The Secret of Paul Potts
Like the often cruel Simon Cowell, people love success stories. And, Paul Potts is one of those come-from-behind success stories that people continue to talk about. I first heard of him a week ago when I received Cheryl Richardson’s weekly ezine. He was a cellphone salesman (no longer!) from South Wales who decided to take a deep breath and enter Britain’s Got Talent, the UK version of American Idol. 
At Round #1 (the 3ish minute clip available to the world outside of the UK; thank you YouTube!), Potts tells the camera, “My dream is to spend my life doing what I feel like I was born to do…”. When Amanda asks Potts, “Paul, what are you here for, Paul…”, Potts replies,
“To sing opera”. The wincing begins and the viewer feels a little sick for Paul Potts. Potts, an overweight, not particularly dashing 36-year old guy with bad teeth and a sweet smile. He nods to the tech gal and so it begins.
Early in the clip Potts tells the camera, “Confidence has always been a difficult thing for me.…I’ve always found it a little bit difficult being completely confident in myself.” And, who hasn’t? Confidence can be a rather elusive element within us. How do we get it; where does it come from; why do some have it and others clearly lack it? One of the ways to get more of it, as Potts so eloquently illustrates, is to take a risk…a big one, in Potts’ case but it needn’t be large. Any old risk will immediately flush us full of confidence. Whether it lasts or not, depends on what we do with next. If we continue to take risks, we will become more confident. If we stop, we won’t. Staying safe, swaddled in beige and vanilla, won’t help us become more confident. Confidence demands risk-taking and other authentic self actions.
Where can you take a Paul Potts-style risk?