Confidence with Jim Taylor

I have told this story of Jim and me a few times and I believe it is worth mentioning here as I continue with confidence blogs. Jim Taylor was a high school friend of mine who also coached the track team at Mayfield Secondary School. Jim was an Ontario champion long jumper and track and field athlete. 

Jim was very tall and very skinny and he also did 400 meter events as well as triple jump and long jump events. He asked me to do the triple jump, an event/sport I have never attempted or even thought of doing. I said sure I’ll do it about 3 months before the event. I like the others was in good shape so fitness was not a question, it was a question of getting the running, the hoping, and the skipping into the correct order before hitting the whiteboard for take-off and making sure your toe didn’t cross that line. It is not always power and brute force that gets the job done. Sometimes you need to know what to do and how to do it. While you cannot learn to play soccer from a book, you can learn the drills to do and practice to help you get better.

Sounds Easy Enough

Jim and I had loads of time to prepare but I kept asking Jim to help me practice. He kept pushing it off as he was busy. In my mind, I too had plenty of time so I waited and waited. As the event date came closer and closer I was getting a little anxious. If there was a time in my life I wish I could redo it would be high school. Knowing what I know now and the hindsight could certainly have helped me.

Back then I guess I probably had quite a bit of anxiety…

It was a month, then a week, and then three days before the event when Jim, said we would practice. Finally, I thought to myself… We went out to practices and got the technique down correctly. I went to the track meet with the track team and on my first attempt at this new sport, I came in third. I was placed in an event that was completely unfamiliar to me.

Thanks, Jim!

This came down to one thing and one thing only. I didn’t tell Jim this story until decades later when we connected on social media, Instagram to be exact. But the one thing that changed my attitude and anxiety about life, was that when I asked Jim why he waited and waited his answer was simple. 

I believe in you and I knew you could do it.

Sometimes a kind word, a good gesture and a person who supports you is all you need to achieve amazing things. Just look at the writing and the books I have put out. It was a chance encounter once more with Janet, my editor during Covid. Have we made any money, have we become rich and moved to Hollywood to make movies out of the books? No, not yet but she encouraged me and edited all my terrible writing that came out of my head. So sometimes all you need is a little bit of willpower, a little bit of skill, and a shit load of hell hell yeah, we gonna do this. But if only one person is in your corner it is enough to make shit happen. Yes, I need to also thank my family and friends and all the people who worked for me, and supported me in business and life, but it goes to show you that if you get a few good people together many amazing things can and do happen!