watching a documentary on Brian De Palma, the great director who did Scarface, The Untouchables, Mission Impossible (1996), Dressed to Kill, and a movie called Carrie with Sissy Spacek. The executives at the studio didn’t want De Palma as the director or Sissy Spacek as the lead. However, if you know what influences someone, you know how to influence them: De Palma believed he deserved the job and finally got it.
I bring up Carrie because everyone said that the movie and actors will never win an award (it happened to be nominated for 10 awards with Sissy Spacek nominated for Best Actress) especially since they were going against the great Sylvester Stallone movie that you all know — Rocky!
It brought to my mind one of the great motivators to me as a very young man. Many of you may have heard the story but it shows again if you conceive and believe you can achieve…big time!
Sylvester Stallone was a struggling actor. Broke. It got so bad that he even ended up homeless sleeping at a New York City bus station for a few days with his pregnant wife. Unable to pay the rent or afford food he came to his lowest point. He didn’t have money to pay for dog food. He decided he would have to sell his beloved dog, Butkus. He went to the liquor story and tried to sell his beloved dog but nobody wanted him. Finally, someone was willing to pay $25 dollars and he walked away crying.
Two weeks later, he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and he got inspired to write the script to be a movie. He wrote the script in a little over 3 days. He tried to sell it to the studios and got an offer for $125,000 for the script. But he had just one request: he wanted to star in the movie. Rocky himself. But the studio said no. They wanted a real star.
They said Stallone “looked funny and talked funny.” He left with his script. Completely broke and desperate… but he believed in himself! A few weeks later, the studio offered him $250,000 for the script. He refused. They even offered $350,000. He still refused. They wanted his movie. But not him. He said no. He had to be in that movie.
After a while, the studio agreed, gave him $35,000 for the script and let him star in it. The rest is history! The movie won Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing at the prestigious Oscar Awards. He was even nominated for best actor! The movie Rocky was even inducted into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever!
And do you know the first thing he bought with the $35,000? Butkus, the dog he sold. He stood at the liquor store for 3 days straight waiting for the man he sold his dog to earlier. And on the 3rd day, he saw the man coming with the dog. Stallone explained why he sold the dog and begged for the dog back. The man refused. Stallone offered him $100. The man refused. He offered him $500. And the guy refused. Yes, he refused even $1000. And, believe it or not, Stallone had to pay $15,000 for the same dog he sold for only $25. Stallone said, Butkus was “the one living thing that truly loved me for who I was!” And he finally got his dog back!
The film was shot in 28 days on a shoestring $1 million budget, and now, with critics split down the middle with some raving and other deploring, and United Artists predicting Rocky would gross approximately $200 million, Stallone is finally smiling for two reasons: Butkus starred in the movie with him and Sylvester Stallone got 10% of the film’s gross revenues. That’s a lot of money.
I truly believe seeing my colleagues succeed with many difficult obstacles to overcome, both emotionally and physically, that anyone can achieve their goals. If you feel you are lacking something that doesn’t allow you to believe in yourself, seek help. I promise you there is an answer to reaching your dream and reach your desired destiny.
I have seen it over and over in my career that someone’s “no” is just an opportunity for you to find the right “yes.” Don’t spend 10 minutes on the past but 600 seconds on the solution.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Have a Powerful day!
Best,
Craig P. Stone
Photo by Attentie from Unsplash
