Have you ever wanted to win but knew it was a long shot? Here is a story that will inspire you…
My son Ben is usually smiling. He even smiled about school when he was seven.
But, one evening, on our way home from the ball field and baseball, he mentioned school the next day, and it was without his usual upbeat tone.
He said, “tomorrow’s the spelling bee, and I really want to win, but there’s no way.”
His doubt and downhearted statement broke my heart. If there is one thing I want to give my kids, it’s hope and belief in their abilities. I want them to know that if you are willing to try, work for it, and believe, anything is possible.
The problem, in this case, was there was no time to practice. If given the time, I would have suggested some studying. We could have quizzed Ben as a family. But, there was no time for that.
So, I said, “you must believe you can win. Let’s start by saying out loud I am a winner! Ben Philpot is a winner! I am going to win the spelling bee!“
We did that all the way to school the morning of the spelling bee.
Korey, my oldest and the big brother, joined in as well.
The truth is Ben was not great at spelling. I knew why he had a doubt. If he hadn’t specifically said he wanted to win, I would have never suggested this tactic.
I knew for Ben to even place in the spelling bee would be a long shot. If it had been math, no problem, but spelling was a different story.
But, my heart sank when he seemed so discouraged.
So I suggested we start with belief. The energy in the car on the ride to school was out of the roof. We were happy, cheering, and believing.
The first thing Ben shouted when I picked up was, “I won the spelling bee!”
When I asked him to share the story of how he won, I couldn’t help but smile because a few of the best spellers were out that day, someone had a broken arm, and there was one with the stomach flu. Ben had gotten a word he knew well. All the things lined up in his favor. But he won.
This week Ben is my guest on the podcast (ep 66). You can listen for his take on the win and how he draws from the mindset shift even today as a 21-year-old college student.
I think you’ll agree after you listen; that mindset won Ben the title. Because as Ben points out, the ability was there, but you must believe in putting the ability to work.
Ben also points out that, win or lose, the positive mindset exercises, like the chant, made it more fun!
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