The day I bought my brand new car, I was too worried.
For a few days, it was nightmarish even to think about parking it inside the compound. Through that narrow lane.
‘Should I use an L-board’, I asked a friend.
`No’, she said.
I was in a dilemma.
Because I had rammed the car into a compound wall only on the third day of buying it. While parking.
And what might happen when I drive it through the heavy traffic of a city road?
But, the idea of admitting myself as an L-board, I didn’t like it. Even though it was my first car, and I was learning to ride.
As an L-board, you have many benefits.
- People on the road, won’t show anger on you when your car’s mirror collides with theirs.
- They always try to keep a safe distance.
- Even police will understand if you’re involved in an accident.
Everything is good. But, what about your self-image? How do you feel yourself when you are declaring that you are an L-board, a novice?
Every time you sit inside your car, you’ll feel that you’re not good enough.
`Do you want that?’, she asked me.
What are you feeding into your own mind?
This is not just about driving your car. Listen to people around, most of them doubt their own capabilities.
“Novelist, me? No way”
“Starting a business? Not in my blood”
“That person, unlike me, is genius.”
Now, look at the high achievers around you. When they started something, they too felt like an L-board.
But they decided to throw the board away as quickly as possible, while most of us clung to it.
Because they believed in the projected image of themselves as masters. This is the leap that they took towards the unmanifest – the possibility of being a master.
So, if you want to be a master in any field, the first step starts with the belief that you are capable of. This belief has to grow into your whole being. Then it starts working for you. It changes your body language and behaviour.
So, whenever you start a new endeavour, the first step starts with your mind. You have to create an image of success and feel it. Feel it as deeply as possible, until you know what it feels to be successful. And begin your endeavour with that feeling. Hold on to that feeling even when you are failing.
This is how you get out of the trap of being an L-board, an average.
Here, all you need is a little courage. The courage to throw that L-board.
So, never think that you will start something after you are ready. You are never ready unless you believe it. So, feel it first, create a belief and then begin to act.
Apple, the world’s biggest tech company was started in a garage. With the help of a bunch of boys from the neighbourhood. But Steve Jobs, one of its founders and an iconic leader, always talked like they were into something huge.
This very mindset pushed them into creating iconic products that transformed the world.
Remember, L-board is always a dent in your confidence.
So never say, I am an aspiring actor, aspiring writer or aspiring businessman.
You are an actor, that’s why you act. Cut that `Aspiring’ out! Because, even after you did your best work, you remain an actor.
And when you believe in that, opportunities begin to come in search of you.