The other day I listened to a podcast interview of an author about how to use a certain piece of software. Podcast subscribers and members of the host’s Facebook group had posted questions to be asked of the author.
The questions seemed to fall into two groups.
The first group were straightforward questions: How do I do this, What should I do if this happens, How can I get better results, and so on.
The second group were more complaints than questions: I tried it before and it didn’t work, I didn’t like it, It doesn’t fit with the way I work, etc.
The first group was looking for information and advice. The second group had already made up their mind that the software wouldn’t work for them and wanted to whine about it. (One even challenged the author to prove them wrong.)
Many people have had challenges using the software. Only some people believe they can overcome those challenges and are willing to stick with it until they do.
The author told the latter group to give it time, they can definitely make it work. I thought, “It doesn’t sound like they want to make it work. It sounds like they want to prove that it won’t”.
Many people have had challenges with the software. The ones who overcome them were the ones who wanted to do it and were willing to make the effort.
It’s all about mindset. If you want to do something and believe you can, you’ll figure it out. If you don’t, you won’t.
As Henry Ford put it, “If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right”.
