The Power Of One

Oftentimes, we promote either consciously or inadvertently through our actions the idea that in order for us to succeed at anything in life and be truly significant in this world we must first gain the support of the majority and have popular opinion on our sides - in essence, we need others to believe in us. The importance of believing in yourself usually gets a mere honorable mention. But if there is one thing we should have learned in life, it is this: The victory goes to the individual who believes more strongly in what they're doing than others do. It's not about how much others believe in you; it's about whether or not you believe in you and what you're doing.

Abraham Lincoln, though losing the presidential race numerous times, believed he could be president; and hence, he continued to pursue after his goal - and he accomplished it...eventually. Stephen King, though arguably the most successful horror writer today, had to struggle through self-doubt as a result of having his first novel, Carrie, rejected over 40 times by over 40 different publishers. I mean, after two "expert book publishers" tell you that your book/novel stinks, you'd probably toss it into the trash can. But Stephen didn't do that. He actually believed his novel was good, and that it was good enough to be accepted and published. He undoubtedly held on to the belief that all he needed was one person - the right one - to say "I like it"...which is exactly what happened. Tyler Perry believed so strongly in what he was doing (his plays) that he dumped all of his income tax money into his plays and practically lived homeless, sleeping in his car for a significant amount of time. What's interesting is the fact that no one was coming out to watch his plays. On the outside, this may have seemed like a failure, but it wasn't. It is just another example of what happens when an individual with a dreams believes so firmly in that dream that not even perceived failures can deter them. Today, Tyler Perry is one of the most successful and financially prosperous men in the world. Translated: He doesn't have to sleep in a car anymore...unless he chooses to. He can decide which one of his Bentleys to sleep in if he wants, or if he'd prefer to sleep instead in his private jet. 

I discovered something about people like Tyler Perry, Stephen King, Abraham Lincoln, and others like them (people who tend to believe strongly in what they have or are doing and won't take no for an answer): These individuals don't operate under the belief that they will be accepted by the majority; instead, they are dreamers who actually believe in the power of one. They spend their entire lives looking for one opinion, one benefactor, one supporter, one opportunity, one head nod, one good review - one, just one. They live day to day believing that the "one" they're looking for will come much like a dreamy-eyed girl who's looking for her prince charming to come riding in on a white horse to rescue her from the sadistic hands of uncertainty, insecurity, and loneliness. If you were to tell her there are no valiant prince charming's mounted on white horses around but that there are only deeply flawed, horny, imperfect men around, she'd just scorn you with her eyes and continue to...dream...of her idealistic guy.

Well, all visionaries are idealists. The successful ones simply know how to reconcile their ideal reality with the real world and work to implement facets of their ideal reality into the real world. 

You have to believe in the power of one. You have to realize that in a world filled with over 7 billion people, the handful of critics surrounding you right now don't represent nor possess everyone's tastes. There's someone out there that wants what you have to offer. You just have to keep pressing forward until you find them or they find you. Therefore, the victory goes to the individual who can hold on to their dream long enough to finally get discovered. 

Now consider this: This is true in the natural, but in the supernatural, this is more of a guarantee. When you have a dream that's been given to you by God, you don't have to count on luck to find you; you have the added luxury of knowing there is a crowd or individual out there waiting for you simply because God preordained that they'd be waiting on you. 

Now, I'm not going to pull a humanistic wool over your eyes and tell you that everyone's dreams will come true if they simply believe in them strong enough. Many dreams won't come true. Some dreams should never come true. Imagine if Hitler's dream came true. Where would we be today? Screwed! But a God-inspired dream has all of the backing of divine providence. I call that betting on the winning horse. And if God gave you a dream, all you need is one person to believe in that dream: you.