I’m taking a look at one of my quote images, and this quote is brand spanking new, less than a week actually…
“Proving people wrong? Well that’s one thing, but I prefer to focus on proving people right – the people that believed in me.” – Case Keenum.
Case is an NFL quarterback, and he said that quote in an interview for the BBC as part of the build up to the NFL game in London on Oct 24th.
Case plays for the LA Rams. He’s not one of the ‘elite’ quarterbacks, in fact most people think he’s just keeping the seat warm until their main man is back and healthy.
However, he’s at a peak in his life – the LA Rams are newly returned to LA after 20 years, so there’s a huge focus on the team, and him as the QB. He’s a young man, seeing rewards for his years of work, getting paid a good deal of money while he’s at it.
I did love that quote as soon as I heard it though, because it focuses right in on an angle of thought which can be huge to contentment in life…
If you focus on proving people wrong, as you see on many personal development images, well as Case says that’s one thing, but surely he’s right to say it’s better to focus on the people that believed in him?
This is a positive spin to take, and it demonstrates that someone is looking for the positives. Yes there are negatives in life, there are negative people in life. People will not want you to succeed, they might be jealous of you succeeding, they might go actively out of their way to *stop* you succeeding.
Those people probably aren’t even interested if you achieves the success, and are unlikely to consider themselves ever to be ‘proved wrong’, because they’ll probably still manage to come up with a negative spin to put on it.
The positive people though, the ones that believed in you? Oh, now that’s a different crowd altogether! It’s those people that encouraged you, that were happy to see you progress, that were pleased for you.
If you took all that positivity on board during the journey, (and you should have been doing just that), then it should absolutely be those people that you turn to when you do achieve.
Turn to them, and thank them, because not only will that be giving back to them, it will encourage them to keep on encouraging. There’s no bad outcome in this, it’s *all* to the good.
As for the negative people? Well, I look at like this – when you start, you can explain yourself to people. Explain your beliefs, your goals, your reasons behind your goals. Don’t justify, but explain.
Here’s a key point though, don’t over explain! Once you’ve explained, maybe a few times, it’s time to stop. You’re not trying to convince them that you are right, and that they need to come on board. It’s not about them, it’s about you. If they come on board, that’s great, but if they don’t, then so be it.
Over explaining is wasting energy that should be directed towards the positive people, and it’s also exposing you to flows of negativity – so explaining is fine, trying to justify, spending too long on over explaining – not ok!
As I sat down to write this article, 2 other points occurred to me..
Firstly, when you are focusing on proving the people that believed in you right, the person at the centre of that group should be yourself! Prove yourself right for believing in *you* – it will have been a key foundation underpinning your success, so giving yourself a pat on the back for that belief is well deserved!
Secondly, his team the LA Rams lost the game. They had some chances to win, but things went awry, with Keenum himself making a couple of mistakes at crucial times.
That’s ok. Not everything works in life all the time, life isn’t always rainbows and sequins!
There’s always the next game to play, and Case didn’t get to be out on the pitch in London by accident remember, it was years of hard work that got him there. There will be more hard work to come, and more mistakes too!
The alternative is to sit at home doing nothing, and then you end up being one of the crowd that wonders why they don’t get anywhere!
So, look to your own goals, whatever they may be. Put in the work, take the mistakes on board, believe in yourself, take the support of others that believe in you, and deep down, you know you’re proving people right!
I’d love to hear what you think – do leave a comment
‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget to grab my free 8 step goal achievement formula, it’s a great plan to set out on a road of ‘belief!’
