The Little Engine That Did

All of your life, your actions, your words, your legacy, boil down to one thing: the way you approach the world. Many of us read the story about the Little Engine that Could when we were children. The blue train successfully achieved the seemingly impossible task of rolling over the mountain with a cart of toys, all the while chanting, "I think I can. I think I can." I believe I speak for us all when I say that the actions of that brave little choo-choo became engraved in all of us.
There is no doubt that the little engine deserves praise for her accomplishments, but perhaps her method is what truly deserves the praise. After all, it was the train's belief in her own strength that allowed her to climb over that mountain and drag the load to its destination.

When encountered with the mountain, the train is discouraged. She knows that bigger trains have tried and failed to make it over that hill and she is not convinced that she is any stronger than them. However, a thought soon ingrains itself into her head and changes everything. First she thinks it. "I think I can." Then she says it. "I think I can." Before you know it, she's doing it, climbing over that mountain with her load of toys behind her. I can only assume that from this day forward, the little engine is fully confident in her abilities and willingly climbs all mountains she approaches. She becomes known in the community for being able to overtake any mountain she climbs and is forever thought of as the strongest train of all.
But it is not her physical strength that is so much greater than her locomotive brethren. It is her mental strength that surpasses them all. By having full faith in her abilities and charging into the problem headlong, the little engine makes the decision to climb the mountain and her actions go from an attempt to what they were always meant to be, actions.

The concept of "do" instead of "try" relates to your mentality going into a problem. Many people are told, "Don't try. Just do," and aren't sure what it means. They think, "I can't control whether or not I fail in the end so the best I can do is try," but that thought process is looking too far into the future. See, the "do, not try" mentality is all about how you enter a problem, not how you end it. 

Once you have succeeded or failed, you can look back on your actions as an attempt, but if you look into something while keeping the idea of failure in the corner of your eye, you may miss some of the traps success throws at you. If you do not face the problem headlong and believe that you can achieve your goals, you will be at a disadvantage. 

If you want to make sure that you are successful in all possible aspects of your life, live. Don't say, "I'll do my best," or, "I'm trying." Say, "I will," and then do. Not only will you feel more confident in yourself, but your likelihood of success will increase tenfold. 

When the train went over that mountain, she didn't think to herself, "I might be able to." She had confidence in her abilities and began approaching the problem by changing her method of thought. She instilled confidence in her self and pulled that cart over the mountain. So next time you are faced with a horribly steep mountain to lug a cart of toys over, think to yourself, "I think I can," and climb.