Think about that statement for a minute. How often do we tell ourselves we “can or can’t” do something? I’d say we are constantly giving ourselves messages – positive and negative. Henry Ford is correct. If we think we “can” do something, usually we can and will. If we tell ourselves we are unable to do something, we likely won’t be able to.
I am a firm believer in having and maintaining a good and positive attitude. Our attitude has so much to do with how we approach things and how successful we are in every aspect of our lives. If you watch young children, you will likely notice that most of them are not afraid to try new things. Most of them have a very high level of self-confidence. Sometimes it amazes me when I see how much a young child believes in himself/herself. When does that change? When do we lose that positive attitude and belief that we can meet the challenges we face?
Self-talk is a very powerful tool. Pay attention to the things you say to yourself. If we feed ourselves positive self-talk, telling ourselves we can do things and we are capable humans, we will likely feel more confident and be more successful (and probably happier!). Also, when we don’t feel completely successful, we will be able to try again without losing confidence in our abilities. If we feed ourselves negative self-talk, telling ourselves we can’t do something or we are not good enough, smart enough, or we are unable to be successful, sadly, that will probably be our self-fulfilling prophecy. I never thought much about my self-talk until I took my classes to become a school counselor. After a class where we discussed this, I started noticing my own self-talk, and to this day, I call myself out when I catch that negative self-talk in my head.
Believe in yourself! Tell yourself you CAN do it! Fill yourself with positive self-talk, and when you catch yourself feeding your soul negative comments (and most of us do on occasion), turn that talk around to the positive! Don’t be afraid to try new things. Everyone who is super successful has faced trials, challenges and what they would call “failures.” But as long as you get up one more time than you fall, you will succeed. A positive, “can do” attitude will carry you far! I love the name of our organization- ICAN! Is there a more positive name for an organization out there? And our website: icansucceed.org. ICANSUCCEED. What a positive message that gives! When that negative self-talk or attitude creeps into your head, remember us and repeat to yourself – ICAN……. ICANSUCCEED. It just may do the trick!
