“If you think you can, you will. If you think you can’t, you won’t.” Coincidently, as my two year old son watched the 2011 film, The Little Engine That Could, I was contemplating the content of this post and heard this mantra which matched the idea for this week’s discussion.

The biggest hurdle I find with current and past students, especially in the upper elementary grades, is the idea of I CAN’T. They have developed a sturdy mental brick wall that was layered brick by brick over the years. Despite the efforts of helping them understand, the content is difficult to get through because there is no open space.

However, I realized it was through helping them believe in themselves and their abilities that they began to break down the wall and see their potential. It is not an easy task though!

Belief is a powerful influence. I experienced this first hand.

In February of 2007, I sat in my living room dreaming about owning my own home, but I had bad credit and no savings. I began writing a plan about how long it will take me to get there. That same day, the building I lived at went up in flames and my home was deemed not livable. My three dogs and I moved in with my mother.

I was devastated and my mother’s landlord did not help matters when he consistently asked when I was moving out with my dogs. Fortunately, my friend/coworker introduced me to her fiancée who is a real estate agent. I was nervous at first because the last time I had spoken to a real estate agent, he pretty much disregarded my case with absolutely no help in any direction.

This time, my experience was completely different and hopeful. As we looked at homes, my mind was set on “just get me any old shack”. I did not have expectations nor did I believe I could be selective.

I selected one house and we began the paperwork. Deep down, I wasn’t too enthusiastic. Months past, and paperwork did not go through. We found another potential (still not happy), but the very next day, the owners decided not to sell. I then decided to take a break.

I began reading many books on the law of attraction, which is heavily based on belief in my opinion and experience. This widen my perspective. I came across a book entitled Empower Your Soul: Create balance in your life by trusting your intuition by Melissa Perry Moraja. As I read the chapters, the author took me on a journey of my beliefs, habits, and patterns, evaluating self, and then strategies to take action.

I realized that I was telling my mind I couldn’t possibly get a home, and that is exactly what happened. I shifted my thinking to not only believing that I CAN get a house, but that I ALREADY owned one.

In December of that year, I sketched my ideal home with specific criteria. I hesitated to put a central AC, but I exclaimed, “Why not?” I wanted a brick home with fenced in cemented yard, three bedrooms, two flat so my mom can live downstairs, huge kitchen even though I don’t cook, and hoped the owner was moving out of town so that the price would be low to name a few things.

I wrote goals that would lead me to reaching my dream of owning a home. Then I grabbed my phone and picked a random date, March 27, 2007 to be exact. I wrote, “Closed on My House.” Past tense as to tell my mind and the universe that it already happened. I envisioned attaining this home just about every day.

I was positive, I was clear, I was determined, and I BELIEVED I COULD.

When my real estate agent showed me my current home, I was in disbelief. It had most of the criteria I had sketched, and it was much better than what I envisioned. Yes, it has central air conditioner and huge kitchen! It is a single family home, but the basement was converted into an apartment with separate utilizes. The owner was moving to Texas. However, the price was more than what I had originally been approved for.

The paperwork went through and my real estate agent called me to say we were closing on Thursday—March 27, 2007! Yes, this REALLY happened!

Life threw me supportive people, but it wasn’t until I decided that I CAN, shifting my mindset, breaking down my wall of impossibility that I was then able to move forward.

I had many obstacles going against me and it impacted my mindset. This holds true for students learning mathematics. Bad grade or test score, needing more time to understand but teachers needing to move on to the next concept, or no connection to real life (this is another coaster we will visit) all impact a student’s mindset.

I tell some students to think they can do math, to say it to themselves in the mirror, to believe, to be open, and to see themselves doing it. Those that take the challenge, see a difference.

Recently, I saw a video of Marisa Peer entitled You Are Enough. She speaks about how our mind believes what we tell it to believe. Her answer to one of her client’s question regarding lying to their mind was a resounding, “Hell Yes.”

I will be doing my own experimenting with shifting my mindset in a different area of my life. Which area will you be choosing? Try it. Believe you are there, or that it is easy. Share your experience!

We will work our way to believing math makes sense soon enough!

“I thought I could.” And so I did!