Mission I'm Possible

A play on words perhaps, but how is it that some people think that the world abounds with possibilities and others look for barriers? Of course the law of probability will show that not everything is possible but there has to be something in the much quoted Henry Ford mantra “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t – you are right.”

Developing a can-do mindset can be a scary road for some people – “what if I fail?”, “what if I don’t have what it takes?”, “what if people laugh at me?” are commonly asked questions when people face challenges. The obvious reframe is that if you don’t give it a go, then you will never know! If “can’t do” becomes a repeated pattern of behaviour then you will continually spend your life within your comfort zone – and maybe worse, become stale, complacent and ultimately dissatisfied.

So how can you adopt a “have a go” attitude? Here are some ideas

1: Consciously challenge the voice in your head that urges caution – listen to it, is it keeping you safe or is it holding you back?

2: Look upon challenges as learning opportunities – so what if you don’t achieve perfection, at least you have learned something in the process. Every successful person has hit setbacks along the way

3: Realise that you have a choice – you can choose to have a go, or not. And in so doing, recognise that you are responsible for your own choices, no one else can make them for you

4: Take on the challenge with gusto! If you are going to have a go, then do so whole heartedly and give it 100%

As the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson says: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us". So change the mindset of impossible to I’m possible. That small change could be so liberating.