What Lucille Ball Can Teach Us About Audacious Belief

If I could go back in time, I would go to a taping of the I Love Lucy show.

I would’ve loved to watch everyone performing a craft in an exciting new medium, before anyone knew what television would become.

I’ve long admired Lucy for not just her comedic talents, but her perspective on her career. By her own admission, she was not a funny person. In fact, she said in several interviews that she’s quite serious.

I came across an interview that captures this perfectly.

I think history has often missed the lessons Lucille Ball could teach us about believing in something much bigger than you.

Because she was funny, I think she stayed under the radar for the harder lessons of what they were actually building.

According to this interview, she was just enjoying the ride and not planning any more ahead than what they could see.

The cast didn’t think the show would last more than a year or two. Lucy thought the show would be something fun to share with their kids as a home movie.

Yet they created a show that changed television.

Her husband, Desi Arnaz, pioneered the three-camera setup that changed how sitcoms were filmed. But they weren’t thinking about legacy. They were just solving the problem in front of them.

They didn’t have any real expectations, so it was all a big surprise when it did so well. Lucy said it was about the work, and that they were happy in their work.

This is what Audacious Belief™ actually looks like. It’s not a vision board with a mapped-out path or having a “confident feeling” that you’ll succeed.

It’s believing enough in the work in front of you to keep doing it, even when you can’t see where it’s going.

“When you’re doing bigger than life things that are unbelievable, you have to believe. So you’re believing unbelievable things. And you have to use a childlike quality daily to get through that and make it honest.”
— Lucille Ball

Check out the whole interview here on Facebook,