Twice in the same night I was shown how it’s done! What sucks about it is that it was the same guy making me look like a punk! I was in the back corner of the gym, doing shoulder presses with two thirty pound dumbbells. An older gentleman crossed by the large wall sized mirror in front of me, carrying two eighty-five pound dumbbells. I thought to myself as he was getting ready to bench press them, he will probably only do three or four reps. When he did ten, it silenced the inner skeptic in me. I finished my set and moved on to another exercise. This time I used two forty-five pound dumbbells to do shoulder shrugs. After a set of twelve reps, I lowered the weights to the floor. Later, when I bent down to pick them up again, I couldn’t help but think about how heavy they were. Then along came Mr. 85, only this time, he was carrying a one hundred pound dumbbell in each hand. Are you kidding me? If I picked up a hundred pound dumbbell, my arm might fall off. Needless to say, I didn’t play the role of skeptic this time. He did another set of ten, not to mention he did not toss them down at the end as so many guys do. One word came to mind. Respect!

My opinion of what he was going to do had virtually no impact on what he was capable of doing. My vision for his potential, or the lack thereof, was due to my own ignorance of his abilities. I did not have all the facts. I did not see the countless hours he spent building up to the place where he was in life. I did what so many of us do; formed an opinion with restricted information. There was no doubt he had strength; after all, he was a big guy. I limited his ability because I placed my own limitations on him, as if he couldn’t do it. For me, it was impossible. Luckily for him, all my unbelief didn’t affect him the slightest bit.

That’s how it is with potential. We truly do not know the potential that lies within each person. We rush to make judgments, quickly forming our opinions on what can and cannot be accomplished by others. That is why it takes the efforts of each person to silence the skeptics, to excel where others destined them to fail. I thoroughly enjoy when someone astounds me with their excellence and achievement, especially in the face of my own doubt. It’s truly amazing to rise above the expectations of others, as well as those of ourselves.

His actions silenced my inner critic. But the night wasn’t over yet. When I was leaving the gym, it was heavily raining. Sideways! Monstrous thunder roared and lightning flashed. I didn’t exactly feel like getting soaked. Wouldn’t you know it, along came Mr. 100! I informed him that if we had finished only a few minutes earlier, we would have missed this insane rain. He turned towards me and said, it’s just rain. Outward he launched into the downpour. Following his lead, I lunged out into the rain. Thank you, friend, for showing me how it’s done!