Belief as Power Source: What You Empower, Grows.
My wife caught me staring off into space the other day.
She looked at me and said, “Hey. Where are you right now?”
I laughed and told her, “I’m in the future. I’m building it in my head first.”
I wasn’t zoning out. I was trying on a new life in my imagination—walking through what we’re building, where it could go wrong, what pressure points might show up, and how I’d handle them. I was walking around inside a future that doesn’t exist yet, on purpose, because I’ve learned something:
If I don’t believe in that future first, I’ll never act like the man who can build it.
That’s what belief is at its core: not just a feeling, not just a thought, but a power source.
To the exact extent that you believe something, you empower it—for good or for bad.
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How I Practiced My Way Out of Prison
This isn’t some cute mindset trick I picked up off Instagram.
This is literally how I got myself out of prison.
Back then, at count time, when everything went still, I’d sit on my bunk and leave that cell in my mind. I’d see myself walking out a gate that wasn’t open yet. I’d see myself clocking in at a job, talking to my kids, shaking hands with people who didn’t know my DOC number—just my name.
I didn’t just see the highlight reel; I watched the hard parts too:
I’d imagine cravings hitting and me saying no.
I’d imagine someone disrespecting me and me walking away.
I’d imagine being frustrated, tired, broke—and still not going back to the old life.
And I’d ask myself, Who do I have to become to handle all that?
That mental work didn’t change my sentence. It didn’t magically open doors. But it did slowly shift what I believed was possible. Before I ever got out, I started to believe something dangerous (in a good way):
“Maybe I’m not just an inmate or an addict. Maybe I’m capable of rebuilding.”
When you practice that kind of belief long enough, it stops feeling like fantasy and starts feeling like responsibility. You begin to feel, “If this future is possible, then I owe it to myself—and everyone I’ve hurt—to show up for it.”
That’s the power of belief.
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Belief as Permission
Here’s the part most of us underestimate:
Belief is permission.
It’s not just “what I think.”
It’s what I quietly allow myself to be, do, and have.
If, deep down, I believe:
• “I don’t deserve a healthy relationship,” I’ll tolerate chaos and push away peace.
• “I’m just an addict/criminal,” I’ll stay in circles and situations that match that.
• “People like me don’t get ahead,” I’ll never fully commit to the work that could move me forward.
On the flip side, if I believe:
• “I am capable of rebuilding,” I’ll give myself permission to learn, mess up, and try again.
• “I’m allowed to be healthy,” I’ll protect my sleep, my sobriety, my boundaries.
• “I’m worthy of respect,” I’ll stop allowing people—and systems—to treat me like trash.
Same person. Same history.
Different permission level.
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Living It in the Mind First
So when my wife asked, “What’s going on in there?” I wasn’t just fantasizing.
I was doing the same thing I did in that cell at count time:
• Running scenarios of the future I’m building.
• Spotting the pitfalls: stress, temptation, old patterns.
• Deciding ahead of time how I’m going to respond.
• Convincing myself that I am the kind of man who can handle it.
That’s how you move belief from a cute quote on the wall to something that actually powers your life. You don’t just think about the future; you mentally rehearse living in it. You walk around in it in your mind until your whole system starts to say:
“OK. This is who we are now. This is what we do.”
From there, action gets a little easier. Not easy—but easier. Because you’re no longer acting against your belief; you’re acting from it.
My life didn’t change because the system suddenly got fair.
It changed because, sitting on a bunk at count time, I started to believe in a man I hadn’t met yet—and then I started acting like I might actually become him.
So I’ll leave you with this:
What belief are you empowering right now—
and is it one you actually want to live out?