“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt

The moment you think I can’t do that, pause.

Not to judge the thought — but to examine it.

Is it a true limitation?
Or is it a story you’ve told yourself so often it feels like fact?

Most of the time, it’s the second.

Potential Is Not a Percentage

In a leadership session years ago, a group was asked a simple question:
If your potential is 100%, how much of it are you currently using?

Most answers landed between 70% and 90%.

I wrote down 5%.

Not because of self-doubt — but because I believe potential isn’t finite. If you accept that growth is possible, then being “nearly there” doesn’t really make sense.

Potential isn’t something you approach gradually and then complete.
It expands as you do.

A More Useful Question Than “Can I?”

When you catch yourself thinking I can’t, ask two follow-up questions immediately:

1. Do I actually want to do this?
2. Is this something that matters?

If the answer to both is no — let it go. Not everything deserves your energy.

But when the answer is yes — when it’s something you want, something that would move you forward — that’s where the work is.

Because wanting something you believe you can’t do is usually the signal that growth is nearby.

Why Doing the “Impossible” Matters

There are two reasons this matters more than most people realise.

First, self-belief is built through evidence.

Every time you do something you once thought you couldn’t, your internal narrative changes.
You stop seeing yourself as someone with fixed limits and start seeing yourself as someone who learns, adapts, and overcomes.

That shift compounds.

Second, stagnation is often disguised as competence.

If you only ever do what you already know how to do, things may feel comfortable — but they quietly stop moving forward.

In businesses, this shows up as:

• resistance to new ideas
• “that’s not how we do things” thinking
• and eventually, loss of momentum and talent

Growth — personal or organisational — requires stretching into unfamiliar territory.

From “I Can’t” to “I Might”

The shift doesn’t happen all at once.

It usually moves in stages:

• I can’t
• I might
• I’ll try
• I did

You’ll move back and forth between these stages more than once. That’s normal.

What matters is not eliminating doubt — but continuing to act despite it.

Resilience isn’t about confidence without hesitation.
It’s about returning to possibility again and again.

A Moment of Reflection

So take a moment and ask yourself:

• What are you currently telling yourself you can’t do?
• Is it something you genuinely don’t want — or something you’re avoiding because it feels uncomfortable?
• What would change if you moved from I can’t to I might — just for now?

You don’t grow by staying within what you already know.
You grow by stepping into what you once thought was beyond you.

And every time you do, you expand what’s possible — not just for today, but for everything that comes next.