A Father’s Words of Wisdom #3: Never Say ‘I can’t.’

I don’t remember when he first said it, and I certainly don’t remember the circumstances. This was a consistently delivered lesson on acceptable verbiage: On more than a few occasions during my childhood, my father said, “I don’t want to hear you saying ‘I can’t’ anymore. Alright?”

The demand sounded unreasonably strict at the time, but–as I’ve mentioned previously–I generally listened to pop when he took that tone with me. As a result, I learned to find more positive ways to describe situations involving seemingly insurmountable odds, allowing me to focus my energies completely on strategies for success.

There aren’t so many situations in which I take on an authoritarian tone with students, family or friends, but this is one piece of sage advice I never hesitate to advocate with conviction……..because life is simply too short to be wallowing in defeatism and self-doubt.

You might be familiar this famous poem:

The Man Who Thinks He Can

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but think you can’t
It’s almost a cinch you won’t
If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will;
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you’re outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.

Walter D. Wintle