I guess most people have heard the phrase "You can do anything you put your mind to" or similar phrases. A quick search of Google will bring up hundreds if not thousands of pictures with this or similar texts on them. It sounds so good, so motivating. We want our children and grandchildren to think big and aim high.
This sort of can-do attitude seems to be a big part of American culture, at least it seems that way from an outsiders perspective. I have a lot of respect for the sentiment behind it. My own British culture tends to play things down and we tend to have a much more cynical and cautious attitude to life. I don't think that this more cautious attitude is completely wrong, but I am sure it stops some people from striving to achieve their best.
But I'm not sure the the "You can do anything you put your mind to" idea is completely honest either. We all have limitations. When I was a child I dreamed of becoming a scientist, until I realised that I would need to be good at mathematics, the trouble is that when it comes to maths, no matter how many times someone tried to explain a mathematical concept, my brain would throw up a white flag of surrender! I would have loved to have been good at sports, but I've never had the physique for it, and although I could have improved my physique somewhat, not amount of training would have made me into a top athlete.
It concerns me a little when our children are told they can do anything they put their mind to without any qualification. I know it is good to install a positive attitude. But what happens if their dreams don't come true? What if they really don't have the ability to do what they would like to do? Does that make them failures? That's a heavy burden to carry. Should we try and show them what they are good at and encourage them to be the best they can be. The vast majority of people won't be famous, fantastic at sports, amazingly attractive, intellectually brilliant or become multi millionaires. That's just a fact of life.
So what am I saying? Am I saying we should just give up and never try to fulfil our dreams and tell our kids to do the same? No, I'm not saying that. I think there is always room to improve our talents and skills. But we also have to recognise that each of us has our own limitations, some of those limitations can be overcome, but some cannot. I know that's hard to swallow. I guess what I'm saying it is good to aim high, to put all our effort into achieving our dreams, while at the same time recognising that there are some areas where we will never excel in. However that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy those pursuits and achieve the best we can. So do I think that you can really do anything you put your mind to? To some extent, but it isn't the whole story.
Image was create by me in Artbreeder text added in Canva