(Warning: this blog post contains mild spoilers for the Netflix series “Daredevil”!)
I draw inspiration for personal development from the strangest places. I’ve previously blogged about taking lessons from a movie about cooking (weird, I know!), but this post about something more up my alley – a Netflix series about a superhero!
I just finished watching the first season of “Daredevil”, and I really enjoyed it. Matt Murdoch/Daredevil (played by Charlie Cox) is great, Foggy Nelson (Eldon Henson) provides comic relief, and the fight scenes are gritty and realistic – exactly what a series set in New York’s Hell Kitchen should be like. But my favourite part of the show is the antagonist, The KingPin (Vincent D’Onofrio knocks it out of the park!).
Kingpin grew up as an overweight, scared boy who was bullied by a father who forced him to stare at a white wall and think about “what kind of man he wants to be”. The boy starts to toughen up, and develops a passion for improving himself and Hell’s Kitchen (albeit a twisted one). He becomes obsessed with this dream, and will let nobody get in his way while he’s working to achieve it.
Although I’m not recommending that you follow Kingpin’s life choices (you’ll know what I mean if you’ve watched the series), you can learn something from his drive. In our lives, we have to make a decision about person that we want to become, and then be obsessed with that dream and willing to do whatever it takes to get there. Kingpin doesn’t let his critics and his enemies (which he has plenty of) get in his way. He plows through life’s obstacles and is driven by the image of himself that was formed by staring at a white wall.
There are a couple of quotes that come to mind while I write this. I reference these often and use them as inspiration:
– “The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me” – Ayn Rand
– “Lions don’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep” – unknown
– “Illegitimi non carborundum (Don’t let the bastards grind you down)” – Latin phrase
A few days ago one of my clients (an awesome coach/speaker without a mean bone in his body) told me that he was attacked online by an anonymous troll. He was curious how he should handle this criticism. I told him to read the book “Thick Face, Black Heart” by Chin-Ning Chu. It has a similar message to the above quotes, and is the perfect antidote to deal with the haters in the world (but if he prefers, he could do a binge-marathon of “Daredevil” and learn something from that show).
Take some time contemplating the person that you want to become, get to work on turning that dream into reality and ignore the naysayers!
