How to Bet on Yourself

When I sign copies of You Are Capable of More, I usually write the same line: always bet on yourself. It is short, but it carries most of what I believe about growth. Nobody else can make that bet for you, and most of the good things in my own life came after I made one.

I had a great job at a company I loved, working with people I enjoyed. I could have seen myself retiring there. Then I decided to go to a startup with no processes and no training manual. I pulled from my savings and my retirement to buy ownership, and I signed the office lease knowing I was liable if anything went wrong. If it failed, it would affect my family. Staying would have been comfortable. But the ceiling in that building had become lower than the ceiling I believed was inside of me. Wearing every hat at a young company, I grew in ways I never would have otherwise, and that bet turned into helping grow the company 10x in two years. I also wrote a book in whatever downtime I could find, without knowing whether anyone would read it. Neither bet was a sure thing. Both were worth it.

What betting on yourself actually means

It does not mean being reckless or ignoring risk. It means being willing to invest in what you could become before you have proof. That might be applying for a role you are not sure you are ready for, starting a project on the side, going back to school, raising your hand for a stretch assignment or having a conversation you have been avoiding.

The cost of not betting

We tend to measure the risk of trying and ignore the risk of staying. But staying has a cost too. It is quieter, so it is easy to miss: the role you never applied for, the idea you never shared, the years spent at the edge of your comfort zone. I call that the comfort ceiling, and it is where most people stop. See The Comfort Ceiling.

In a survey for my book, 92% of people said they are capable of more than they are doing today. Most of them are waiting for permission or certainty that is never going to come. I wrote about that in Tiny Buddha, Tiny Buddha: Doing Fine Was Holding Me Back.

Bet on others too

If you lead people, part of your job is to bet on them before they are ready to bet on themselves. Some of the best people I have hired or promoted were people nobody else would have picked. Someone believed in me early in my career, and I try to pass that on. See How to Hire for Traits Over Experience.

This is the heart of my signature keynote, You Are Capable of More, and the book behind it, which is my personal mission too: a no-excuses guide to becoming your best self.