Words help. What we say, how we say them and who we say them to, can have an impact that last for years. Great mentors and coaches know this. Motivation and passion are ingrained into those words of encouragement. By liberally giving ourselves and agreeing to mentorship and taking others under our wing – by believing in them – we may leave a profound impact on their lives.
Back in the early eighties I had just gotten out of the Army and enrolled into college. But soon, my money ran out and I found myself working a full-time job as a security guard at a hospital. That didn’t last long either because I just couldn’t seem to get myself together and before long I got into trouble on the job. I resigned from my job as a security officer. With no money, or job, I sat in my lonely, one room apartment and wondered what to do.
My life was going nowhere. It wasn’t long before my phone was shut off, followed by threats from the electric, water, and gas companies. Even my landlord was in on the act, threatening to evict me if I didn’t come up with the necessary money to pay the rent. I was fortunate to have supportive family members who helped me buy food, make my bills and essentially remain sane.
When I went job hunting, I found there were few openings for someone without a degree. With only two years of college, and no tangible skills other than my Army and security guard work my prospects for employment were dismal. One day I happened to go back to my home town to visit my mother. She had gotten remarried to a gentleman by the name of Bill Bonner. I first met him when I was younger, having cut his grass and did odd jobs for him and his wife. Widowed, he was a good man and I was proud to have him as a step-father.
On that trip we were sitting in the kitchen and my mother was lamenting about my failures in life; college dropout, unemployed, one step from homelessness. She wasn’t holding back. But I sat there and took it because she was my mother and I respected her, and secondly, for the most part, she was right. As she continued, I looked over at Bill Bonner and I could see that he really felt for me. Apparently, he felt that I had been through enough and he interrupted my mother and asked me, “You like to write, don’t you? I’ve read some of your things and you’re pretty good.”
I did like to write. Good or bad, I had a passion for writing. In elementary school I fell in love with books and wanted nothing more than to become an author. Throughout my primary and secondary schooling I wrote short stories and poems. I kept notebooks with all of my writings and dreamed one day that I would hit it big. “I sure do, Bill,” I answered.
“Then why don’t you write?” he asked.
“Well it takes two things,” I began, “It takes money to live on. I don’t have that. So I have to keep looking for a job. And secondly Bill, now-a-days, you have to submit typewritten versions of your stories, and I don’t have a typewriter.”
I can help you on both counts,” he said, and sprang up from the couch and disappeared into the bedroom. He came out carrying a brown case and handed it over to me. “Here’s a typewriter,” he said. “I don’t know if it will work for you, but I bought it over 25 years ago and I have only used it twice.”
That is how I got my first good typewriter and immediately after he gave me the typewriter, I banged out story after story. I wrote a book and picked up some temporary work writing a column for a national magazine. I even had a few short stories published in a Sunday Magazine. Bill Bonner believed in me.
Believe in Someone
Having belief in someone is a very powerful thing. First, you must believe in yourself and in your abilities. John Maxwell, in his book, “Talent is Never Enough,” writes “the first and greatest obstacle to success for most people is their belief in themselves.” For me, back then, in the early eighties, my belief in self was at an all-time low. Bill Bonner help me restore faith, in me – to have confidence in my abilities. Once that happened, I began to operate on a different level. I enrolled college, continued to write, and used that very same typewriter to help me make money writing resumes and articles that contributed toward my college finances. My grades began to soar and before long, I was graduating with a degree in Communications from the Ohio State University.
If someone around you is struggling, step in, intervene and show that person that you have faith and confidence in their abilities. Show them how they can lift themselves out of the rut they are in. Give them that helping hand and propel them forward. Believe in them because you may be motivating and embracing a future president, rock star, lawyer or astronaut. Or maybe, just maybe, a writer.
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