You Can't Be Successful? Tell That To These People

It’s time for a pep talk, you and me. Ready? You’re not going to want to hear this, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Here we go.

You can do it.

Yes, you can.

Do yourself a favor. Remove the “can’t” from your vocabulary, right now, because if you don’t, you’re going to have an awful time finding success in your life and in business, and especially on the Web. Period. End of story. So unless you’re telling me you want to be un-successful, then you must listen to my advice and digest it and then live it. Really live it. It can’t be faked.

You have to change the way you think. Far too many people go through life with a negative “can’t” attitude and because of it they never accomplish much of anything, let alone accomplish anything remarkable.

I know you don’t want to be that person.

Not convinced? Maybe you’d like to hear some stories from some people who beat the odds (physical and otherwise) and removed the word “can’t” from their lives. Yes, this is intended to make you feel guilty.

Ludwig van Beethoven was deaf. But is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Lance Armstrong got testicular cancer. Then he won the Tour de France five more times.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt had polio. He’s also the only US President to serve four terms.

Oprah Winfrey was born in the South in 1954 and though she had a fairly traumatic childhood, rose up to become a prominent talk show host and businesswoman. Oh yeah, she’s also got more money then most small countries.

Christopher Reeve (Superman!) was paralyzed from the neck down. Since his accident, he has directed his first film, started the Christopher Reeve Foundation to fund spinal-cord-repair research, lobbied Congress, and crisscrossed the country on speaking engagements.

J.K. Rowling once lived in an Edinburgh, Scotland apartment that was infested by mice, while she was on government assisted living to boot. In under 10-years from that moment, she went on to become one of the richest women in the world!

Lucille Ball’s mother received a letter from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts saying, "Don't put any more money into this. This girl will never make it."

I could go on and on… and I will. What about non-famous people who overcame the odds?

Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were the first to scale the west peak of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Simpson fell into a 100-foot crevice and Yates had to leave him. Simpson, the guy who fell, crawled out of the crevice and crawled for three days back to base camp.

Was “can’t” in Joe’s mind?

Manuel de los Santos is a 25-year-old Dominican Republic native who lost his leg in a car accident. Oh yeah, and he can shoot par on a golf course without the use of a prosthetic leg. When he took up the game (after the accident), he hit 2,000 balls a day to practice. A friend of his said he once saw Manuel practicing out of a sand bunker, came back that afternoon, and saw de los Santos in the exact same bunker, working on his short game like a tour professional.

2,000 balls a day, with one leg? Nobody can do that? Oh wait…

On a personal note, my high-school guidance counselor told me to not even apply for college because my grades were so poor. Turns out, I just didn’t like the format in high school. How do I know? I then graduated from The University of Akron with a 3.5 gpa average, allowing me to begin a career as a writer and Web professional.

What if I listened to him? If I did, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Remember this key point. If you want to be remarkable, you have to do something remarkable.

“Can’t” isn’t going to cut it.

There, we got that out of the way. I feel better… you?

P.S. Next time you’re about to start a project and you feel yourself about ready to drop the “can’t” word, I want you to think about some of the stories you’ve read here today and then honestly ask yourself if you still can’t do it.

Also, be honest with yourself. Is it that you “can’t” do it, or you “don’t want to do it because it’s hard work?” If you want to be successful, there’s going to be hard work involved.