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The very first time I was invited to give a speech in my capacity as a trial consultant, to a large and very impressive (gulp!) group of lawyers, I was so terrified, die-hard introvert that I am, that I couldn't lift my eyes off the totally scripted pages of my speech. As I waited for my turn to speak, what kept going through my mind was a saying I learned as a toddler: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can," which, oddly enough, soothed me such that even though my eyes never connected with my audience, I made it through the ordeal. And like the little engine that could, I ended my day with "I can!"
For
those of you who didn't have the benefit of the early children's classic, "The
Little Engine That Could," it is where that saying
comes from. I can't count how many times, to this day, the mantra of "I
think I can" has pulled me through challenges both feared and hoped for.
And it can do the same for you.
Like
that promotion you want but can't summon the courage to ask for. Or that
special someone you want to connect with, but are afraid to approach. Or that
new hobby you want to try, but doubt you'll be any good at. As the marvelously
successful Henry Ford once said: "If you think you can, you can. And if
you think you can't, you're right."
What
positively damning words! We are truly our own worst enemies. Most of the time,
that thing, whatever it is, that we don't think we can do or be or have, could
be ours, in some fashion, some way, if we but go for it. Yet we stop ourselves from
thinking that we can't be, do, or have whatever it is--so we never try.
How
very sad.
Life
is for the living of it! "I think I can" goes a long way toward
supporting us in whatever might thrill us. Try it. You might surprise yourself.
I know I did!
