I taught strategic management at a business school for a while. On the first page of the book, the line which caught the attention of the teacher and every student was “He did it because he didn’t know that it can’t be done”. Later the book also taught another great lesson “One who says it can’t be done soon finds someone who has already done it.”

It is all in the mind. It is very rightly said and I repeat:

– Our thoughts become our words
– Our words become our actions
– Our actions become our habits
– Our habits become our character
– And, our character becomes our destiny

So it is of utmost importance to watch our thoughts throughout our life. Any negligence at any stage, can be disastrous. This reminds me of a story that I read almost forty years ago:

Once upon a time, there was a Great Recession. People were losing their jobs in large numbers. The owner of a burger shop had problems seeing and hearing, so he was quite unaware of poor economic conditions. The poor man continued to invest in quality, marketing and up gradation of his facilities. Jobless people would come to his shop, read newspapers, discuss about recession and in the meantime buy a burger or two also. So, the old man continued to have a good time. One day his son who was an MBA visited his father from a far-flung city. He got angry on his father and advised him to cut down investments in the shop and even quality of the burgers also as business conditions were really bad. Father followed the son’s advice. Soon his sales also dropped down. Father not knowing the real reason felt proud of his son that had his son not been an MBA and hadn’t advised him about economic conditions, he would have continued to invest heavily in quality and marketing. As a result, he would have gone bankrupt.

Ignorance was a blessing for the old man but his so-called enlightened son sowed the seed of fear and doubt in father’s mind. Soon he also became a victim of the recession.

Great boxer Mohammad Ali used to say:
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe which hurts.”

The pebble in the shoe is “T”. Winners, doers and achievers in the sales business (or any other walk of life) are able to knock off the dreadful “T” from Can’t. The moaners, groaners and losers live all their life with this “T”. They are not able to transform “Can’t” into a “Can” and remain ordinary souls forever.