There is nothing that stops more people than the phrase “I can’t do it!”. I hear it often and feel so bad because it is so self-defeating.
For some things this phrase is true. I am only five feet and ten inches tall and was never an athlete. So when someone challenged me to dunk a basketball through a 10 ft high basket, my response of “I can’t do it!” was both honest and true.
Concepts, ideas, routines, and structures are where I find these words so destructive to our potential. Think of math. So many of us cringe when having to do math. At work, think of something that appears so complex that it is frightening as to whether or not one can master it.
One of my favorite sayings, that I share often with my children when I am trying to build their confidence, is that “brain surgery is easy once you know what you are doing”. Having never been a brain surgeon I could be wrong. It is meant to get my point across to them that nothing is ever as hard as it seems.
Once you understand something it becomes easier. We forget that someone started creating or figuring out what you are about to learn. You might need to start in a simple way and sometimes you may need to see things more than one time before they make sense.
We may need to hear something over and over again before we understand the significance or importance of what we are being told.
Remember – everything is “learnable”. Everything.
To learn requires both our interest and our attention. Every time we say “I can’t do it!” we are building another fence around us. These fences make our lives a little smaller and they cheat us of more possibilities and opportunities as our lives evolve.
We can walk away after we learn more but we should never end something before we explore it further.
Don’t be caught behind another fence that you built without realizing it.
Be confident enough to always try to learn just a little bit more each day. It always takes effort for nothing in life is free. You may be surprised on how much you can learn, do, achieve, and share if only you could give yourself the chance.
There is no better way to become more “child like” as we age than to continue to learn something new each day just as we did (without thinking) when we were young.