The magical power of "I can't"

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it...

[Originally published in March 2018 at The Naked Hedgie]

The power of words

Words can be very powerful – especially the words we tell ourselves.  I recently made a startling discovery about this.

Hands down my favorite quote of all time!

One of the things I used to tell myself through life was that I couldn’t draw. I doodled – I made geometric shapes on paper, circles, squares, etc… But I couldn’t draw – this I knew about myself.

One day however, I was unable to tell myself this.

That day my son asked me to draw him something. Hmm… I’m his dad. I can’t tell him that his dad can’t draw. I’m supposed to be the strongest, smartest, most capable man in the world. Telling him that I couldn’t draw was out of the question.

So… let’s get on with this – I thought – it can’t be rocket science… And I did. Lo and behold, I drew a hawk, as my boy requested:

Then my younger boy wanted me to draw a hawk for him as well. So I did. Then he wanted a whale. I drew a whale. Then my older boy wanted me to draw him some Pokemon figures. So I drew those…

The remarkable thing about these drawings is that I had genuinely surprised myself with them. I do appreciate that they aren’t very good, but I drew them with no practice and no instruction. And I didn’t cheat either. They’re a far cry from art, but they are also a quantum leap from what I believed I was able to do.

And why did I think that I couldn’t draw them? Because I told myself so. Now I wonder… how many times have I sabotaged myself in life by telling myself that I couldn’t do something? That I wouldn’t be any good at it? That I didn’t have the talent, that it would be difficult or unlikely or whatever other form of discouragement…

It is only thanks to my kids that I had this bit of personal revelation, but this is actually a well understood phenomenon known as the Pygmalion effect. Its implications are profound and it really should be better appreciated and kept in mind at all times by everyone, especially by by parents and teachers.

I’ll try to post another article on this subject soon, it is a thoroughly fascinating one.

Alex Krainer – @NakedHedgie is the creator of I-System Trend Following and publisher of daily TrendCompass investor reports which cover over 200 financial and commodities markets. One-month test drive is always free of charge, no jumping through hoops to cancel. To start your trial subscription, drop us an email at TrendCompass@ISystem-TF.com

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