The Magic of "I Think I Can"

 

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!

(Photo--Text: Watty Piper, Illustrations: Lois Lenski - Print Magazine)