This is probably the most well-known personal development quote of all time.
It’s by Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company, and he was right.
If you think you can, you can, or you will, or you’ll at least have a go…
If you think you can’t, you can’t so you usually won’t.
You won’t even try.
You won’t make any attempt at all.
You’ll give yourself a thousand different reasons (excuses) why it’s just not possible for “someone like you” and you’ll not even bother having a go.
Our beliefs about ourselves and our potential make or break us.
They are incredibly powerful.
In most cases our beliefs about ourselves are very rarely true.
That’s why we call them limiting beliefs.
They limit what’s possible for us.
We’re often capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for.
But we don’t try because we have a belief that we can’t.
There’s no fuel behind an I can’t.
There’s an immense amount of fuel behind a strong I CAN.
A positive mindset and a belief in ourselves are two of the most important things we can ever cultivate in life.
Because with them, we’ll have a go at most things.
And who knows what we might achieve or discover?
Some lucky people have these inherently within them.
But most of us don’t…we have the complete opposite.
It’s 100% possible to turn your life around, no matter how old (or young) you are, and irrespective of how bad your original circumstances have been.
100% possible.
This week I attended a wonderful motivational speaking event.
The speaker was called Richard McCann.
This is my third time at one of Richard’s events.
He’s an amazing guy.
I met him around 10 years ago, when he was first starting his motivational work and his story absolutely blew me away.
He’s a dancer too 🙂
Occasionally he’ll attend a salsa event that I’m at and we’ll dance together.
I won’t give Richard’s story away, in case you’d like to attend one of his talks.
But needless to say when he was 5 years old one of the most shocking, tragic things that could ever happen happened to him.
He had one of the worst childhoods imaginable.
Richard also has bright ginger hair (many, many gingers suffer rough treatment in school).
This combination led to a childhood of severe bullying and cripplingly low self-esteem.
He felt worthless, tainted, and nowhere near good enough.
He had a series of dead-end jobs, (because he thought that’s all he deserved) a short stint in prison (for a drug incident) and a hard, hard early life, not believing in himself at all.
Two things Richard did have were a great work ethic and an upbeat, chatty personality.
Because of this he attracted mentors – his English teacher in school and the supervisor at his first “proper” job.
His English teacher had persuaded him to enter a speaking competition at school and he won.
His supervisor encouraged him to have some therapy, so he could move on from his past and it changed his life.
He finally started to have some belief in himself and turn his life around.
He’s since invested in further coaching.
Richards marketing is a bright ginger (orange) ICan.
It’s a play on his name McCann but it’s also a constant reminder of what’s possible if we believe we CAN.
Richard has turned his life around in the most amazing ways possible, now speaking to thousands and thousands of people all over the world.
He even gave a sold out talk in the hotel where 10 years before he’d been washing dishes as a lowly kitchen porter.
His story is very clear evidence that with that right belief in yourself, you can transform beyond your wildest dreams.
If we repeat the phrase I can and I will, I can and I will, I can and I will as a mantra to ourselves, we will gradually reprogramme our subconscious minds.
If we do it with some oomph and emotion, it will speed up the process.
Doing this regularly and consistently can change a negative belief into a positive one.
It sounds too simple, but lots of the best ideas are this simple.
Your subconscious mind is incredibly powerful, but you must train it in the right way.
Most of the programming we received 0-7 was not positive.
It most certainly did NOT give most of us an I CAN mentality.
In a lot of cases, it gave us the complete opposite.
If we don’t make a conscious effort to change this programming, it will run our lives forever.
It will be our automatic pilot until we die.
If we want to be, do or have something we don’t currently, we need to change our programming.
We need to transform our beliefs and habits about ourselves and that thing.
We need to create a programme in our mind that makes us believe that we absolutely CAN be, do or have whatever it is.
Even if there’s no evidence whatsoever that it’s possible for us.
When Richard was washing dishes in that hotel kitchen, there was no evidence whatsoever that 10 years down the line he would be commanding the stage in front of hundreds of people a few floors above.
But he kept dreaming and re-programming.
Dreaming and re-programming.
Dreaming and re-programming.
His ICan attitude turned his life around spectacularly.
And it can do the same for you.
If you’re not currently a daydreamer, I wholeheartedly encourage you to start.
I’m a right dolly daydream.
I always have been.
And nowadays nobody is going to tell me I have to stop.
If I want to float off in my head and visualise being, doing or having something different all day long I will…and I do…every day!
And so can you.
Changing our belief comes first.
With that belief changed, we can then go on to take action.
That way, we’re taking action from a very different place.
What goals and desires do you have?
What lifelong dreams do you have that just won’t go away?
They pull on your heart and soul and niggle away in the background of your life.
Those dreams are meant to be.
They were put into your heart for a reason.
Fulfilment and life satisfaction are hiding within those dreams.
Richard was wise enough to follow his mentor’s advice and have some therapy and then further coaching.
He recognised that it’s not easy to do this journey alone.
It changed the trajectory of his life.
Would you like it to do the same for you?
I’m here when you’re ready 🙂
Much Love
Christina xx