My friend Jules gave me this mug about three years ago, because of our mutual obsession with the TV series ‘Better Call Saul’.
What she doesn’t know is that I use it as a mental pep talk whenever I start to wobble about my ability to do a job. I have my tea in my Saul mug. What would Saul Goodman do?
For those of you who don’t watch the show, Saul Goodman is the alter ego of lawyer Jimmy McGill. Jimmy is insecure, down on his luck, a perpetual loser who continually fails to make it in his profession because he doesn’t have the confidence to let his ingenuity shine. His emotional baggage holds him back. So he invents the Saul Goodman persona (“S’all good man!”) as an escape, a blag, a confidence trick. Saul is the Hyde to Jimmy’s Jekyll. And as soon as Jimmy becomes Saul, his fortunes begin to soar.
OK so he ends up in a criminal underworld and blah blah blah. But, a bit like the Fyre festival documentary, I look at these things and think… if these people can do it with just a little vision and confidence, surely somebody who actually has something great to offer can’t fail? What is holding us back? Only the fear that we can’t.
But we know we can.
We just need that little push of confidence to get to into a project. Once I’ve got my sleeves rolled up and I’m working, in that flow state, nothing can stop me. The fear rolls away and the ideas and excitement come flooding in. That’s the best place in the world to be.
So my trick is this. Do whatever you need to do to get into that sweet spot.
If that means being a little more Saul Goodman today, then do it.