You ‘gotta’ believe!

I made the statement the other day that I was convinced that half of the battles that we fight and lose in life are in our minds. As I mull this statement over, I am convinced that it is more like seventy-five percent. These battles are with satan, make no mistake about it. He wants to defeat us at every turn and what better way than to instill a defeatist attitude within our minds.

The great football coach Bobby Bowden of Florida State University said the other day that he felt as though his teams lately had been missing just one great player. He said it did not matter if it was a quarterback, tight end, linebacker, whatever position; he just understands that having that one inspiring great player on his team who believes that they can win every game and goes all out to do so including not just making individual great plays, but also motivating and inspiring the others on the team to give it their all can mean the difference in winning championships, and in not just being a good team, but a “great” team. In that regard he should know as he is one of the winningest coaches of all time.

The criterion as a CEO that I value the most in employees is possessing a great attitude. I believe it makes you or breaks you. If you wish to analyze attitude, there are several components. One of the requirements of having a great attitude is “believing” that something can be accomplished. If you do not believe you can do something, trust me, you have virtually no chance of achieving it. More unranked college teams this year have defeated ranked opponents in college football than any time in recent memory. In order to accomplish these unlikely feats they had to believe that they could win, (and perhaps the opponent had to believe that they could not lose to such a terrible team and their overconfidence was a contributing factor).

Perhaps the greatest example of this line of thinking was the four minute mile. For years, the 4-minute mile was considered not merely unreachable, but according to physiologists of the time, dangerous to the health of any athlete who attempted to reach it. A guy named Roger Bannister however decided not to believe the naysayers and in a stiff crosswind crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. When he beat the record, he broke through a psychological barrier as well. John Landy, considered one of the great milers of that era, never had gotten closer than within 1.5 seconds of the 4-minute barrier before. Within 46 days of Bannister’s breakthrough, Landy surpassed the record with a 3:57.9 in Finland. By the end of 1957, 16 runners had logged sub-4-minute miles and today it is near routine for top runners.

Believing is not all there is to possessing a great attitude; one must also have a willingness to work hard, patience, and perseverance. The greatest example that I can think of in that regard is Colonel Harlan Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken. At the young age of 65 he was broke and was reduced to living on his $105 Social Security checks. He did not have any money, but he did possess a pretty darn tasty secret recipe for deep fat fried chicken that was “finger-licking” good and a belief that people would love it. For years, Colonel Harland Sanders carried the secret formula for his Kentucky Fried Chicken in his head and the spice mixture in his car.

Colonel Sanders got his start by traveling across the country by car from restaurant to restaurant, cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and their employees. If the reaction was favorable, he entered into a handshake agreement on a deal that stipulated a payment to him of a nickel for each chicken the restaurant sold. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had more than 600 franchised outlets for his chicken in the United States and Canada. Today, the recipe is locked away in a safe in Louisville, Ky. Only a handful of people know that multi-million dollar recipe and they’ve signed strict confidentiality contracts.

He died of leukemia at the ripe old age of 90 remarkably well preserved for his age, and I can tell you he was not worried about paying his bills at that point. As an entrepreneur myself at the age of 61 who knows what it takes to build a business from the ground up with no start-up capital, I stand amazed at his energy, perseverance, patience, endurance, and stamina or in a nutshell, his wonderful optimistic “can-do” attitude as he traveled the United States cooking for any restaurant owner who would allow him to do so.

I know a guy that used to be the most despicable person that I have ever met. He was as immoral as a junk yard dog; he was addicted to drugs and alcohol; he hated life and his twisted views about God were acrimonious and filled with bitter hate as he blamed God for his deplorable station in life. He was as mean as a snake and his anger precluded having any friendships or relationships with anyone including his own family and kept him in trouble with the police and in and out of jail on a regular basis. He was alone, penniless, and totally lost. Personally I had all but given up on him and decided that if ever there was a lost cause that would be impossible to salvage that it had to be him. There was one however that did not share that viewpoint. Instead he saw something in him that the rest of us could not see. He patiently worked on this person and eventually led him to forgiveness and salvation through reading the holy Bible. That someone was Jesus Christ and the person I am describing here is me.

I’m very fortunate that the Lord believed that it was not impossible to save me from my life of sin and that he understood that I was not a lost cause and could be salvaged. He saw something in me that was worth saving that I could have never seen. I am thankful that through his longsuffering grace that He did not give up on me even when I was cursing Him for everything under the sun including allowing me to be born in the first place.

Thinking about all of this today has increased my resolve to believe that anything is possible if only we believe and are willing to go for it as Roger Bannister and Colonel Sanders did starting out at age 65.

I urge you not to give up on those in your family as well as friends and acquaintances that have yet to accept the Lord as their Savior and start living the good life. Go back to those who do not believe and patiently explain how good life can be if only they too will reach out to a God who is filled with loving grace that is eager to forgive and reunite. He loves us and is ready to change lives for the better and will do so, if we just ask Him into our hearts and believe. What is belief? Faith! God rewards faith and without it we cannot please Him. Faith comes to those who diligently work at it. (Read the verses below).

We gotta’ believe and then we need patience, diligence, and perseverance when witnessing to those whom we have all but given up on. Hey we need this attitude for all of life. Believe in yourself and that you can accomplish those worthy goals that you desire to achieve. Work hard to make it happen. I hope to see you in the winner’s circle soon!

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible
to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is and that
He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him.