Have you heard of Hasil Adkins? Probably not. But Hasil’s life story has a message for all of us.
Adkins was an entertainer—a musician who played rock and roll, country and the Blues. He never won a Grammy Award, but he was a hero and an inspiration in his own way. Adkins was born in West Virginia in the United States, the youngest of ten children in a family of rather modest means. All his early childhood he chased the dream of becoming a musician—often missing school to spend time banging drums and strumming his guitar. Constantly crunched for cash, he taught himself to repair washing machines and cars so he could earn money to feed his passion for music. True leaders learn to rise above their circumstances. They don’t allow adversity to dampen their dreams of making it big.
What made Adkins an exceptional performer was the fact that he was a one-man band. Simultaneously he would sing, strum the guitar and play the drums—with his feet! That’s not all. He also played the piano and the harmonica, which was slung around his neck. In fact, Adkins would keep an array of instruments around him when he performed, and he played every instrument in every composition he sang. Quite amazing, isn’t it?
Now most of us would struggle to play even a single instrument. We’d probably tell ourselves, ‘I can’t . . . I am not good enough.’ Or we’d probably rationalize, ‘Nobody can play all instruments.’ So how did Hasil Adkins do it?
The story of how Adkins came to play every instrument in each of his songs is even more interesting. As a kid, he was listening to the radio one afternoon. And after a song ended, he heard the radio jockey say ‘. . . and that was Hank Williams’. The young lad assumed he meant that Williams played every instrument in that song! And he began to believe that if he wanted to become a music star, he too needed to be able to play all the instruments. That was it. That belief—that mistaken belief changed his life!
As is the case with all of us, Adkins’s beliefs drove his actions. He started playing every instrument he could lay his hands on. His beliefs transformed his reality. We all have beliefs about what we can do—and more importantly, what we cannot do. We grow up believing in our limitations, our weaknesses. Our beliefs about what we cannot do often limit our achievements. Now imagine what might have been if we believed we could do anything we wanted!
Some of us believe we are not good at math—and the sight of numbers and equations sends a shiver down our spine. If you want to change that, the answer may not lie in math tuition or more practice hours: the change would have to start with a change in our thinking, our beliefs. We might want to run the marathon, but we believe we don’t have the stamina—and so we don’t even try running. Before you start practising for the run, you need to start believing that you can run. If you want to change the outcomes in your life, you need to start by changing your beliefs.
And that’s true for teams too. A leader can help the team achieve its potential by constantly challenging the team members to do more, by stretching them—and helping them break through their limitations and start believing in their abilities. Adkins proved that unlike in the dictionary, in real life, belief comes before ability.
There is a multi-talented Hasil Adkins inside each of us, waiting to play an array of instruments. Primed and ready to do the impossible. The problem is, we don’t believe in ourselves, our abilities.
Ask yourself the question: What is the one thing you would dare to do if you knew you would not fail? What dream would you dare to live if success were guaranteed? Whatever the answer, get to work on it right away. Tell yourself you can do it, that success is guaranteed—100 per cent.
And then watch the magic begin. If Adkins could do it, you can too!
We all have beliefs about what we can do—and more importantly, what we cannot do. We grow up believing in our limitations, our weaknesses. Our beliefs about what we cannot do often limit our achievements. If you want to change the outcomes in your life, start by changing your beliefs.