Published on 16, Aug 2022

Devin Davis: What Would Our Crazy World Look Like If Everyone Were Their Own Heroes?

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Devin M. Davis, who is now a successful Business Coach and Senior Credit Specialist, is well-known for his mentorship of young Marines. For over twenty years, he taught leadership and guided servicemen and women through some of the same questions we all face, only juxtaposed against the sacrifices and pressures of a military career. “Those conversations and experiences taught me a lot about people,” Devin recalls, “including that no matter how gifted we all are, many of us are burdened with ghosts that hinder our efforts to live stronger, healthier lives. I often found myself asking the Marine one question: what would happen in their life if they were their own hero?”

The question and its answer, Devin thinks, are vital to the ability of any person to reach their full potential personally and professionally. He is a firm believer that every person has their own unique strengths and can achieve anything they set out to do. 

“However, life happens,” he says. “People have turbulent childhoods and must heal from the trauma. They may make poor choices and have to deal with the fallout. Whatever it is that happens, so often individuals feel paralyzed to effect change in their lives no matter how talented they might actually be.”

This was often what Devin would discover when he was talking to the other Marines. He could see that they had innate leadership skills or the potential to do more and be more, but the weight of their pasts was clinging to them, whispering that they could not, in fact, go forward and were instead destined to fail.

“That’s when I suggested that they be their own heroes,” says Devin. “I encouraged them to step forward and to challenge that false vision of what they could do.”

He also reminded them that the world is always whizzing by us. Time never stops and instead just keeps ticking inexorably whether we act or not. So, as we stand paralyzed with indecision and self-doubts, life continues to pass us by, and we lose opportunities that may never come again. 

“We talked about the reality that very few people, no matter how well-intentioned they might be, will notice that you are standing there frozen, in need of help,” Devin believes. “They are too busy to see you most of the time. That means that when we are stuck, it is on each of us to take the first step and test who we think we are.”

Devin saw many Marines improve their lives when they chose to become their own heroes. “Sometimes it was the guy who was dead-sure that he couldn’t do another pushup, that he was just going to fail if he tried,” he recalls. “Other times, it was someone who was certain that they were worthless because of what they had been told as a child. When each person challenged their own self-perception and took a step beyond it, that was heroic. It meant they were breaking free of their pasts and learning who they really were. That was freedom for them and a blessing for me to witness.”

The importance of being your own hero and transforming your own mentality and life cannot be understated. In the end, the only person who can take that first step, Devin says, is you.

“Listen to your inner dialogue throughout the day and notice what you are telling yourself,” he recommends. “What are those negative ideas or fears that are going through your mind? Be your own hero and choose to find out if they are really true. So often, they are not, and when you discover your true capabilities, that’s when you discover who you really are and can share that gift with the world.” 

Devin M. Davis is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and self-made entrepreneur who has built several successful businesses, including a business coaching company and a financial services business. As the author of Business Credit Secrets and the builder of Boost Score Now, he has taught and studied finance, credit, business, money, motivation and leadership for many years. Devin is using what he knows about attaining success to help more people understand that there really are no elevators to success - only the stairs that they choose to walk up, one step at a time.