Jim Valvano wasn’t yet out of high school when he first told his dad he had decided what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He wasn’t just going to be a collegiate basketball coach, he said: “Dad, I’m going to win a national championship.”
A few days after Jim told his dad about his dream, his dad called him into his bedroom. “See that suitcase?” his father asked, pointing to the luggage in the corner. Confused, Jim replied, “Yeah, what’s that all about?” “I’m packed,” his dad explained. “When you play and win that national championship I’m going to be there. My bags are already packed.”
“My father,” Jim would later say in his legendary ESPY speech, “gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.”
Have you given this gift to your children? Our job is to spur our children to conceive of big dreams, to encourage them to go after them, to give them the greatest gift anyone can give another person: belief. Because if you don’t believe in them, who will?