What is it that you think you can’t do?
Years ago I heard a quote from Henry Ford which addressed this very topic. I will paraphrase it as follows:
“If you think you can… you can; if you think you can’t… you can’t. Either way… you’re right!”
Could it be that it is really that simple? According to Henry, it seems like the greatest enemy of success… are these four simple letters “c-a-n-‘t.”
And in many ways, his statement is true… taking for granted, of course, that we back up our belief by acquiring whatever resources we need in order to make it so… and then absolutely working our buns off to achieve it.
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Let’s look at another four-letter word.
Vince Lombardi observed that “Winners never quit… and quitters never win”, and Norman Vincent Peale added that “It is always too early to quit.” I guess when it comes to achieving, “q-u-i-t” is also a concept we’d be best off to avoid.
In fact, rather than avoiding these words, maybe we should just eliminate “can’t” and “quit” from our vocabulary all together.
Or should we? Maybe the trick is just to use them together… can’t quit.
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Last evening, I spoke with a friend of mine. Like most of my friends, he owns and operates his own small business. Just to be sure we’re on the same page, I define “Small Business” as fewer than 100 employees… or, less than $30,000,000 in annual gross revenue.
During our conversation, he admitted that his business was not where he wanted it to be right now.
In his case, though, it’s not so much the economy… but a series of health challenges within his family; in fact, we’re burying his mom tomorrow morning. But because of his ownership stake in life, he’s been able to prioritize… to take care of what’s really most important.
And certainly, over the last few years… the time that he has spent with his family is absolutely priceless… and could never have happened working for someone else.
So, though not building as fast as he’d like too… still, he is building. And, no doubt like the rest of us… he will reach his goals. “I have a long-term perspective…” he said. “I just can’t quit.”
Can’t quit… winners never do.
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