Are You The 'Underdog'? | Open Doors and Opportunity

Sylvester Stallone is a bad ass.

The guy just understands the struggle.

The guy was so broke at one point he reportedly even sold his dog.

He used his early experience to write several of the best stories in the history of cinema.

Have you ever lived and breathed something? Ever been the underdog?

I think Sylvester Stallone actually started the whole "started from the bottom now we're here" thing with Rocky. At least, when I was young.

Rocky was the underdog fighter who no one believed in and the dude couldn't even get the dweeb girl who worked in the pet store on the corner.

No one loved the guy. No one even cared.

They wouldn't miss him if he was the last thing on earth. No one believed.

As a result all he believed was his entire job wasn't to be great - wasn't to do anything special - it was just to ... be.

And then he was given an opportunity.

And after he didn't know anything else. He lived and breathed that fight.

Rambo followed.

Rambo was a loser. The most lost of all lost losers.

A Vietnam nothing that no one cared about.

Rambo wasn't loved. No one cared. Least of all the sheriff in the small town he had gone to to pay respects to one of his fallen soldier friends.

The sheriff spent the entire movie trying to kill the dude.

Rambo was reluctant to take on the cops. They were clearly in the wrong - but it was a fight he didn't want.

But he was the underdog and he took the fight to them.

Juxtapose that with Maverick - the run away out of control pilot played by Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

He was over confident - meant to be a hero. No one loved him. He was still an underdog.

He wasn't supposed to be the best.

No one wanted to give him a shot. But no one could deny his talent.

His single focus was on being the best pilot he could be. His only passion was flying that plane.

(Same as when he played a race car driver in Days of Thunder)

The story of Eminem may have been a little embellished - but 8 Mile was a great movie.

Here's this kid in the middle of the slums of Detroit who ultimately rises to be the best selling rapper of all time. And not one single person, including his whacked out mother, even gave him a chance.

His future was the mill. Factory work.

It wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

Sure, he could have the girl - but he couldn't have himself if he couldn't achieve his dream. His goal. What he wanted.

Eminem rose to the top of the world. Out of nothing.

A lot of rappers do that. You listen to what they say in their songs - a lot of the true one's just tell about their life. Nothing more.

Rudy - Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger was a nothing of a runt meant to spend his life in the mill with his father and older brother.
The Replacements - Keanu plays a washed up quarterback.
Kung Fu Panda - Love it. A ridiculously out trained bear takes on the greatest fighter of all time. One so dangerous he needs a special cave and over 1,000 guards at all times.
Seabiscuit had more underdogs I lost count! A horse and a kid and an old guy who succeeded and failed and succeeded and lost a song and failed again ... It's a great movie.

And of course, the best and greatest loser of all time who's nothing more than the world's greatest champion, The Dude - Jeffrey Lebowski. The Big Lebowski.

And on and on and on.

All of these people are inspirational because they are the underdog of the story - and they have a singular focus on the one thing that they love and have the passion for the most.

They aren't giving up. They aren't quitting. They aren't through.

And I'll tell you a secret -- every one of them attracts the same kind of people who have the same kind of passion they have for whatever thing it is they are passionate about.

Trainers. Coaches. Mentors.

What is your passion?

What is it you wake up and want to do more than anything else in life you want to do?

What is it that inspires you?

Open Doors and Opportunity inspires me.

The reason I like those movies so much is this:

They show the truth that we are NOT constrained by anything other than those things we allow ourselves to be constrained by.

Whether ourselves, outside opinion, lack of resources, or the environment in which we live - nothing can hold us back.

Nothing.

Even if we only have a moment to shine, we will all have our shining moment.

That's what those movies are about. That's why I like them.

How many can you name?