You Must Believe to Achieve

I’ve lost my voice. It’s was a busy weekend of working in the mornings and some evenings, and coaching our ball hockey team during the day.

My voice is coming back a little as the day wears on. I’ve been told I’m perhaps a little too “into the games”, a little too “animated”, that maybe I offer up too much encouragement to the players as the game progresses (i.e. that I yell too much). Perhaps they’re right!

We used a few key quotes this past weekend, in the dressing room, and on our team blog, to ensure the team focused on success.

We spoke of Henry Ford’s famous quote on belief, “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you are right.”

We spoke about the famous quote on commitment from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Until one is committed, there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising to one's favor all manner of unforeseen accidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

The boys began to understand – at the ages of 14 and 15 – that “one must believe to achieve.” –Stephen Southern, 2009.

In the end we made it all the way to the semi-finals, and came up one goal short. It was an absolute honour to go into battle with that group of young men, and I can’t wait to do so again this coming weekend.

For now, back to making research count, bringing MITACS research funding to Waterloo Region, Hamilton, Guelph and Niagara!