The Power of the Stories You Tell Yourself
Which story do you tell yourself?
Here’s an amazing story that inspires me:
Mike Tyson is considered to be one of the greatest boxing champions of all time. In 1990, in Tokyo, he had a World Championship Match against James “Buster” Douglas.
No one believed that Douglas could win. Tyson had dominated the boxing ring; most of his opponents could not even make it to the fifth round! Everyone thought that Douglas had a very slim chance of winning. Nearly every betting parlor in Las Vegas refused to put money on the fight. The Mirage was the only casino to toss up, making Douglas a 42-to-1 underdog.
In the 8th round, Tyson landed a right uppercut that knocked Douglas down. The referee counted to nine, but at the very last second, Douglas managed to get up and continue the fight.
Right after that, in the 9th round, Tyson became super aggressive. He just wanted to finish the fight quickly. However, Douglas managed to survive the 9th round, and in the 10th, Douglas won the match! This victory turned out to be one of the greatest and most sensational results in the entire history of boxing. It caught everyone by surprise!
Later on, Douglas was asked “The Million Dollar Question” — “How did you win?”
Everyone was eager to know the answer.
Douglas answered by revealing a story. He said that no one believed in him apart from his mother. She always told him that he can achieve everything that he wants and believes in. She believed that he could become the boxing champion and beat Tyson one day!
23 days before this match, his mother died. That’s when Douglas told himself that he would honor his mother with this victory. He felt that his mother was looking out for him from above.
He wanted to make her proud by fulfilling her expectations. This is the story that Douglas told himself, which inspired him to make the impossible possible.
Why is it important to tell ourselves stories?
The stories that we tell ourselves hold tremendous value. These are the stories that come from a deep belief that you have about yourself and your life. Such a story may not be truly objective, but if you believe in it, it will be true for you. You will act accordingly, and you will get the result. This is essentially what the “law of attraction” asserts.
Here is another interesting example of “why stories are powerful” and “how they can make or break your life.”
This story is about my friend, who is a very successful young woman. She is in her early thirties and is doing very well in her career. However, she is alone and can’t find a great family. When we discussed this, she said, “Nowadays, old-style romantic relationships are hardly possible.”
The world is moving forward very quickly, and everything is happening at a rapid pace. People are becoming more practical and sexually liberated. That is why it is so difficult to raise a stable family nowadays.”
Do you or someone you know have the same belief?
Is this belief really true?
According to the statistics, the divorce rate in the US was about 50% during the early 1980s. Today, it has dropped to 40%. This indicates that nowadays, there is a greater chance of having a stable family. That is, it is now easier than ever to establish a strong family.
However, the story this woman is believing in will be true for herself even though it is incorrect objectively. Believing in a negative story can prevent you from living a great and happier life.
Now I will share the final story. This story is quite interesting because it has positive as well as negative aspects.
I have always been fascinated with the stories of successful people. It is very motivating to notice the patterns and strategies that allowed them to reach this level of achievement.
I studied the story of David Goggins, who is a former Navy SEAL. He is known as the toughest man alive. He has run many ultramarathons (100-mile marathons). Among his many accomplishments, he has a world record for the maximum number of pull-ups made in 24 hours.
On the one hand, he has a long list of various unbelievable accomplishments. But on the other hand, somehow, every step of the way, he has hurt himself significantly. He has suffered from numerous injuries, and it was really hard for him to recover.
Yes, professional sport is a tough thing. Besides, often athletes end up with certain injuries. However, in the case of Goggins, it was more severe than usual.
I was curious to know why.
I finally figured it out when I was watching one of his interviews. Before all of his accomplishments, he was broke, overweight, and insecure, he said in the interview. When he watched the movie Rocky, where Sylvester Stallone played the role of the boxer, it inspired him for all his great accomplishments.
But there was a particular fragment in this movie that he watched repetitively. That scene was pivotal in the film, as Rocky, played by Sylvester Stallone, was fighting in a boxing championship match and was knocked down. As he lay on the ground, he was bleeding. Everyone thought that it was over. But he found the courage to get up and continue the fight. Ultimately, he won.
This moment was so encouraging for Goggins that he watched it numerously. He saw it as motivation to get out of bed in the morning and strive to be the winner.
This story propelled him toward success. But at the same time, there was an element in the movie that said, “You have to suffer and go through injuries to be successful. “When no one around believes that it’s possible, you will still make it possible.” This is what he learned from the movie. Therefore, later in his life, he continued to follow the same pattern every time.
On the one hand, he had a lot of accomplishments in life. But on the other hand, he bled and suffered from repeated injuries. Hence, the stories you tell yourselves have the tremendous power to make or break your life.
“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” Jordan Belfort (famous actor)
Now, we come to the most critical questions:
What is the story that you keep telling yourself?
Do you have a story that energizes you to move forward and achieve everything that you want from life?
Possibly, you have stories that are holding you back. If that’s the case, it’s time to rewrite them.
Perhaps it could be that you don’t have any kind of story. So, this is the right time for you to create a kind of story that doesn’t have to be truly objective. However, if that’s the story you keep telling yourself, it will come true in your life.
