Uncredible - The Book (Sample 2)

Early Excerpt 2 Preview - Intro

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The following is an excerpt from a short e-book I’m currently working on called, “Uncredible — The Book: The Art of Becoming Nobody.” In the future, content like this will be reserved for paid subscribers but, for now, please enjoy!

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Uncredible?

Yes, it’s a word. It’s an older word, but it checks out. Some of my geekier readers will appreciate that sorry attempt at humor and cultural reference—uncredible as it may be.

So, what do I mean when I use this word, uncredible? The definition is pretty simple: “Not credible; cannot be believed.”

We all have at least one person in our lives who’s the resident expert on something. They’ve Googled it, watched a YouTube video, or listened to a podcast. We entertain their ramblings because they lighten the mood at family events or help pass the time at work. But let’s be honest—most of the time, we don’t take that person seriously.

Let me give you an example.

In late 2008, I was working as a glorified greeter at Toyota of Orlando in Florida. I’ll call this guy Luis, because I honestly don’t remember his real name. He was originally from Mexico and was a treat to be around. A lot of our days at the dealership were spent shooting the breeze in the lobby, waiting for the next “up.”

An “up” was our turn to greet—and hopefully sell—a car to a customer. On one particularly slow day, about twenty of us were sitting around waiting for someone to walk in. To pass the time, Luis started telling stories. The longer the day dragged on, the more ridiculous and outlandish those stories became.

He was in the middle of a story about being chased by three guys in North Carolina when he noticed the disbelief on one of our coworkers’ faces.

“You don’t believe me?” Luis said.

“Nah, man. Honestly, half your stories sound like bullshit to me,” the other worker replied.

To our surprise, Luis got genuinely offended. The guy who called him out was active in the Army Reserves. While we were all entertained by Luis’s stories, none of us really believed him. That one coworker was just the only one willing to say it.

Luis, by all measurements, was probably not credible.

But I think we can all relate to how Luis felt in that moment. I don’t know if his story was true—it definitely seemed embellished—but what I do know is that the look on his face when someone didn’t believe him was real.

Can you relate to that feeling? That moment when you know something’s true, but nobody believes you because you’re “not credible”—at least not to them?

Being treated as if you don’t have credibility, when you believe you do, can be a painful and disorienting experience.

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Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this excerpt, and are interested in following the development of Uncredible — The Book subscribe to this substack for free. If you’re interested in more behind the scenes or early release content please consider becoming a paid subscriber or an Uncredible Founder. Thanks In Advance!

Music for voice over by Jeremusic70 on Pixabay.