“Can’t-Be-Done’s”

by Emmet Fox

Here is a wonderful saying: “He didn’t know that it couldn’t be done, so he did it.” Meditate upon this, and you will find it very inspiring It is amazing to think how many interesting and worthwhile things most of us could do, if we had not put mental handcuffs on ourselves. What happens to many people is this: “When they are young they are full of ambition and confidence, and they attempt to do a number of interesting things. Being young, they lack experience, or the necessary means to accomplish their desires, and, after a number of failures, they become permanently discouraged and decide that after all they cannot do anything worth-while. Also they unwisely discuss their plans with other people, who thoughtlessly discourage or even snub them. Thus it is that the lives of most grown-up people are full of “can’t-be-done’s”.

They say “I can’t do this,” and “I can’t do that,” and “I am never able to do such a thing,” and “of course something else is impossible for me.”
Often they have a spurious reason – “my health,” “my constitution,” “my early training,” (or lack of it). “My age” is a favorite excuse for laziness.
“My family” is a pretty good excuse too, and, of course, there are always the climate, the unfavorable locality, and the depression.

A great industrialist has a rule in his works that when his research department fails to solve a problem, no records of these experiments are
kept. He says that these failures would be accepted as final and would prevent new men from ultimately solving those problems. He is
right, of course, in thus repudiating “can’t-be-done’s”.

Have a mental stock-taking and ruthlessly throw out all the “can’t-be-done’s” you find in yourself. Break those handcuffs with the power
of Truth. Just as you are today, you can do some wonderful things for yourself and those you love if you will get rid of the “can’t-be-done’s”.