Written by Jody Eagen

Johann’s quote conjures up three notions for me. One, focus on what I want rather then what I do not want. Two, what right do I have to determine what others are capable of? And three, the power of our language.

I remember hearing an old story about a rookie pitcher coming to the pitching mound late in the game to face a good hitter with the winning runs on base. The catcher and manager tell the rookie pitcher, as they are standing on the mound, that this batter loves to hit balls pitched ‘down and inside’ in the strike zone. They tell him to repeat to himself, ‘don’t throw it down and inside’ which they did with him several times - ‘don’t throw it down and inside’, ‘don’t throw it down and inside’, ‘don’t throw it down and inside’. Then they left the mound and the pitcher continued to say this to himself.

When he finished his windup and delivered the pitch, guess where it went? Down and inside. Why? That’s where the pitcher’s focus was. He should have said to himself ‘up and outside’ (which is the opposite of down and inside).

The same idea could be applied to debt. Instead of focusing on ‘I want to be out of debt’, try ‘I have an abundance of money’.
Goethe is saying a similar thing here. Focus on what you want the person to be and what you think they are capable of. This can be very empowering approach.

I do see a contradicting notion that begs the question, however, who am I to judge a person’s capability? What if my interpretation is incorrect? What if their capability falls short of what I think it could be? How will that impact them?

If the gap is large between the person’s current capability and their view of it, might that person be set up for failure by implying they can make such a leap in capability?

To successfully encourage or mentor someone, which I do everyday as a coach, we determine the next set of steps that person is willing to take. The best one to figure out these steps is the person themselves.  I can show my encouragement, as Goethe describes, by treating the person like they can do it. Then as I support them to take those steps I focus on future steps, ultimately leading to increased capability. Accomplishing these steps (or sometimes even the first one) will help to demonstrate to the person what they actually are capable of.

Finally, let’s think about the power of our language. Believing in ourselves requires commitment. And in Goethe’s quote I believe he is implying that we as encouragers need to commit as well. Commit to the belief that this person can do it. If we use language like ‘why don’t you give it a try’, are we sending the message that we aren’t sure they can do it? They may try but without confidence, in part because they didn’t hear our conviction in their ability. Our words may have the power to sabotage results. To have a positive impact with our words, we could say ‘why don’t you do it, I bet you’ll be surprised that you can’.

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