Belief is the number one factor in determining if someone is going to achieve a goal or not. There is a famous quote that goes, “whether we think we can’t or we think we can, we are right.” Disbelief in oneself can be destructive and debilitating. But when a belief is strong enough, we can achieve the impossible. Even something as crazy as finding a treasure buried over ten years ago that everyone said was a hoax. This is what Jack Steuf did last year looking for Forrest Fenn’s buried treasure.
Fenn was an art collector who lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He had a thrill for adventure and a true love for the outdoors. In 2010, Fenn allegedly took a treasure chest containing at least $1 million dollars in gold and jewels and buried it in the Rocky Mountains. Soon after that, he published a memoir called The Thrill of the Chase, which included a poem and map as clues to the treasure’s location, seen below.
For ten years, people searched for that treasure, and to no avail. Steuf originally heard about the treasure hunt in 2018 and he immediately was hooked. He had also heard about the four or five deaths that have happened to people searching for the treasure since the hunt began. This did not stop him. Finally in 2020, at an undisclosed location in Wyoming, he found it! It took him two years of tireless searching while many people doubted the treasure existed in the first place.
Nothing about the hunt was easy. There were many times where he felt like giving up. He went to the location that he found the treasure over twenty times previously without finding it. That last trip changed his life forever! Three major factors helped him push through the hard times:
1) Belief that the treasure was out there.
Drive comes from us longing for something. For Steuf, that something was treasure. For others, that something may be to become a professional athlete or make it as an actor. We must believe that the end goal is really out there before we start the search.
2) Belief that he would find the treasure.
If Steuf thought he would come up empty, he never would have looked in the first place. This is the same for anyone trying to achieve a dream or a goal. If we doubt ourselves because of what people say or our own internal dialogue, we stop pushing as hard for our dreams. It is a safety mechanism that kicks in and says, “wait, we might get hurt here.”
3) Belief that it would be worth it when he found it.
The treasure must be worth the wait. Time is the most valuable resource in the world. If we are going to devote time and energy to a goal, we have to know it will be worth it. After all the blood, sweat, and tears, the top of the mountain will be worth every bit of the climb.
If you can maintain these three beliefs, your goals will manifest themselves in time. The internal dialogue may waiver from time to time, but your core beliefs will stay the same. A strong belief system leads to higher achievement! I hope you find what you are searching for and believe in yourself along the way!
