A couple of weeks ago my middle daughter, Mimi, was trying to draw a picture of something and it wasn’t turning out how she wanted it to look. She was getting more and more frustrated and upset with herself until eventually she wailed “Oh Mummy, I’m rubbish at EVERYTHING!”, and burst into gut-wrenching sobs.

My heart breaking, I crouched down on the floor in front of her, gave her a cuddle and then reminded her of all the things she CAN do. For example: she has a fantastic talent for inventing things – she’s always asking for junk out of the recycling box to make something with. She is incredibly funny and has endless ways to make us laugh. And I am constantly in awe of her seemingly infinite energy.

I wasn’t sure that what I was telling her was enough though – I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t really listening, the sting of disappointment still too raw for her to take on board what I was saying.

So I took her face in my hands, looked her straight in the eyes and told her “I believe you can do anything”.

Then I got her to say it too.

“I believe I can do anything”.

She gave me one of her trademark mischievious grins and the sparkle returned to her eyes. She skipped off and forgot all about it.

I didn’t though.

I’ve heard her say similar things many, many times.  “I can’t do it”, “I’m no good at this”, “Nothing I do turns out right”, “I’m always getting things wrong”.  Even with all of my therapy training and motherhood experience, I was at a loss as to what I could do to help my little girl feel better about herself and her abilities.

So I asked my friends for some guidance via Facebook, and, as usual, they were supportive and generous in their offerings.

Then I got a video in a message from Dave Cornthwaite, who was the keynote speaker at Questival a month ago.  He had seen my post on Facebook and took the time to record this personal message for Mimi:

I showed the video to all three of the girls when they got home from school (because we all have moments of not believing in ourselves, right?) and they were absolutely delighted.

They rose to the challenge Dave set them.  Here is their response:

“I believe I can do anything” is beginning to become a bit of a mantra in our house.  No matter what the challenge, be it homework struggles, learning spellings or putting on tights, if I get them to say “I believe I can do anything”, it immediately becomes easier for them to do.

I’m even beginning to adopt it myself.

Give it a try – you might be surprised at how many challenges you overcome just by believing in yourself a little bit more.

I’d love to hear your stories on the things you’ve achieved by telling yourself that you believe you can do anything.  Please do post them below as comments.  You never know, your words might inspire someone else to give something a try, creating an even bigger positive ripple effect.