From Rocky to Ted Lasso to YOU: Embracing that Underdog Spirit!

Welcome back to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration, the podcast that is here to help you take on the day every day now that you have a little bit more inspiration, motivation, empowerment, and a little encouragement to help you get through the day.

That's what this podcast is all about.

I know I'm making big claims, but hey, you know what?

That's what I'm here to do.

This is episode 172 of the podcast.

And uh, hey, today my goal is to help you realize that if you want to win in life and you're feeling discouraged because, well, you think you're the underdog.

You feel like you don't have a chance at winning, because, well, nobody's betting on you.

Well, you know what, friend?

I'm about to blow your mind.

Because today I am here to flip the script.

Because today I am talking all about why I want you to adopt an underdog mindset.

In life, there's many examples of underdogs.

Whether we're watching movies or watching a sports game, there's always an underdog involved.

Think about our favorite movies.

Well, my favorite movie, Rudy.

Everybody's a favorite football movie.

Of course, you gotta be a fan of Rudy, the little guy who makes it onto the field at Notre Dame.

And whoo, baby, that movie makes me cry every time.

But then there's other underdog stories, ones like Rocky or Karate Kid, or of course, everybody's favorite, Jamaican bobsled team.

And as much as all of those movies have impacted today's topic, there is another show that's impacted it.

And well, that's one that's super current.

And that's the newest season of Ted Lasso, everybody's newest favorite underdog story.

If you've not been watching Ted Lasso on Apple TV Plus, baby, let me tell you, your life is missing out something fierce.

And so I thought, you know what?

Let's hop on board with this underdog train.

Because inside of our previous episode, I introduced you to a guy, Brad Dalton, who is all about helping out the underdog.

The person who's fallen into the middle of the pack or they're stuck at the end of the pack.

He's there to help them.

And I thought, you know what, Brad Dalton?

Let's keep this idea alive.

Let's keep the encouragement going.

And let's help out the person who feels like they don't matter.

The person who feels like they have no chance at winning.

The person who feels like life left them behind.

That's who I'm talking to.

Is that you?

I don't know.

If it is, I want to remind you that you got this, buddy.

You got this friend.

I'm here to encourage you.

I'm here to cheer you on.

And I'm here to remind you that you are right where you need to be.

Because there is no better place to be than to be seen as an underdog.

And well, that's what today is all about is adopting the underdog mindset.

And that, whoo, baby, is gonna send you places you never even thought were possible before.

My first point here on today's episode of this idea of adopting the underdog mindset, of why this is so important and what it can do for you is that it can be the motivation you need when people doubt you, when people discount you for even being a contender.

You might feel frustrated, you might feel upset, and you may very well want to just give up.

But you've got the underdog mindset.

They may call you an underdog as a negative, but I'm here to tell you that it's a positive.

They just don't get it.

Because being an underdog gives you the motivation to push harder than anyone else on the field, to do more than anyone else in your office.

It's not just related to sports.

I'm talking about all aspects of life.

I mentioned in the intro about the Jamaican bobsled team.

We all remember our favorite movie, Cool Runnings, that featured this true story about the Jamaican bobsled team.

No one ever thought that they could do it.

Everyone was against them.

They thought they were a joke, the laughing stock.

But what did they do?

They worked hard, they persevered, they got creative.

And what did they do?

They did it.

They were the Jamaican bobsled team competing in the Olympics on the world stage.

If that's not a reminder to us all that anything is possible, well then I don't know what is.

Another benefit of being seen as an underdog is that you get to really build a true team.

It's easy to have a group of friends when everything is great, when you've got the money, when you've got all the fame and the fortune.

Well, it's easy to have friends.

Anybody can have friends then.

But what about when you're down on your luck?

What about when nothing's gone right?

What about when you're dead broke and you don't know where your next meal's coming from?

What about then?

Who do you have in your corner then?

Well, I'm here to tell you that this is powerful.

Because at that position, you get to realize who are the true friends, who's really got your back, who's really in the game with you.

So in this time, I encourage you to focus on this, to build your team.

The people who are there with you now will be the same people who are there with you when you're on the top.

And you just remember, of course, you're gonna bring them right along with you.

A perfect example of this is that movie I talked about, Rudy.

Rudy was a guy on the football team who nobody thought could do it, except for just a couple of people, his best friend.

His best friend believed in him and he encouraged him.

And lo and behold, towards the end of the movie, the head coach of the Notre Dame football team would not believe in him.

But that didn't matter because the rest of the entire team did.

And they stood up for him.

And it was probably the most powerful scene in that entire movie when every member of that football team walked in and handed their jersey off to the head coach, saying that Rudy could have their spot on the field that next game.

Because they believed in him.

They saw what he was capable of.

Rudy proved himself.

And that's the thing, when we talk about building your team, you gotta prove to people that you're in it to win it.

You gotta prove to people not that you can win the game, but that you are gonna give it everything you've got, that you're gonna be on that field and you're gonna die trying.

And I'll tell you what, that's gonna get people to rally behind you.

So that's another point that I'm saying of what's so powerful about this underdog mindset is you have the benefit of getting a real group of people behind you.

The people who are gonna be there with you to the bitter end.

Many times when people see us as an underdog, it's because we don't fit in with the rest of them.

Maybe we're not as big and strong, fast and courageous as the others.

And so we fall behind.

Or maybe we're just littler than everybody else.

We're smaller, we're the runt in the crowd.

And so people see us as different.

Now, here's what I'm about to tell you though is that what they may point out as being a negative, I want you to view it as a positive.

Because there's one thing in this life that is for certain.

It's easy to blend in.

It's much harder to stand out.

And in the position you're at, when you're feeling like you're the underdog, when you feel like the odds are stacked against you and nobody's betting on you, well, it's your time to shine.

It's time for you to be noticed.

And you have this in your favor.

When my man John Cronin, who I had on one of the previous episodes of my podcast, decided that he wanted to start his own business selling socks.

Well, he immediately started to set himself out from the rest.

John Cronin was featured in an earlier episode of the podcast, along with his dad, Mark Cronin.

John Cronin is the owner of the world's largest sock company called John's Crazy Socks.

Now, what makes John's story remarkable is that John has Down syndrome.

But as John will proudly tell you, that does not hold him back.

And it has not held him back.

And today, as I said, he is the owner of the world's largest sock company.

Him and his dad are an incredible team who are defying the odds, who took the underdog and used it to their advantage.

Because maybe being seen as having Down syndrome meant that John was the underdog.

Well, you know what, baby?

He proved anybody else wrong, whoever thought that he couldn't do it.

Because he's done it.

He's doing it, and he is making a difference in the world today.

What John Cronin and his dad, Mark Cronin, are doing is truly remarkable.

Something that I truly respect and am honored to have had them on my show when I did.

So again, take what's different about you and make it what's unique about you and use that to your advantage.

Now, as an underdog, the chances are is that you do have it harder than everybody else.

Is it fair?

No.

But what in life is fair?

Nothing.

Now, as somebody myself who is disabled, who is blind, who suffers from other invisible disabilities, I get it.

My life is way harder than the quote unquote normal people who I do life with.

But that's okay.

And I can realize that and I can understand that.

And if I can understand that, I can use it to my advantage.

Because even though I may have things that are a quote unquote disadvantage, well, I have things that are strengths, things about me that the other people don't have.

And well, I like to draw on those strengths.

For myself, being blind, well, I have the strength of listening better, of getting to understand people more, getting to hear people in a deeper way than those with sight.

It's something that I think is truly powerful.

And so when we're talking about this advantage of being an underdog, we've got to draw on those things that are viewed as a disadvantage.

And we turn them into our advantage.

Because here's the thing: you, my friend, have strengths, strengths that you may not even realize you have.

But I guarantee you you have them.

I guarantee you that you are more powerful than you ever thought possible.

Yeah, you.

Yeah, I'm talking to you right now.

Me coming to you through your little earbuds, through your phone speaker, telling you that you are way bigger, way better, way more awesome than you think you are.

And don't shake your head, no, no, no, no.

I'm telling you, you are.

You're awesome.

And if you need a reminder of that, I'm the reminder.

I'm the one telling you that, friend, you are pretty darn awesome.

So once you can get past the thought that there's nothing great about you and understand that you do have your own unique strengths and gifts, I want you to use those to your advantage.

I want you to play on those.

Now, this may be a funny example in the underdog story category, but let's look at the animated movie A Bug's Life.

In that movie, the ants may have been viewed as the underdog because they were small, they're weak, they're little ants.

But what ants had to their advantage was their number, was their power in numbers.

And when they work together as a team, they can become victorious.

So, what I'm saying is even the smallest little thing out there in the world, like an ant, it has an advantage.

In that movie, it was the fact that they work together as a team.

What about you?

What is your small advantage?

And what can you do with it?

What can you do to overcome the odds, to defeat your competitors, to move up in the crowd?

My fifth and final point of why I'm encouraging you to rethink the term underdog, and why I want you to stop thinking of an underdog as a negative and to start viewing it as a positive is because being an underdog, well, being an underdog, it really gives you the upper hand.

It's gonna make you more resilient.

It's gonna give you the perseverance, it's gonna give you the strength and the determination to win no matter what.

Because what do you have to lose?

It's the reason why when we go to a Super Bowl party and it's not one of our favorite teams in the Super Bowl, who do we root for?

We say, well, who's the underdog?

And that's who we generally root for.

Because we know there is nothing quite like a win, like an underdog win.

And that's because the underdog has nothing to lose.

The other team, well, they've got people looking at them, putting the pressure on them.

And well, chances are that pressure might get to them.

But the underdog, well, the underdog has the advantage because they're going in there with no pressure.

And they have everything they can do to prove all those people wrong, to show everybody, you know what, we are a force to be reckoned with.

That's the underdog advantage.

So the next time that you think to yourself that you can't do it, that you're not as good, that you're not as strong, that you don't have the things going in your life like the other people do, making yourself the underdog, making yourself less likely to succeed.

I want you to remember this episode.

I want you to remember this conversation.

I want you to remember that the underdog is an advantage, not a disadvantage.

Because what I'm talking to you about today is the underdog advantage.

So use it as your motivation, build that support system, focus on what makes you unique, and ultimately become the fiercest, most resilient person you can possibly be.

That's what's possible.

It's all possible for you, for you, my friend, when you adopt the underdog mindset.

My name is Kevin Lowe.

I'm the host of this podcast as well as Transformational Life and Business Coach.

If I can ever be of service to you to help you out with what you've going on in life, maybe you would like to just talk with me as a friend, or maybe you would like to work with me as a coach to help you finally take your troubles and turn them into opportunities.

Well, that's what I'm here for, and that's what I do.

So reach out to me today.

All of my contact information is inside of today's show notes, or you can easily just head on over to my website, gritgraceinspiration.com, where you can find all of my contact information.

And uh hey, I would love to hear from you.

With that said, it's time for you to get out there and take on the day with an underdog mindset.

Hey, real quick before you go, I have one last thought to leave you with.

I of course hope that you've enjoyed today's episode, but more importantly, I want to remind you that I never want you to listen to an episode of this podcast to hear something that I have to say or that my guest has to share, and think, wow, I wish I could be like them.

I wish I could overcome my own challenges and do the great things that they are doing, but I just can't.

Well, friend, that's where you're wrong.

unknown: You're wrong.

SPEAKER_00: You are capable.

You are able, and you darn sure are deserving of having all that you can imagine in this life.

There's nothing special about me or any guests I have on this podcast.

We are all just normal people trying to make it in this life.

And so I encourage you to take a look at yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that you know what?

I can do it too.

Now, of course, if you would like help along that way, reach out to me.

Whether that's as a listener of this podcast, a friend, or if you'd like to work with me as a coach.

My contact information is inside of every episode's show notes, just like this one.

So go down, check out my contact information, and reach out to me today.

With that said, I encourage you to take on the day every day with great, grace, and inspiration.