Underdogs win
more often than we think. History and current events give us plenty of case
studies. Often, these achievers succeed merely because they refuse to give up.
Persistence
is an incredibly powerful attribute. It’s easy to have dreams and plan to put
them into action. It’s harder to keep pushing for those goals as time goes on. The road to the finish line if often paved
with roadkill, potholes, bumps, and other setbacks.
Undervalued
people know what it is to press against outrageous odds. That may be what helps
them to stay in the race when they’re in last place during the beginning. They
may actually finish ahead of other, more confident people who slowed down—kind
of like the tortoise and the hare.
Ant Man
This is a blockbuster action movie from Disney and Marvel comics. It’s all about broken, undervalued people being given second chances. The hero, Scott Lang, is a newly released convict; a thief. In the beginning, he has challenges with reforming himself.
Dr. Hank
Pym, a scientist who developed some amazing technology, recruits Lang to help
save the world. Pym, himself, is less than perfect. He has been forced out of
his own company, and he’s estranged from his daughter. His former business
colleagues don’t expect much from him at all.
Lang and Pym
work together with Pym’s daughter, Hope, to bring about the downfall of a powerful
man. This opponent wants to use Pym’s technology to further his own cause. He
gravely underestimates the team until the very end, even while they are accomplishing
amazing feats.
I won’t give
you any spoilers. You have to watch the movie to see what happens in the end.
Quotes from Goodreads
about Underdogs
“Even when you have
three strikes, you’re still not out. There is always something else you can do.”
--Tony La Russa, One Last Strike, Fifty
Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and one Final Championship Season
*************
“A winning mindset can transform an underdog into a champion,
conqueror, and achiever. You’re a mindset away from winning your battles!”—Assegid
Habtewold, The 9 Cardinal Building Blocks
: For Continued Success in Leadership
*************
“If you’re an underdog,
mentally disabled, physically disabled, if you don’t fit in, if you’re not as
pretty as the others, you can still be a hero.”—Steve Guttenberg
*************
“Sometimes it takes a
lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, CEO’s, judges,
doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser.”—Criss Jami,
Venus in Arms
My Conclusion
Mark 10:31
says, “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” We find many such
examples in the Bible and the modern sports and entertainment industry. Movies about them are popular, whether they’re
fictional or real.
What sets
these achievers apart? Often, it’s not their beauty, intelligence, or resources—it’s
their determination to succeed at all costs.
Are you prepared
to fight the odds?
