People are fascinated by underdog stories, but they usually get the mindset all wrong for themselves.
The masses will cheer the underestimated challenger, as he/she takes on the predicted winner. Movies love this theme. Sports fans love this theme. David vs Goliath. We even enjoy when small business owners take on industry titans. When the underdog pulls off the upset victory, it instills a sense of hope among the people. It challenges their beliefs about what is possible.
Here’s where the people get it wrong, however. They adopt an underdog story for themselves, and label themselves as such. They feel proud about being the underdog, and sometimes even use it to validate their lack of results. Someone is holding them down.
What these people fail to realize is that those who won victories as underdogs, never believed themselves to be underdogs. Sure, there may have been history, data, or stats that could present a case of them being an underdog.
But these underdogs never once believed they were lesser, not good enough, or didn’t deserve to be in that arena. They were on a mission, despite what external data or stats might suggest.
I grew up without money, and had to figure out much about life and success on my own. I could have adopted an underdog narrative in a few ways, but I never wanted to be an underdog. Why would I purposely label myself the predictable loser in anything?
Whenever I needed to perform, I never worried about comparing myself to others. There isn’t any upside benefits to doing that. I simply focused on the game, the rules, and becoming my best. Sometimes I’d lose, many other times I’d win. I always play to win.
People spectating outside the arena may choose to label you as the underdog, but the voice inside your head should focus on winning without that narrative. It doesn’t help you, when you give yourself reasons to fail before you even start the game.
Tony