There’s No Such Thing As Can’t

Lately, I have begun to notice a startling trend that even I myself am guilty of from time to time. This trend is how often people use the word can’t. To me there is no such thing as can’t, instead what most people are actually saying is that they won’t or that they don’t want to try.

Take for instance my four year old son, the word can’t has slowly crept into his vocabulary and I have no one to blame but myself for it. Now quite often he will run up to me and say “Dad, I can’t do this” and I will respond with “Did you try?” and I will usually be met with the all to familiar answer of “No”.

How does he know that he can’t do something if he hasn’t even tried? How do any of us know we can’t do something if we have yet to try?

This year my goal is to strike the word can’t from my vocabulary. I am going to instead replace it with “I can do this” or “here let me try”. I personally don’t think I can fail if I stop thinking that I can’t and instead just try, because even if I am unsuccessful in what I am trying at the very least I will have learned something.

Is the word can’t holding you back from trying something new?