You Thought So

I’m going to start this post with two well-known quotes from two highly quoted sources.

“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right” -Henry Ford

“as a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” -Proverbs 23:6-7

Both of these tell us one thing: you are what you think.  If you’ve noticed this phenomenon, you’re shaking your head in agreement.  If you haven’t then you probably just didn’t realize it.  Do you ever remember saying, “I’m going to fail this test” and actually fail it?  Have you thought, “I’m going to hurt myself doing this” and end up needing a bandage?

It Goes Both Ways

Fortunately, the opposite, although less common, is also true.  If you tell yourself that you can do something, chances are you’ll succeed.  I first experienced the positive effects of this while I was an undergrad.  A friend who was 1 year ahead of me gave me some advice on a class called Discrete Structures that I was going to take next semester: “Everybody fails this class the first time and it’s ok.  You’ll take it a second time, get a ‘C’ and walk away happy.”  This really put me in a slump because I had a plan that didn’t involve repeating classes.  At first I thought, “well I’ll bust my hump and hope I can pass.”  After stewing a few weeks, my logical brain turned back on and my tune changed .  My mantra became, “Someone must get an A in this class, why can’t that somebody be me?”  Fast forward 8 months and I earned my A.  Notice that I stopped “hoping” and began “expecting”.  I expected myself to win.

A few years ago one of my friends ran the NY City Marathon.  Her body type is nothing like that of a typical distance runner and never ran until she started training.  Training in the Florida heat was brutal and time consuming.  She was a full time student, had a part-time job, and was married.  It seemed like it could have been a goal that slipped into distant memory, but she had the conviction that said, “I can do it”.  It was really hard on her and her positive determination was the only thing that pushed her across the finish line.  Again, she didn’t say, “I’ll try”, she said, “I bet you I will.”

Currently, the economy is looking pretty sour.  A lot of people are going to lose money and many are going to lose  more than that.  My thought is that in every recession or depression, a small group of people emerge from the pack with a running start.  They become the next set of leaders that help shape our country.  There’s no reason that I can’t be the person to end up on top.  Needless to say, I’m not worried about the drops in my 401(k) because I’m making my way to the gates and my running spikes are on.

Start Thinking

We all have the power within is to control how we live.  Spend a few minutes, weeks, or months to think of something that you can do.  It should be a bit of a long shot and not based on chance (you can’t think your way to a lotto win).  Once you decide what you can do, spend some time each day planting small seeds and you just might be impressed with what you pull off. Having the confidence to know you can set a lofty goal and reach it is one more step towards infinite happiness.