Transcending Doubters
We will be taken for granted. This is a guaranteed reality, and it will define you, if you let it.
The idea is to transmute the negative energy it brings into something positive. Like boiling water that turns into steam; the committed effort that turns into creative ideas, negative emotions can be powerful agents in your work.
Before Ichiro Suzuki made the transition from baseball in the Japanese Nippon League to Major League Baseball in the United States, there was a lot of doubt and uncertainty that was related to how his style, performance, and success would translate into an American style of baseball.
Up to that point, there had never been a position player from Japan who had performed at an elite level. Logically, he was faced with many professional scouts who were skeptical that he would be able to replicate the same level of success he had in Japan against pitchers in the MLB. Standing at only 5’7 and 145 pounds, he would be one of the smallest players in the league.
The skepticism was best demonstrated in the following scouting report.
“Interesting profile. He makes consistent contact but slaps pitches into the dirt. He beats throws because he runs out of the box during swing (Illegal?). A poor man’s Kenny Lofton in both fielding and hitting. Bat control is decent enough to handle inferior Japanese pitching, but slap-mechanics will be over-matched with MLB velocity. Has a small frame and already 27. No projection. Can throw the ball a bit. Maybe a pitcher? Tweener AAA type. Doesn’t play American style of baseball. Not for us. Other oddities: weird stretching routine before at-bat. Holds bat-like sword/candle (??) pre-pitch. Japanese fans love it but will not gel with MLB players/fans. Not worth the risk.”
After establishing himself as a player who could compete consistently against major league pitching while adjusting to the speed of the game, he would go on to break the single-season record as well as the all-time career hits record, combining the hits he had collected in the Nippon League and Major League Baseball.
He had claimed the single-season hit crown from George Sisler in 2004. The record had stood for 84 seasons, a relic of the dead ball era. Ichiro’s contact style of hitting was more reminiscent of the early 1900s, bringing back a style of baseball that had been dead for almost a decade.
The remnants of the steroid era, where hitters were idolized for their ability to hit balls over the fence, Ichiro was an anomaly.
He would again use criticisms as motivation when hearing about the nickname the former all-time hits leader Pete Rose had given him, calling him “The Hit-Queen.”
Possibly a reference to his unorthodox style of play and which was in some ways flamboyant and animated or the fact that Ichiro’s started his career in Japan, making his early career hits "invalid"; so should be second in line to his self-sustained title as the “Hit King”.
Instead of taking offense, Ichiro again used the critique as confirmation that a player like Pete Rose who was a titan of his era was now envious and was being forced to see his accomplishments as an equal if not slightly above his own.
There is Power in these ways of thinking.
We can also summon motivation by drawing from the pain and hardships that life will inevitably bring us.
Invoking The Fighter’s Spirit
On February 11, 1990, Buster Douglas was set to fight at the time the most dominant boxer to ever step foot in the ring. Mike Tyson. In the past three years, no fighter had survived past the third round, ultimately succumbing to Tyson’s ferocious and violent strikes.
Most had assumed this would be a tune-up fight for Tyson as he prepared his next fight against Evander Holyfield who had recently dominated another weight class.
The fight was projected to be so uneven that nearly every betting parlor had refused to hold odds for the fight except for one. The Mirage; making Buster Douglas a 42-to-1 underdog. Some betters were so sure of the outcome that they placed bets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars just to earn a few thousand after Tyson’s guaranteed victory.
23 days prior to the boxing match, Buster Douglas’s world had shattered. His mother had passed away from a stroke. Many believed that her death lit a fire in his belly but to him, it was more than that. Dougless and his mother shared a very close relationship. He hadn’t just lost a mother, but he had also lost a close friend and confidant. She had supported him his entire career, and now she was gone.
After her passing, he was asked if he wanted to postpone the fight so that he had time to mourn, but he declined. Three days before her death, she had looked at her son and told him, “My son will beat Mike Tyson.”
Something about the words must have felt prophetic to Dougless.
To him, they represented a mother’s intuition. He had a choice. His desire to fight could die with his mother, or she could live on through his craft, using her love and support as energy in his bout against his opponent. Eventually, like the pain of losing his mother, the energy of her prophecy would fade. He needed to use it while it was there. The time was now. He would fight while her words were still there near him. Suddenly, her passing gave his career as a boxer a new meaning. It put all of his challenges and grievances in its proper place.
Things that would previously bother him, became background noise. The only thing he could see and hear were the victorious visions of the upcoming battle. Much to everyone's surprise, Douglas knocked out Tyson in the 10th round to claim the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles. The defeat would be considered one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
Putting It Together
Throughout our development, we will experience similar moments. People will underestimate and take our work for granted.
Rather than seeing our differences as something to celebrate.
We will also have to contend with the mortality of those we care most about.
We are mortal creatures, and death knocks on each of our doors. This is a reality we will never escape.
We can use this knowledge as fuel.
It’s up to us to determine how the effect of criticism and tragedy plays into the work we do and the impact we have on those around us. We can adopt the reframes of the iconoclastic type as we challenge the status quo.
As challenges are thrown at us by those who are critical of our work, we can see everyone as a teacher, and their perspective as an opportunity to understand human nature more accurately. We can imbibe the spirit of the fighter, rising to the challenges that life hurtles at us from different angles.
Eventually, we realize that what we focus on, and aim towards, determines what we see, we tap into the creative genius or moments of bravery that are portrayed over and over in the story of the Hero.
We know that we are not everything we could be, yet...
So draw momentum from the obstacles around us, and we find ourselves propelling to a new level of ability. With our new powers of determination, we know where we want to go next, and who to take with us.
In many ways, these are how leaders are born. From being rejected by the social group, we learn to think on our own, coming to our own creative conclusions. From moments of crises and despair, we rise from the ashes, transformed and forever changed.
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