If you say "can't" you're restricting what you can do or ever will do.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the limiting belief associated with saying 'can't', which hampers one's potential.
Michael Phelps asserts that using the word 'can't' creates mental barriers that prevent individuals from realizing their true capabilities. By rejecting negative self-talk and embracing a more positive mindset, we open ourselves to opportunities and achievements that once seemed unattainable.
In practice
Using this quote during a motivational speech to inspire athletes to push beyond their perceived limits.
I want to be able to look back and say, 'I've done everything I can, and I was successful.' I don't want to look back and say I should have done this or that. I'd like to change things for the younger generation of swimmers coming along.
For so long, I looked at myself as literally a kid who was talented who would go up and down the pool. That's it. Nothing else. Very few people knew who I really was.
I don't want to be the next Mark Spitz; I want to be the first Michael Phelps
There are too many kids who are drowning for lack of water safety. That's something I'd like to do. Teaching kids to live an active lifestyle.
My goal is one Olympic gold medal. Not many people in this world can say, 'I'm an Olympic gold medalist.'
I know it won't be eight medals again. If you want to compare me to that, that's your decision, not mine. I'm going out there to try to accomplish the things that I have in my mind and in my heart.
You have to believe in yourself in spite of what other people believe.
You've got to keep yourself in prime physical condition, because fatigue makes cowards of us all.
Of course there are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning.
It's a strange thing, you have said it thousands of times I am sure...you will never know what you can do until you try. However the sad truth is, that most people never try anything until they know they can do it.
Our minds become magnetized with the dominating thoughts we hold in our minds and these magnets attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
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