(Look for this week’s #ThursdayThoughtfulness questions after the jump.)
This Week’s Questions: How would you answer Henry Ford’s question? What happens when you believe you can do something? How about when you have the opposite mentality? Is one more helpful than the other when it comes to achieving goals? What other thoughts did you have when you read this quote?
Follow #ThursdayThoughtfulness at the blog and on Twitter at 11:00 AM Eastern. Feel free to spread the thoughtfulness by reblogging this post, writing your own post on this topic, or sharing the quote image on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Sara Letourneau 
I think when you believe you CAN do something, your failures don’t weigh on you as much as they would otherwise. When you start believing that you can’t, you’re immediately discouraged and when something goes wrong, you think, “See? I knew this would happen. I knew I would fail.” If you believe you can, you’re able to brush it off and keep moving forward. And see those failures as a lesson.
It’s hard to make yourself believe you can sometimes, though!
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It definitely can be hard sometimes – especially when you’re prone to negative thinking or struggling with confidence in yourself. Then it requires a real effort to put yourself in the right mindset to believing you CAN do it. And I agree with your points on how people with either mentality react to failure. It’s easier to see failures as lessons you can build on when you have a can-do attitude.
Thanks for stopping by, Rachel! 🙂
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I was just talking to someone the other day about how you can’t go into a situation thinking it’s impossible or you can’t do it, because you’ll end up proving yourself right.
When it comes to writing, I work very hard at not giving that voice that says I won’t make it as an author a chance to speak. That’s not to say it doesn’t get in a lot of other zingers that bring down my confidence from day to day.
There is something to be said about the power of thinking you can’t do something. It may not be a conscious decision, but that thought alone sets off other actions, like not giving something everything you have to give it.
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^^ Yes, it does. The moment you think you can’t do something, it kills everything inside you – motivation, courage, desire, persistence – that would help you achieve that something. And when the voices of “can” and “can’t” go back and forth in your head, it can almost be as discouraging as letting the “can’t” voice win. You just aren’t sure enough of yourself as you’d like to be.
“When it comes to writing, I work very hard at not giving that voice that says I won’t make it as an author a chance to speak. That’s not to say it doesn’t get in a lot of other zingers that bring down my confidence from day to day.”
That happens to me, too.
Sometimes I wonder if having an additional “external voice” (a writer friend) to talk to when I feel that way about my own work might help. I’d like to think my own inner voice would be loud enough to silence the inner critic… but sometimes it isn’t.
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My writing group helps with that a lot. We meet once a week, so I have that encouragement from other writers on an ongoing basis. And some weeks, I really need it.
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I can. It just takes a great deal of hard work and determination… and sometime time I haven’t got:))
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I love your attitude, Sarah. And yes, wouldn’t we all love more time? 🙂
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Like Henry Ford himself, I’m BOTH men, with lots of potential and limitations. I have a lot of negativity at times, but I’m more often right when I think I can than when I think I can’t.
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I think each one of us is a beautiful mess of both. 😉 Sometimes we’re more positive and confident in ourselves than we are at others. But I agree – when we believe we can do something, we’re more driven and hopeful about our chances and are more likely to succeed at it than when we believe we can’t.
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I’ve heard this quote before! It’s a good quote and very convicting haha. XD I try to be the person who thinks she can, even though it’s hard sometimes.
storitorigrace.blogspot.com
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Isn’t it? When you word the struggle between “can” and “can’t” in that way, it really makes you think about how important it is to believe in yourself, doesn’t it? 🙂
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Sadly, I’m a little bit of both, but I try to be the “can” Melfka. Because then I’m more productive, I achieve things, and I’m more happy with results: be it art, writing, or anything else.
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