There are innumerable reasons to remove the phrase "I can't do this" from our lives. Our author found a few.
It must have been a Tuesday afternoon about 30 years ago, but I can still remember it clearly. My gym teacher – his name was Gilbert, came from Canada and had a French accent – gave me a life lesson that afternoon. "There is only one sentence that I don't want to hear here. And if you say it again, you'll do five punitive pushups," he said much louder and stricter than usual. he added. He could also justify that very well: "Because you don't learn anything like that". By the way, he was right. I could do a handstand, I only had to practice it a few (hundred) times.
Breaking out of the routine
"When I tell myself that I can't do something, then I manifest this thought – and I won't do anything to change that," explains Nicola Fritze, motivational trainer and author of the book "Motivate yourself. Nobody else will do it!". In fact, you can "program" yourself. If I keep telling myself that I can't or can't do something, then at some point I'll believe it – and don't dare to do anything anymore. It is so important that we trust ourselves to do something so that we can break out of our routines, experience more, become more self-confident, have more fun. Yes, I believe we can all grow beyond ourselves if we just remove this one sentence from our lives. I believe that everything will be better, nicer, easier and of course more exciting if we say "I can do that very well" more often.
Just do it, don't hesitate
How it works? By making things simple, not hesitating, but trying. To stick with my gymnastics example: For example, I was somehow afraid of doing a handstand for half my adult life. After I had overcome it at Gilbert's, it came back at some point. I know that sounds banal, in fact it is not essential to be able to do one. Somehow a fear had set in my head to do things that I had to stand on the same for. In short, I first tried a headstand on the wall. It worked, it didn't look good, it wasn't elegant, but I could.
Laughter helps
I did it right unconsciously, explains motivation professional Nicola Fritze. "I recommend taking the first step little by little, first doing what I think I can – and then making further decisions," she said in an interview. She also has a tip on how to use the prohibited sentence. “Complete the sentence 'I can't do this' with a 'still'. The word 'still' opens doors for change and development opportunities. With this addition, a statement is no longer set in stone. The 'still' indicates that we are already on the way to change something. ”According to Nicola Fritze, something else helps to do things that you don't (too) trust yourself: Laughing. That loosens everything up. Always.
It makes you proud to dare
At least I stood on my head a few times, but not on my hands. For three weeks, for sure. Until I got too stupid myself. Then I just did a handstand at a daring moment (I specifically don't recommend this for imitation!). That doesn't sound important, but it was to me. I was so proud of this bad gymnastics exercise as rarely in my life of anything before. By the way, I can now stand on my hands really well. If I had said the bad sentence more often, it would not have happened, I'm very sure.