Until You Start Believing In Yourself

POINT TO PONDER

"We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves."

                                                                                                   - Malcom X

STORY LINE

  

 

REFLECTION by Rajiv Shah

It's easy to point the finger. To blame. To make excuses. When it's always someone or something else's fault, then we no longer have to take responsibility for our actions. When we make deflect responsibility or bemoan the world around us - we no longer have to look at ourselves. 

I watch this video whenever I feel things don't go my way. When I want to point the finger and make excuses. Then I realize that the world will always put obstacles and hardships in our path. When we focus on the problems instead of doing everything possible to find a solution, what we are communicating is that deep down we believe that we aren't capable of surmounting those challenges. And that has everything to do with the value we place in ourselves. 

As Rocky tells his son, "Now if you know what your worth, then go out and get what your worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers - sayin' you ain't where you wanna be because of him, her, or anybody." 

Comments

[Sam]

Very inspiring thought and liberating as well once we realize it is fine to fail and lose as long as we continue to have the desire and belief in overcoming the obstacles in life.

[Eastcoast]

A great message, a great clip to watch. Thank you.

I remember the statement, "When you point your finger as someone, there are three fingers pointing right back at you."

I read this quote yesterday from Ecclesiastes (in the Bible):

The Evil Time Not Known

Again I saw under the sun that the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts, for a time of calamity comes to all alike. Man no more knows his own time than fish taken the fatal net, or birds trapped in the snare; like these the children of men are caught when the evil times fall suddenly upon them.

[California Guy]

Thank you for this nice reflection, Rajiv. Here are 2 more quotes that have been helpful to me over the years from the perspective of stress management.

"While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us."
Benjamin Franklin

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
Viktor E. Frankl, "Man's Search for Meaning"

[Urmil]

Simply loved this week reflection and shared with many in my distribution list. This one is on my one of the most favorites list!

[microCEO]

In the Berkshires mountains, where I went to summer camp as a young boy, there was once an incident, which I only heard about but did not witness. There had been a small explosion, initiated by a spray canister (bug spray?), that had been thrown playfully onto a campfire. I don't recall if anyone was injured, but what I do recall is that the camper, a popular boy nicknamed "Cricket" by his peers, came up to apologize in front of all the campers at a cafeteria gathering. At the time, I was too young to understand the gravity of the situation, but the air in the "mess hall" was dead silent that evening, as hundreds of campers listened to the boy apologizing, tearfully.

It did not occur to me then, but it does strike me now: By taking responsibility for his erroneous (and dangerous) action, Cricket had certainly not made himself more popular that day. Kids would continue to talk about him for days after that. But at the same time, he had publicly proven his worth as a leader. That is to say, the vast majority of people might know only how to try to escape the responsibility (denying involvement, pointing to complications, quitting the camp, etc.). Running away is the basic survival instinct after all. Only a leader (potential leader) would recognize the long-term value in taking responsibility for mistakes made, at risk of losing popularity and trust of others.

But that is what Cricket did. I would not be surprised to find out that he is a CEO or a VP at some company somewhere, today.

[Oregonian]

Thanks – quite inspiring actually

[Amish]

Knocked down but getting up after reading this
"You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!"
THANK YOU.