The origins of the children’s story about the little engine that pulled a stranded train over difficult terrain aren’t exactly clear, but the story is believed to have first appeared around 1906. Although there have been many iterations of this tale, the underlying theme is always the same.
In the story, a long train of freight cars needs to be pulled up and over a steep hill. When the train cars ask the larger engines to make the trip, they all make excuses about why the job is too difficult. They won’t even try. But, when the much smaller , little blue engine is asked, he simply replies, “I think I can!” and it is this attitude that pulls the chain of train cars up and over that difficult incline.
A person’s belief about their capabilities to achieve a goal is called Self-Efficacy. A person with a higher self efficacy will take on greater risks, have higher motivation and recover more quickly after failures or setbacks. People with low self-efficacy, on the other hand, avoid difficult tasks and can become stressed or depressed after not accomplishing goals.
With this in mind, I challenge everyone not to be like the bigger trains that just made excuses that the job was too difficult; but be like the “Little Engine Who Could.” Believe in yourself and your abilities to be great and soon you will be saying, “I think I can, I think I can and I KNOW I CAN!”
There would be no limit on how great our company can be if we all have this mindset.
I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! LaTessa
I absolutely love this, great story with the best motto!! I use to read this to my class every time they would get down and think they couldn’t!! I think I can, I think I can will eventually turn into I know I can!!