“If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it, even If I did not have the ability in the beginning.” Mahatma Gandhi

How much wisdom powers these two sentences, this handful of words! And how important belief, our belief, is to any endeavor we are striving to undertake and bring to fruition.

Let’s unpack Mahatma Gandhi’s gift to us here:

“If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it.”

If we lack belief in ourselves when it comes to doing something, then we are licked before we begin. We’ve robbed ourself of the opportunity to make it happen. We’ve deflated and defeated ourselves. We’ve quit before we’ve even started — written a word or a page. No amount of energy or hard work can overcome a lack of belief because the foundation of success just isn’t there to build on .

“But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it, even if I did not have the ability in the beginning.”

What a difference belief makes! When we believe that we can do something, that we are capable of making it happen, then we “acquire the ability to do it“ even if we lacked that ability when we started.

How does this miracle happen? When we believe we can, then we start doing — taking action — and in the act of doing, we acquire what we need to make our belief a reality. First the belief, then the action, then the result. Belief fuels our action and action fuels our ability.

There’s a old Estonian proverb I love, which says it all: “The work itself will teach you.” When we get to work, ignited by belief, magic happens. Write on!