The legend of Tim Tebow grows. If you’re not an NFL fan, Tim Tebow is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He has won six straight games. On Sunday, the Broncos were losing 10 – 0 with about two and a half minutes in the game. Tim led them to 10 points in the final two minutes, and then to a game winning field goal in sudden death overtime.
Like a lot of people, I wasn’t a Tim Tebow fan at first. While I’ve always known that he is an incredible athlete, I didn’t think he had the right skills to become an NFL quarterback. It’s early days yet, but he seems to be proving me wrong. One thing for sure, he’s an incredible leader.
Tim Tebow also is an eternal optimist. He never gives up. Think about this. On Sunday, he completed three of 16 passes in the first 45 minutes of the game – and 18 or 24 in the last 15 minutes. That’s a remarkable turnaround in my book. It reminds me of point 7 in the Optimist Creed.
“Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.”
In Sunday’s game, he forgot about all the mistakes he and his teammates made in the first three quarters – they dropped a lot of his passes, and pressed on to win a game the Broncos had no reason to win.
When I think about it, Tim Tebow personifies all 10 points of the Optimist Creed…
The Optimist Creed
Promise Yourself:
- To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
- To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
- To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
- To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
- To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
- To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
- To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
- To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
- To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
- To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
Tweet 42 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Choose optimism. It builds your confidence. Believe that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better yet.”
Like Tim Tebow, I’m a big believer in the power of optimism. I think it is the foundation of all self-confidence. You can’t be self-confident if you’re not optimistic. And, optimism is a choice. I get up every day believing that good things will happen – and then I go about making them happen.
When I was a kid, I participated in the local Optimist International chapter’s oratory contest. I won my section, and finished third in the state. The topic that year was “Optimism, Youth’s Greatest Asset.” That’s hard enough for a ninth grader to say (think Joe Pesci in “My Cousin Vinnie”), let alone write and deliver a ten-minute talk.
Optimist International is a great service organization. They help kids build self-confidence and become more optimistic. The Optimist Creed defines them. It is powerful stuff.
I love The Optimist Creed. I have it framed and hanging in my office, just above my desk. I have made a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that is suitable for framing. If you want a copy, just go to https://budbilanich.com/optimist.
One thing that you’ll notice about The Optimist Creed is that it is proactive. It asks you to promise yourself to do ten things that will help you create the life and career success that you want and deserve. It suggests that optimism is related to action – action you can take to become more optimistic and to build your career success. I think it is some of the best career advice I’ve come across. I do my best to live the 10 points in The Optimist Creed every day. You should too.
I especially like the fourth point – promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. This point goes directly to the idea of committing to taking personal responsibility for your life and career success. I know it’s difficult to look at the sunny side of things when you’re mired in a problem or are dealing with a failure. However, if you look for what you can learn from problems and failures, you’ll be looking at the sunny side. More important, you’ll be on your way to making your optimism come true.
Tim Tebow started the year as the Broncos third string quarterback. After they won just one game in their first five, the Broncos’ coach John Fox gave him the opportunity to become the starter. He has won six of the seven games he’s started. Tebow looked at the sunny side of things. When he wasn’t playing, he worked hard in practice and paid close attention to the games. When he got his chance, he made his optimism come true – six out of seven times.
Optimism works – and not just for athletes. Christopher Reeve is no longer with us, but he exemplified the idea of looking at the sunny side of things. Even though he was paralyzed from the neck down after a riding accident, he devoted himself to finding a cure for spinal cord injuries. I love the way his optimism comes across in this quote…
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
Christopher Reeve looked at the sunny side of his injury and did what he could to make his optimism come true. His foundation carries on the work he started.
The common sense career success coach point here is simple. Successful people are self-confident. Self-confident people are optimists. They follow the career advice in Tweet 42 in Success Tweets. “Choose optimism. It builds your confidence. Believe that today will be better than yesterday, and that tomorrow will be better yet.” The Optimist Creed is a great guide to becoming more optimistic and self-confident. Its proactive approach to life is a great guide to creating the life and career success you want and deserve. Remember the old saying, “Whether you’re an optimist, or a pessimist you’ll be proven right.” I choose optimism, and suggest you do too.
That’s my career advice based on watching Tim Tebow’s remarkable run over the past seven weeks. What do you think? Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us in a comment. As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.
Bud
PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained. The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less. The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail. Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy. You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.
PPS: I opened a membership site last September. It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations. You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.
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