8 Things to Remember When You’re Saying “I Can’t Do It”

To help you find that crucial inner strength, I’ve put together a helpful list. I’m going to walk you through 10 of the most important things to remember that will turn “I can’t do it,” into “I can and I will do it!”

1. Persistence Is Often Key

Our persistence towards any goal is very often the key to whether we achieve it or not.

It’s not uncommon for the most successful people in our lives to also be those who were willing to persist through the most struggles, failures, and hardships.

If you are the type of person who gives up in the face of a challenge, chances are you won’t get far. If you think “I can’t do it” and then give up, obviously you won’t succeed. You need to remember that success comes through your persistence.

You need to be willing to face these struggles head-on and power through them. Remembering that persistence will lead you to success will help you overcome these hard times^[1].

Find ways to remind yourself in your daily life that your persistence is key. It will often be the make-or-break characteristic determining whether you reach your definition of success or not.

If you want a great book on this topic, consider looking into psychologist Angela Duckworth’s book Grit. It talks about how passion and perseverance are the main determinants of our success.

2. Acknowledging a Challenge Leads to Its Correction

Building on the last point, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges you face. By acknowledging them, you can accept that they exist in your life. Then, you will be able to generate solutions to overcome those challenges.

Also, be proactive with the mindset of acknowledging that every journey will experience at least some struggles. Nobody’s life is completely problem-free. We all have our struggles to cope with and overcome.

Learning to accept that there will be challenges along your path will help prevent you from being blindsided by them as they arise. Then, you can acknowledge their existence and begin working towards creating a solution that works for you and your life.

3. Get Comfortable With Discomfort

When you feel like you can no longer do what you’re supposed to do and want to scream “I can’t do it,” remember that life was not designed to be easy.

We are all always going to be facing hurdles and overcoming hardships throughout our lives. If you can get on board and accept this reality, things will get easier for you. You’ll be better prepared mentally to face the challenges that pop up in your life.

Just because you’re accepting that there will be discomfort in your life doesn’t mean you’re being negative. Being positive doesn’t mean that you have to ignore all the bad things in your life. It just means looking at them realistically and developing stubborn optimism toward the future.

An additional thought to keep in mind here is that true growth begins when you step outside of your comfort zone. There’s no doubt that’s a difficult thing to do, but the discomfort you experience stepping outside of your comfort zone may be exactly what you need to make those big breakthroughs in terms of your development in your life

4. Positivity and Gratitude Goes a Long Way

You can’t get mad at yourself for going through and experiencing a rough spell. We all experience those tough times; it’s just the reality of living a life here on Earth.

Instead of getting down on yourself when you’re thinking “I can’t do it anymore” and going to pout in a corner, think about how good it felt the last time you were successful at achieving one of your goals. Remember how happy that made you feel, or be thankful for what you’ve been able to achieve.

So if you’re unhappy with where you are, move. You’re not rooted to the spot. Go write in a gratitude journal or do some mindfulness meditation to make space for some positivity in your mind.

Remember, things could always be worse. We choose the mindset and perspectives we approach a situation with. We can choose to fixate on certain thoughts over others. Train yourself to see that silver lining because this positivity can go a long way^[2].

5. Remember Where You Came From

When I feel like I can’t do it anymore, I often try to look back at where I’ve come from. I’ve grown a lot throughout my life and overcome some pretty tough things. If you’re anything like me, I’m willing to bet that you have also.

Remember to be proud of the person that you’ve become today. Be proud of the time and effort you’ve invested in your development because it’s what has gotten you here.

One way that you can begin to remind yourself how awesome you are when you hit these funks is to begin celebrating the small victories you achieve in your life. If you don’t celebrate these small wins, it’ll be hard to remember how proud you truly are of what you’ve achieved. This can help you through tough times as well.

Remember, despite having possibly seen better days than where you are right now, you have also likely seen worse. You can and you will get through these tough times! Better days are on the horizon as long as you keep yourself moving forward.

6. Breaking Things Into Manageable Steps Works Wonders

Divide and conquer. Sometimes we stand in our way by focusing on our biggest goals as a whole.

If you don’t already do this, you’d be amazed by how much simpler even your biggest goals seem when you break them down into small, manageable steps.

The next time you catch yourself thinking “I can’t do it,” take a quick pause. Are you looking strictly at the result? Or are you looking at the steps you need to take towards that goal?

If you’re only looking at the final result, take some time to create a plan. The benefits of planning are further outlined by Gollwitzer in the book The Psychology of Action: Linking Cognition and Motivation to Behavior.

Reflect on the individual steps that you need to take to achieve that goal. Write them out in the order that you’ll complete them and then get to work!

By taking continuous small steps, you’ll ensure that you’re always making progress towards your goals. This will lead to momentum in your life that will help you overcome even some of the most difficult challenges you’ll have to face.

7. Remember Your Why

Remember your WHY — this is probably one of the best ways to overcome that “I can’t do it” feeling.

Remember why you started on this path in the first place. Remember why you passionately pursued this goal. Don’t let that vision of yours slip away.

Sometimes, we start with these visions that we are completely passionate about but lose sight of them over our journey. Then, we can find ourselves getting lost.

When your vision and focus get a little foggy and you’ve lost sight of your passion, regain that crucial bit of clarity. Focus on why that goal was originally important to you. Rediscover that passion that can put you back on your path toward success!

Write out what made this important to you. Leave it somewhere that you can easily visualize it. This will serve as a continual reminder to you of why it’s important to continue moving forward and overcoming the challenges that may get in your way.

8. Life Isn’t Certain, Accept It

The final thing to remember when you feel like you’re struggling is that life is never going to be certain. Nothing in life is ever going to be 100% guaranteed for any of us.

Additionally, sometimes things are just going to happen. You can predict or plan for everything in your life, but things will pop up and surprise you.

Lucky for you, though, if you’ve embodied a few of the previous things mentioned on this list, then you’ll embrace these moments and make the best of them. Take uncertainty and treat those moments as opportunities to turn them into something good and positive in your life.

Sure, you may not have been expecting your life to take some of these turns, but it may open your eyes to new things that you never even knew you wanted.

Learning to embrace life’s uncertainty is one of the best ways to ensure that we don’t miss any exciting plot twists along our journeys towards our goals and our success!

Final Thoughts

I hope that you’ve been able to pick a few of these to try when you’re struggling with overcoming a challenge.

You don’t have to use them all. You are a unique person and the combination of these which works best for you will also be unique to you.

Overall, these tricks will help you turn “I can’t do it” into “I can overcome this, I just need to figure out how!”