Why You Need to Give The Benefit of the Doubt

You cannot accomplish anything great in life without other people.

Can not.

It takes the dedicated efforts of many.

It takes a great team...

It takes a great family...

It takes a great culture...

It takes a great society...

You will never be able to do it alone.

It's your job to find as many people as you can to start rowing the boat in the same direction.

...but finding these people and knowing who to trust can be difficult.

The truth is...

At first, you won't know who to trust.

But if you're ever going to find the people you can trust...

You have to give the benefit of the doubt.

What Does It Mean to "Give The Benefit of the Doubt?"

Giving the benefit of the doubt is placing face-value trust in another person with limited knowledge of who they are.

It's leading with the assumption that they can be trusted until proven otherwise.

Does that mean you actually have to trust these people?

No ... But you have to act as you do.

It's about giving trust to get trust.

...and as a leader, it's a necessary component to establish trust with your team.

Real trust must be earned.

When you give the benefit of the doubt...

You are giving that person an opportunity to earn your trust.

Benefit of The Doubt Vs. Trust

If you had a friend who constantly made promises only to never deliver on them...

What would you think of that person?

Do you think you would feel confident in their ability to do anything?

Do you think you would trust this person?

Of course not ... but why?

Because they haven't given you any reason to trust or believe in them.

The evidence is in their inability to keep their promises.

What do you think this person would have to do to earn your trust?

They would have to keep their promises consistently over the course of time.

The same can be said about earning the trust and respect of yourself.

Nobody is going to trust you or believe you until your words and actions are aligned.

By maintaining this commitment over the course of time...

You are giving people a reason to trust you.

In order to allow other people the opportunity to build trust with you...

You have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Building Loyalty

If you're serious about building yourself and your life into something of true greatness...

You need others.

...But not just anyone.

You need people who are invested in your goals.

You need people who will push you.

You need people who will drop everything and show up when you need it most.

That's loyalty ... and it should be your ultimate goal.

Every great brand...

Every great culture...

Every great movement...

Every great team...

Every single one of them was built on the foundation of loyalty.

They are products of people who committed themselves to the same mission and collectively worked together to bring it to life.

This loyalty can't be established if you never give the benefit of the doubt.

It also can't be established if you are not loyal to them first.

Most leaders fail to understand that it's a two way street, which is one of the reasons why most leaders aren't good leaders.

You also have to earn trust.

You also have to keep the promises you make.

You also have to make sure your words and actions are aligned.

Keep that in mind.

Give the benefit of the doubt.

More people may end up surprising you than you think.

Ditch The Anchors, Grab Some Propellers

The best relationships are the ones that push you to reach your goals.

They’re the relationships that propel you to become the best version of yourself.

The worst relationships are the ones that keep you from reaching your goals.

They're the relationships that anchor you in place and leave you dead in the water.

...and when it comes to achieving anything of real significance...

You have to ditch the anchors and grab some propellers.

These people won't just fall in your lap.

It's up to you to cast a dream that's big enough to inspire them.

It's up to you to earn their trust and loyalty.

It's up to you to give them the benefit of the doubt to earn trust and loyalty from you.

Just understand that if you're ever going to be loyal to your goals and other people...

You have to be loyal to yourself first.

That means delivering on the promises you make to yourself and becoming someone you're capable of trusting.

That's anything but easy.

Some days are going to be tests that will require all of your strength.

If you want to build yourself into someone who's capable of keeping your promises...

Executing at a high level...

...and winning in every area of your life...

You need mental toughness.

This is a skill you must build ... and one that will serve as the foundation upon which every other skill is built.

Confidence.

Self-Belief.

Self-Worth.

Fortitude.

Grit.

These are just some of the many skills that mental toughness will help you develop.

If you want to learn how to harness the power of mental toughness and take complete control of your life for good ... Get my book, The Book on Mental Toughness.

This book is meant to be a resource you can come back to over the course of your life to sharpen this skill.

What you choose to do with it is on you...

But this book will show you how to determine the literal outcome of your life.

Get The Book on Mental Toughness now.