You Have No Business Believing It

2005. I was 19 years old.

Standing on stage at my first bodybuilding competition, with the dream of one day turning pro.

I had no business believing that.
It was bold.
It was ambitious.

By every measure available at the time, it was ridiculous. But I started working towards it anyway.

2009, I placed in an open bodybuilding class.
2014, I moved into Men’s Physique in the IFBB.
2015, I won a State Title.
2016, I won another State Title.
2017, twelve years later, I turned pro.

Same year. 2005. I was packing eBay orders for supplements out of my bedroom in my parents’ house, with the dream of building a multi-million dollar business from the ground up.

No business believing that one either.

2010, I turned over $1,000,000 in a year.
2012, I moved into my first warehouse.
2013, I opened my first retail store.
2017, twelve years later, it was very real.

Two visions. Same kid. Neither of them had any real chance of happening.

And in both cases, the order matters.

The belief did not come first.

There’s a theory that's been going around for quite some time now that says you set the vision, you manufacture the belief that it’ll happen, and then you begin.

That’s bullshit.

Real belief isn’t the polite kind you talk yourself into on a Sunday night.

It’s the kind that raises the hair on your arms. That sits so deep in you that other people’s doubt just bounces off.

That belief is built from evidence.

And evidence only exists after the work.

At 19 I had none of it. No results. No proof. No track record. Nothing that made either vision look remotely realistic.

All I had was a decision to start anyway.

And then something happened I didn’t expect... every piece of progress became evidence. A placing. A first $1m year. A state title. A warehouse.

None of them proved the vision.

But each one made it slightly less ridiculous than the day before.

The work built the proof.
The proof built the belief.
The belief made the next block of work easier.

Run that loop for a decade or longer and anything is possible.

But it starts with work you don’t believe in yet.

Which means what’s actually standing between you and the thing you want isn’t confidence.

It’s courage.

The courage to start without a guarantee.
Without confirmation you’ve got what it takes.
Without the belief you’ve been told you need before you’re allowed to begin.

So set the vision. Make it bold enough that you have no business believing it.

Then get to work anyway.

The belief will meet you on the way.

If you know someone who would benefit from reading this, please forward it to them. It may change the trajectory of their life for the better, and the catalyst could be you.