What if you knew that you couldn’t fail? What if, no matter what you tried, you would eventually succeed? And, what if you also knew that, with enough practice, you could master just about anything—any skill, sport or ability —that you desired to master? Now, think back for a moment; if you had lived your entire life up until today with this sort of attitude, in what ways do you think your life might be different?
I think a lot about human potential. I believe it is the greatest natural resource in the known universe; the great bastion of hope for the future of mankind… that sadly, lies largely undiscovered, suppressed or denied in most of us. Unfortunately, much of our culture today, including most of formal education, teach and reinforce negative or incorrect principles about success and failure.
Life is to be lived and you have so much to give the world if you will only allow yourself to believe it. Stop holding yourself back and forget about the well intended (or otherwise) opinions of others!
The two quotes below are two of my favorites. Feel free to post them anywhere to remind you that you can if you think you can!
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
― Calvin Coolidge
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
― Theodore Roosevelt
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