3 Aug 2023 · 7 min
Thomas Anglero uses basketball coaching stories and personal experience to argue that self-belief is the foundation for overcoming obstacles like unemployment and mental health struggles. He draws on sports metaphors to show how believing in yourself changes what you're capable of doing.
Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and I want to ask you a question. Do you truly believe in yourself? Do you truly believe in the ideas that you have in your head? Do you truly believe in the actions that you take? Do you truly believe that your future, that your tomorrow, that everything will work out? Do you truly believe? The reason why I ask that question is because belief is something that you cannot fake to yourself. That is the difference. Let me tell you a story, and this has to do with basketball, sport I love, sports that frustrates me, but damn, I got a lot of experience in it. In the sport of basketball, you have the basketball in your hand. The point is to put the basketball in the basket. But the problem is, or the challenge is, there's these gigantic human beings that are standing in front of this basket who are going to block your shot. And they're driven to do that. To put that ball in that basket, You have to believe in yourself. These guys, these women standing in front of you could be twice as tall as you, twice as strong as you, twice the weight as you, and you're still gonna put the ball into that basket. You have to believe in the impossible. When Carl Lewis jumped and jumped further than any man ever jumped in his life, he believed. You have to believe. Believing beyond a doubt. As a basketball coach, I've coached for many years, and my job, one of course, was to teach the game of basketball, but my primary job was to get every one of my players to believe in themselves. My job was to have them to see what I already see in them. As soon as the season started, I already knew how great they were going to be. My job was by the end of the season for them to be that great. I believed in them. How much do you believe in you? That— and I'm not talking about this feeling, this taste in your mouth. This is a grunt. When you believe in you, are you grunting? Are you biting your teeth without knowing it? I'm not saying, "Faking, okay, I'm biting my teeth." That doesn't work. I'm talking about you are so excited by you. You're so committed by your belief system. You're so, "Anything it takes, I'm gonna do." Then you're getting close. That ultimate belief in you, that will make a difference. In your tomorrow, that'll make a difference in your life, that'll make a difference in your income. I don't know how many times I faced in the job market— a job, no job, startup, no income, back and forth, frustration. It's almost normal. It's not a healthy lifestyle. That's just in work, money, Friendships, up and down. But the one thing I always believed in, I always believed in myself. I always believed that if I am me, truly me, in that moment, in that job interview, with my friends, with my family, that everything will work out. But I had to be 100% me. So I guess that asks the next question: when are you 100% you? Yes, there are daily challenges. Yes, there are crises that happen. But if you want to make that difference, you have to truly believe in you. Believe. Believe. So what you're overweight? So what you're too thin? So what you're too short, too tall? I don't know. It's all bull. Believe in you. Believe, and you don't need anyone else to believe in what you believe in. There's the difference. Only you need to believe in you. Go forth and spread beauty and light. I'm just, I'm just, I'm just tip, this is just a tip, tip tip tip tip of the iceberg. You have to believe in you so much that you're willing, you're committed, that if no one's gonna talk to you for the next 6 months that's okay. If no one's gonna give you a compliment for the rest of your life, that's okay. When you don't need anybody else because your belief in you is so great— it's not ego, is your belief in you, your belief that you can do it, that you can fulfill that dream, that you can make that new whatever project you have then you're on to something. I want you to believe in you. I want you to believe in you. Don't care what the subject— matter of fact, do you really even need a subject? Just believe in you. Just believe in you. Believe in you. Believe in you. Believe in you. Believe in you. Mm, just get pumped up on it. Believe in you. It's amazing. It's amazing. All of a sudden I could conquer the world. Believe in you. Get it? Got it? Good. I'm gonna be talking a lot more about this because with the recession happening, unemployment, people being— not wanting to leave home, mental illness. We need to believe in ourselves a lot more. And this bird has just joined me. Hi, bird! I believe that's not a coincidence. Still there, I believe. I'm Thomas Anglero. I'm gonna be doing a lot more of these videos because I believe in you. Go forth and spread beauty and light. And my buddy's back because he believes in you. Until next time.
