After a satisfying lunch at noon today, I thought I could take a nap. I tried to fall asleep, but my mind kept urging me to pick up the phone and check what’s new. So, I decided to scroll through Netflix for a change, to see if any new movies had been released that were worth watching. I stumbled upon “King Richard,” and I vaguely remembered that Will Smith had won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in this movie. It etched into my memory even more because of the whole Will Smith-Chris Rock fiasco. I’m very fond of the biography genre, so I decided to give it a try. Don’t worry; I’m not going to give a movie review here. Instead, I want to emphasise certain ideals portrayed in the movie that resonated with me the most.
Will Smith, undoubtedly a great actor and one of my favorites. When I think of him, a couple of things come to mind, like his portrayal of Chris Gardner in “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which is my all-time favorite and my go-to inspiration when I hit rock bottom. Another is a snippet of him saying, “You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say, ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.’ You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.’ You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.” Now you might have an idea where I’m going with this.
Richard Williams reminding young Serena and young Venus of a quote by Benjamin Franklin, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail,” captured my attention quickly. I am someone who likes to plan things ahead and execute them. Over the years, I’ve realized that if you don’t know where you are going, how will you reach your destination? Again, this depends on the person and what they want from life. If you are someone who’s struggling to find success and searching for that magic potion that can propel you to the top of your game like Will Smith, Chris Gardner, or the Williams sisters, then this blog is for you. Keep reading!
The first step is definitely to know what you want from your life. And I’m not just talking about from a career standpoint, but overall, what is it that you are looking for. Remember, “Only if you look, you will find.” For some, it’s a no-brainer; they already know. For others, they need to brainstorm hard. My two cents here, if you may, is to analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Be self-aware! Almost everyone out there might be innately good at something, if not at everything. All you need to do is listen to yourself, and yes, building the skillset is the next layer to it. Now, how do you build the skillset? Through relentless practice and discipline. A Virat Kohli, Cristiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic, or Kobe Bryant wasn’t built in a day. I recall Lionel Messi said, “It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.” Richard Williams training young Serena and Venus every single day, rain or shine, tells us what it takes to be at that level. Now, how do we build this? By being conscious of our choices. Always remember, every moment of your life, you are choosing. To snooze the alarm or to wake up and hit the gym, to eat pizza or to eat a salad, to sleep early or stay up late, it’s all the choices you make.
Now, the third and the most important thing, according to me, is self-belief. When everything was going south for Chris Gardner, he believed in himself and his potential. When Young Venus was asked by many if she thought she could be the world’s best and take on the world’s best, without a blink of an eye, she said “Yes.” During one interview, Virat Kohli mentioned that when he walked out to bat and while on the field, he believed 100% that he was the best. Cristiano Ronaldo, during one of his interviews with Piers Morgan, said he is the best. When you hear statements like these, don’t mistake it as arrogance. It’s the attitude of a winner, and it’s the undying belief they have in themselves. How many of us can openly say, “I am the best”? Forget saying it out loud to a crowd or looking in the mirror and saying “I am the best.” When you read this, if you smirk or your mind voice says, “Oh! What crap? ‘Me the best?’, ‘How can i possibly think that i am the best’,’I am nowhere I wanted to be, then how come I’m the best?’,’I must be kidding’,’Am i gone mad?’, etc., etc.” If you hear a negative reflex from within, then it’s high time for you to tweak your subconscious programming. Young Serena and young Venus were constantly reminded that they were the world champions, they were the greatest of the great, and someday the world would be asking for their autographs, by their father Richard Williams. It is nothing short of subconscious programming done to them at a very early stage. I guess by now, you all might have realised how much of an impact things said and done in our childhood have on the later part of our life. Your subconscious mind is the software that runs your system, and it processes the data based on the code written. So be very wary of what you say to yourself. Remember, “What we say to ourselves, we become that.” Now, if you have no clue how to tweak your subconscious programming, I’ve got your back. You can program it yourself.
So, how do we do it? By telling yourself that “I am the best.” The first time you say it, you might hear that negative voice saying, “What crap?” Repeat it again, every single day for the rest of your life. Soon, the negative mind voice shuts, and you will slowly start believing you’re the best. Once you are convinced, there is no turning back. This attitude will reflect in every walk of your life, and I can vouch for it; you will be a new person altogether. If any parents are reading this, be very careful of what you say to your child. The more aware you are as parents, the better your child’s life will be. So now, I’ve told you the magic potion for success, which I’m sure you already knew about. Sometimes it’s about reminding, just like I was reminded when I watched “King Richard.”
King Richard : https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81039550
