I think I can — or can I?

The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering.
David Whyte
1955 –

If you’ve read any self-help books or attended personal development seminars, you’ve undoubtedly been exposed to the concept of affirmations. If you aren’t familiar with affirmations, the idea is to write positive statements in a journal or repeat them verbally each day. The statements generally promote or encourage some desired change in behavior.

Here are some examples of popular affirmations:

I am getting better and better each and every day.
I will work towards my goals faithfully each and every day.
I will do my most challenging task first each day.

The idea is to use positive self-talk to motivate yourself — to reinforce the changes you want to make in your life.

For many of you, your first exposure to affirmations was probably The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. Remember the story? The little train engine was trying to climb a steep hill and kept telling itself, “I think I can, I think I can.” And it was right; the little engine finally made it up the hill.

The Little Engine makes a good story. But according to research by University of Illinois professor Dolores Albarracin, there might be a better approach. In one experiment, researchers asked a group of participants to spend one minute telling themselves that they could complete a certain task. Another group was instructed to spend a minute asking themselves if they could complete the same task. The result? The second group did better on the task than the group that told themselves they could do it.

In another experiment, the researchers divided the participants into two groups. One group was instructed to write a sentence beginning with “I will”, while the second group was asked to write a sentence beginning with “Will I?” Then both groups were assigned the same task. Again, the group that asked the question rather than affirming the action did better on the task.

So what’s the lesson? It’s simple. If you want to change, don’t rely solely on affirmations. When we pose a question, the mind seeks an answer. Instead of saying, “I think I can, I think I can”, the Little Engine could have done better by asking, “How can I get up this steep hill?”

Learn to ask yourself, “Will I?” or “How can I?” instead of simply telling yourself, “I will.” You’ll be stacking the odds in your favor.

For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?
James Allen
1864 – 1912