Have you ever seen the movie the Pursuit of Happyness? Don’t worry, if you haven’t, this won’t spoil it. Will Smith’s character, Chris Gardner comes across a well-dressed man who drives a Ferrari. Chris becomes flabbergasted with excitement and curiosity and decides to ask asks the man what he does for a living. The man tells Chris that he’s stockbroker. Chris immediate becomes compelled to follow that same career path. I personally found that scene to be quite motivating.
That scene with Chris and the Ferrari was very similar to an incident that occurred to me many years ago (before the movie). When I first got into personal development, I was very excited and eager to succeed in any way possible. As I was stepping out of my car at a nearby restaurant for lunch one day, and a brand new silver Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren pulls up beside me. A man in his 40’s opens the door and steps out. He starts cleaning the smudges on his car like a hot shot.
I really wanted to ask this guy what he did for a living but then again I was a bit scared to talk to him at the same time. I had a full debate inside my head, “Should I ask him and he might blow me off in front of all these people (people were eating around along the sidewalk tables) or should I just ignore this and move one?” First I was convincing myself to move on, which is what most people would normally do, but then, after what seemed like ten minutes of arguing in my head (probably closer to 1 minute) I made a move.
As the man starts walking toward the restaurant area, I excuse myself to get his attention. As he turns around, I’m thinking that I’m about to get the most amazing advice in the world. I just got the courage to ask this millionaire super successful dude a question and I knew for a fact that he will enlighten me with some wisdom that will change my life forever. I asked him, “sir, I’m curious, what exactly do you do to get a car like this?” The man says, “I’m just a mechanic kid, ask that question to Fletcher Jones.” The car belonged to Fletcher Jones, of Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz.
Even though some people chuckled beside me, I was surprisingly not embarrassed. This was due to me having the courage to change my mind to do something I didn’t want to do. After this day, I transformed myself into someone who isn’t afraid to talk to someone, do something, or go somewhere.
Courage is something that many people don’t have which explains why most people don’t get what they want. What are the careers that you want to pursue, the people you want to talk to, and the things you want to do, that you cannot do because you THINK you lack the courage?
How can you convince yourself to change your mind?