When I first learned this simple statement from Gay Hendricks, I have to be honest, it didn’t stick.  It seemed too easy to say, and too hard to implement.  Could I really just choose to think “I can” over “I can’t?”  I thought about that for some time.  It finally clicked for me when I added two words: because and if.  So, for me this simple statement now reads like this:

Before you say “I can’t because”, you pass by “I can if.”

This thought process has worked for me in business, and in life.

In times of struggle or doubt, turn your focus from the obstacles to success and instead focus on the means to overcome the obstacles.

In the last thirty days I was overwhelmed with two major opportunities and obstacles.

–          My son was accepted into a competitive private high school that is not within driving distance.  We now need to sell our house and move.

–          My first book The Leadership GPS was published. I have learned that books don’t sell without the author investing significant resources into its promotion.

If there was ever a time to focus in on “I can” this was it.  Thankfully, also over the last thirty days my daughter has been rehearsing every day for a speech competition.  Her choice for her speech could not have been more timely.

It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar Allen Guest; enjoy.

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “couldn’t be done,” and you’ll do it.