Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Obviously, one cannot always do what one thinks one can . . . and often what one thinks one cannot do, one can. But that to which Henry Ford was referring is attitudinal factors that have much to do with how we live our lives.
Many years ago in the company of Lee Haney, bodybuilding’s Mr. Olympia and one of the most gigantic and heavily muscled men to ever walk the planet, I heard him say: “Your body will never go where your mind doesn’t go first.” The context of his comment was weightlifting. If you look at 400 pounds and think that you couldn’t possible lift it, you won’t even try. But Haney’s statement is applicable to much of life.
One won’t always accomplish a goal or task simply by trying. But NOT reaching said goal is guaranteed if one doesn’t even try. NHL great Wayne Gretzky once quipped: “I miss 100 percent of the shots I don’t take.” Reason and prudence come into play, or at least should. But either a can-do or can’t-do mindset is very often what leads to achievement or unfulfillment.
Last quote, from John Powell: “We live as we think.” That might seem an obvious truism, but over the years I’ve had associations with many people who are simply not connecting the dots. If one desires changes in one’s life, more often than not the initial change needs to be in the way one thinks.
Way back when, I knew that I could never do a weightlifting squat with four hundred pounds. After years of training – both body and mind – I actually did it. While weightlifting is a mundane and relatively meaningless example, it serves to illustrate the power the mind has over our lives. If you think you can, at least you’ll try.
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