What Can and Cannot Be Done

Can’t is a word that I am attempting to eradicate from my vocabulary.  It’s more than just a word (or two words smushed together)—it’s an excuse, a mindset, an attitude.  I hear this word too often lately, at work (internally and from clients) and in my personal life.  The truth of the matter is, when people say, “I can’t do that,” what they often mean is, “I won’t.”

Remember, if you decide that you can’t do something, you’re absolutely correct.  If you have a tendency to be the one who declares what cannot be done, ask yourself a few questions:

• Is this actually impossible, or just difficult?  Is anything truly impossible?
• Could I achieve what is being asked of me with additional time, education or resources?
• Am I unwilling to do this because it’s a bad idea?  How can I use my experience to help make it better?
• Am I too lazy to make the effort to do what is being asked?

After you’ve begun to eliminate can’t from your own vocabulary, the next step is learning how to use this approach to deal with those who tell us what can’t be done.  The same four questions asked above, posed in a non-threatening manner, can also be used to help shift the attitudes of Those Who Can’t (or won’t).  Offering assistance or a fresh perspective are additional methods to shift attitudes and break through roadblocks.  Try using the following:

• I understand that you’re saying this can’t be done.  What can I do to help?
• You’re right, this has never been done before.  Wouldn’t it be remarkable to be the first?
• Doing everything at once can be daunting, but if we break this into smaller tasks and work on it iteratively, eventually we can accomplish our goal.

“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”
– Arthur C. Clarke

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