Sean Stephenson survived doctors predicting he'd die within 24 hours of birth. He argues that disempowering predictions cause physical and spiritual decline, and warns against the "little man" voice that throws negativity without solutions. Real mentors identify problems and offer fixes; naysayers just say no.
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is: Never believe a prediction that doesn't empower you. Over to you, Shawn Stevenson.
I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going. Never believe a prediction that doesn't empower you. When I was born, the doctors told my parents that I would be dead within the first 24 hours of my life. 35 years later, all those doctors are dead. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] And I I'm the only doctor that remains. Never believe a prediction that doesn't empower you. How many predictions have been thrown at you your whole life? If you believe predictions that do not empower you, you will wither away and die. Either physically die or your spirit will die as you just walk around the world like a carcass that is just following the masses. You will be given a lot of titles in your life. You will be told so many different things. You must only listen to that which empowers you. I have a belief that has served me in my life, and that is that everyone is rooting for me to win, even those that do not know it.
I love this message because a lot of people are going to make predictions about you, right? A lot of people are going to have their opinions on how good you are and whether your idea will work out or not and where you should go in life. And really, the only predictions that matter are the ones in here, in your head, and not being not having it filtered through other people. And because somebody else thinks that you can't do it, now suddenly you take on that prediction and feel like, "Oh, I can't do it because this guy said so." I call those people the little man, right? We've talked a lot about it on this channel. The little man is the person who just throws tomatoes at all your ideas, doesn't believe you can do it, tells you all the reasons why something's not gonna work out. And that— the concept of the little man came from a guy in my life who, when I was getting my YouTube channel up and going, and one of the first kind of big videos that I had that hit it, the first videos that went big. When I was coming up with it in the concept stage, I showed it to him and he said, "It's 6 minutes long. This video is way too long. It's never gonna work out. I predict that this video is gonna go south," and hurled insults at me like, "Tell me you actually understand how the internet works." And this guy actually had some experience in the industry. This guy wasn't just some no-name guy that I asked on the subway and said, "Hey, what do you think?" But I didn't let his prediction hold me back, because I could have, right? I could have said, "Oh, well, this guy knows what he's talking about, and he doesn't like it. Maybe I should change it. Maybe I should make it shorter. Maybe I shouldn't put it up at all," and start to doubt myself. But I looked at it myself, and it just felt right, and I knew that people would enjoy it, that I enjoyed it. It moved me, and if it moved me, it'll move other people as well. Fast forward to now, it has over a million views. It's the Believe By video. That I think a lot of you guys have seen. And I'm so glad that I didn't listen to him. I didn't listen to the little man. But too often we do, right? How many times have you had an idea that you're really excited about it and you tell your friends or your spouse or online people, different communities or mentor, and they say, "Nah, that's not gonna work. You shouldn't do that. You know, here's why it's not gonna work." And the challenge is because when you start a new idea, when you have a new plan, There are holes, right? You haven't figured it out yet. It's the start. That's why I'm coming to you asking for advice, because I haven't figured out the game plan. If I knew what to do exactly, then I'd just go and do it. I wouldn't have to ask for any help. And so, you know, the little man's the person who just points out all the problems and the flaws but doesn't give you advice and suggestions, right? Well, your friends and the mentors, the real mentors, are the ones who identify those challenges and then give you suggestions like, this might be a problem for you going forward, so why don't you try doing it like this? Or here's a way to overcome that obstacle. Evan Carmichael, right? And that's how you start to identify and understand who are the people in your life who really support you, who really have your back, really want you to be successful, and who are the people just throwing their negative predictions at you. So I think it's really important to not just filter in the information that comes from other people, but listen to your heart first. And often the thing that your heart tells you to do is something that other people can't understand because they're using their heads and you're trying to create a world that doesn't yet exist. You have this big, crazy, bold idea to have an impact on the world that hasn't been done yet by anybody else. And so how are you gonna logically— how are people logically gonna understand that? Even if they know you, like you, trust you, wanna help, it doesn't make sense because you're creating a world that doesn't exist yet. But if you feel it in your heart and you look at the thing that you created, or you look at the plan that you wanna create, and it burns up in you, right? It makes you excited, it fills you with passion and excitement, then you have to go and do it. And not listen to the people around you and listen to the negative predictions and listen to the little man and all of their hate and negativity. So the question of the day today is, I'm really curious about a prediction that somebody made about you that wasn't empowering, and, and I'd like you to share it. I know that might be a little personal, a little vulnerable, but I think by sharing it, one, it releases it from you and hopefully you don't hold on to it anymore. And two, I think it can also help inspire other people who are watching this video and watching the comments, even if they don't leave a comment. Comment. They're watching it, and knowing that other people are facing the same thing, I think it can help. So what's a negative prediction somebody made about you? Be honest, leave in the comments below, and I'm going to join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Have an amazing day, continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso.
