Think You Can OR Think You Can't

You've heard it before -

Think you can or Think you can't - either way you are RIGHT.

My brother was the 1st person to say this quote to me. I love it. Our minds are powerful beyond words. They can make or break virtually every situation.

I am an extremely positive person now, but I remember a time when I did not have this "mental edge."

I played ice hockey all 4 years of High School. My Sophomore year I became a Goalie. I really didn't know what I was doing that 1st game in the net. The opposing team scored once, twice, seven then eight times. Instead of getting mentally strong, confident and thinking I could finish the game, I got weak, sad, depressed and thought there was no way I could. And with that "thinking-I-can't" mind frame, I was so right! The game ended 19-0.

I have learned to get tough - physically and (mostly) mentally over the years. As a matter of fact, one of my PowerSongs currently is "Fight Like a Girl." Refer to yesterday's posting on this!

I have loved knowing I could when they thought I couldn't. One time sticks out vividly in my mind:

• The Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities turned me down for acceptance into their school in 2001. I ended up at the University in a different school. I worked hard my first 2 years at the University, designing my own degree in Marketing/Advertising/English. I even had to write a 20+ page paper explaining why I should be able to obtain this degree. I got in! In 2005, I graduated having all of my Marketing from the Carlson School of Management. Additionally, I was offered a job from a company that Carlson said, "only their students could work with during the interview process."

I made sure I thought I could. And I did.

I could go on and on with examples of both. BUT, the most important one at hand is what happened today when I thought I could. Today, I DID!

I had every intention of running 10 miles today for my long run. But when I started running, I realized that perhaps today I would challenge myself - so I decided to try 11. And then I started running with 3 ladies who made me pace very well! They told me they were going 12. My initial thought was,

12? Are you kidding? That's basically the 1/2 Marathon!

And no more than 5 seconds later, I thought,

12? Who am I kidding? I can totally do this! I've been training. I'm strong in my body and in mind! (And not to mention, even 2 extra miles will help my Pied Pipers!)

So I told myself I was going to do it. I thought I could. And I did. And to top it off, I made great time! It was a flat course, but I still did it and paced about 8:30 minute/mile.

Think you can or Think you can't - either way you are RIGHT.