I recently saw the movie Miracle. It’s an inspiring true story that illustrates how talent alone is never enough and how belief can carry a team to the top.
At the 1980 Olympic Games, a ragtag squad of college kids from the United States went up against the legendary Soviet Union hockey juggernaut and won. With the world watching, the US team underdogs rose to the occasion, prompting broadcaster Al Michaels’ now-famous question: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
The U.S. hockey team coach, Herb Brooks, believed in his players enough that he was able to transform their self-doubts and self-limitations. Despite the long odds, dedication, heart, soul and belief are what actually allowed the team to win. The 1980 U.S. Olympic Team goaltender Jim Craig said it best about Herb Brooks:
He slowly brought us together as a unit and made us believe we could achieve the impossible.” Thus, the players learned to truly believe in themselves. The result was one of the greatest upsets–and miracles–in modern sports history!
This article about career planning asks, what is the difference between people who try, but give up, and people who achieve what they most desire? Belief.
- Do you believe?
- Do you believe in yourself?
- Do you believe that what you most want will happen?
Category 1: Career Transitions
Do you believe that:
- An accountant can become a successful copy-writer?
- A senior manager of worldwide marketing at Oracle can become a successful professional organizer?
- An executive vice-president at Bank of America would leave his job to pursue an interest and a passion that involved working at the zoo?
- A high-tech executive earning more than $150,000 would choose to be a sheriff?
Category 2: Executive Environments: True or False
Do you believe that:
- A vice-president at Hewlett-Packard, who was with the company for 20 years and in charge of 200 people, could help all of his employees find fulfillment in their work?
- An executive at Citibank, who for eight years kept getting passed over for promotions even though his performance reviews were in the top 10%, would finally be promoted three grades higher and become a senior vice-president?
- An executive at Eli Lilly who wanted to increase his income and responsibility, could receive a 65% increase in salary and become head of a division overseeing 135 people?
All of these examples are true stories of clients I have worked with. In category 1, you have examples of clients who made career transitions. In category 2, you have examples of executives who learned how to navigate the corporate landscape so they could rise to the top their organization.
This article about career planning focuses on your belief. Belief is one of the first things you have to look at when pursuing your dreams. Before anything can change, you must believe that it can. I have worked with senior management and CEO’s who come across as confident, but who don’t believe they can get to the top and stay there. The same is true of many career transition clients: they question the path they have chosen, and their own dedication and natural talents.
Every client I have ever worked with believes in themselves, but most of them don’t realize that they do. Dream Job Coaching provides the techniques and insight that reveal the sometimes buried belief that exists inside each and everyone of us. Once this belief is uncovered, a new confidence, direction, and empowerment arises, changing life forever.
Ask yourself the question that broadcaster Al Michaels posed to millions of 1980 Olympic viewers:
“Do you believe in miracles?”
This question isn’t referring to the miracle. It’s asking about your belief system. At the Olympic games, and in the movie Miracle, the story is about the belief of one person, coach Herb Brooks. The coach shares his belief with his team. The team shares that belief with each other, which awakens the individual team member’s belief in themselves.
This is the same chain of events that a leader provides when they believe in the people working for them. It’s also the same quality that is necessary to take the leap into the unknown world of choosing a career that aligns completely to your passions and talents.
Each one of us has an equal ability to believe.
May you choose to believe in yourself more today, than you did yesterday.
May you choose to believe in something that you really want in your life, professionally and personally.