Banning Words for Fun and Profit (Part 3)

Posted: Sunday October 16, 2011 under Lead Myself

Welcome back, Grasshopper. When we finished Part II, you may have been thinking that you’d found the soft white underbelly to my theory that can’t is an abomination of a word that should be stricken from the language. But the very questions you asked in steps 2 and 3 are the same questions you’ll answer to remove the barriers you found in steps 2 and 3.

• Step 1: I can survive unprotected at the bottom of the Mariana Trench when I genetically modify myself with gills to extract air from seawater, and reinforce my cell structure to survive in the pressure, but I can’t genetically modify myself.
• Step 2: I can genetically modify myself if I become an expert in genetic engineering.
• Step 3: I can become an expert in genetic engineering when I go earn a BS in Biology, then earn a Master’s and a PhD in genetics, then work for a dozen years on genetic engineering project with a group of scientists who are focused on developing water survival modifications.

See? You can dig as deeply as you need to, but eventually you will find a way to achieve your goal. Let’s look at one more:

• Step 1: I can quit my job and start a business when I downgrade my standard of living while I build a business, but I don’t know what kind of business to start.
• Step 2: I can know what kind of business to start if I research possible business opportunities that would be a good fit.
• Step 3: I can know what would be a good fit when I invest in career coaching, skills and interests tests, and time alone to figure out how my blend of skills, values, and interests intersect.

Question 4: Do I really want it?

Now you know that you can do that thing you were sure you couldn’t do, and so there’s only one question left for you to answer: Am I willing to do what’s necessary to make it happen?

Am I willing to go back to college to earn another Bachelor’s degree? Am I willing to then spend another couple of year’s to earn a Master’s degree? Am I willing to then spend yet another several years on coursework for a PhD, followed by another year or more of largely unpaid work to complete my dissertation?

If the answer is yes, then go forward and achieve that goal. If the answer is no, then you don’t really want it. Or maybe you really want it, but it isn’t that high a priority for you. Either way, you’ve freed yourself from the notion that you’re powerless to make it happen.

You can use this technique to overcome any obstacle that’s getting in your way, and it’s a simple matter of changing your perspective. When you’re tempted to say you can’t, stop. Think about what would have to happen for you to be able to do your thing. Then choose to do it or not, but don’t give away your power to make that choice by using the worst four-letter word there is.

Kick the can’t.

Challenge your thinking.

Change your life.

Change the world.

(Contributed by CYMer, Kathleen Jaffe. Twitter: http://twitter.com/kathleenjaffe)