Yes You Can Three little words. Words that can change your life if you let them. How often do our brains try to convince us that we can’t do something when, in fact, if we push ourselves, we truly can? Kathy and I take a high-intensity workout class at our gym. When we are working on our fiftieth burpee of the day, the teacher will look at us and shout into the microphone, “Yes, you can.” It’s not a question. It’s not a directive. It’s three little words that, if used, push you past what your mind tells you you can do and push you to take that one more repetition. We place too many restrictions on what we can or cannot do. We listen to the negative voices rather than silence them by proving them wrong. Yesterday I went on an eight-mile run with a 33-year-old friend of mine in Oregon. Ten years ago, we did this run often, but I was in my fifties, not my sixties. I was a little nervous. No one wants to look like the old man. There were moments in the run when I wanted to slow down. My pride and my ego wouldn’t allow it. In my mind, I told myself, “Yes, you can.” The reason we do hard things is to toughen us up. The tendency towards softness and retreat is part of being human. We look for the easiest way to do things, which isn’t a bad thing, but sometimes the hard road is the better road. Next time you take a walk and feel like stopping, don’t. When you reach pushup number 15, do just one more. When someone challenges you at work, but you want to ignore the challenge and find an easy way out, refuse to take it. Yes, you can. - @silverwave1959