Every time you say the words “I can’t” one person doubts. Every time you say the words “I can” one person believes. Choose your words wisely.
I was thinking about the words ‘I can’t’ and there’s not a whole lot that erks me more in this particular way, as when I hear those words. I was thinking of something that would make sense that would help people understand why those words hold what they do (in which I’ll be explaining shortly). I wrote an email about these words and this quote came out so I wanted to explain more so in a post. I truly believe this quote, that’s why I wrote it. Soon you’re going to see a poster with these words on it, you can bet on that.
Words hold power, there is power in words, there is energy in words. How people say something, when they say it and how they choose the ‘present’ what they have to say all makes a big difference not only in their lives but in others.
I don’t accept these words in my classes. I don’t accept these words in my life. WE get to choose what we allow and what we don’t allow and what affects us in everyday life.
‘I can’t’ is a frame of mind and that’s it. If you sit there and repeat ‘I can’t’ you can bet one thing for sure, you’ll be right. Henry Ford said ‘weather you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right’. I’m sure everyone heard that one. I’m not talking about any magical statements, or visions or attractions. I’m talking about reality. Let’s be real here, no one has ever accomplished something by starting with the words, ‘I can’t’.
If I’m sitting in a room of competitors/athletes/students, what have you (doesn’t matter much) and someone is pronouncing out loud ‘I CAN’T’, what do you think happens to the other competitors. I’ll tell you…..doubt. Once you instil doubt in anyone’s mind, you’re looking for trouble if you’re trying to accomplish something, especially something of importance. If anyone hears certain words over and over again they’re going to start believing them.
Why do you think we have such a low regard for ourselves? Why do we have a ‘big head’ if we are confident? Why are we overconfident if we think and expect more of ourselves? Why is our self esteem so low? I can tell you exactly why. At some point in our lives we began to believe those ‘haters’, we began to believe those that wanted to hold us back, those that didn’t want us to get further than them. Doesn’t matter who it was, could be our best friends for all we know, it is certainly our parents at times, teachers, siblings or other family members. ‘You’re stupid’, you’re ugly, you’re not good at math’. I’m telling you for a fact the only reason you/we are not a good at those things is because at some point in our lives we began to believe what someone else has instilled in our minds.
A baby doesn’t know how to fail. Ever think of that one? What if a baby was told to stop trying, ‘you’re not good at walking anyways’ if a baby could understand that and believed they couldn’t, we’d all be crawling around instead of walking.
Going back to ‘I can’t’, the power and energy that these and words alike hold is astounding, the whole atmosphere could change in a room.
To prove if that statement is true all we have to do is look at any of the great leaders in our world. Look at all the positive affects they’ve had on people by their words. Great speakers like JFK, or Martin Luther King, inspired MILLIONS, those were with words, others lead by actions but to stay with my point, when these people spoke they had such a presence that people believed. Which only leads me to my conclusion that it doesn’t matter who says what, at some point, if words are repeated enough, they will hold that power and people will believe (positive or negative).
So once again, that’s why I don’t accept those words around me (not that I do anything about it besides leave if it frequently happens) but I try to help others around me that want to learn from me, something as simple as a few words could make a whole lot of difference. And you’re not only affecting yourself, you’re affecting those around you.
So choose your words wisely and remember, “Every time you say “I can’t”, one person doubts. Every time you say “I can”, one person believes.”