This is number 2 of a six-part series dealing with your thoughts, words and how it determines your success or failure. To start off we have a couple of quotes, this one is from Chad Wright: “Your tongue is your rutter, it will steer the direction of your life and the outcome of your situations 98% of the time.” Zig Ziglar says: “There is power in words, what you say is what you get.” Pierre du Plessis: “Words create worlds” It is very difficult for us to have complete control over our thoughts. Our thoughts often run wild and sometimes when you are in a difficult situation you have some thoughts that you might fail or you might think you aren’t good enough. Most of the time you can dismiss them, but there is a serious change when you speak that you are going to fail or that you “can’t do it.” Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your character, and your character determines your destiny. There is so much truth to that statement, and after last week we went over thoughts and this week is on words. Although sometimes it is hard to battle thoughts, you do have complete control over your words and you don’t have to say that you can’t do it, or speak that you might fail. Because when you speak your thoughts out loud, you give them power. And just like Zig said, if you say that you will fail, that is what you’ll get. This works negatively or positively. If you chose to speak positive words it can help you continue in difficult situations and help you get through them. It has been really good for me to understand the power of this; when I give negative thoughts power by speaking them aloud, it is very detrimental to anything I am doing. Whereas if I can speak positive words to myself or anyone around me, that can have incredibly beneficial results. You see this play out with athletes like Muhamed Ali would say this often, that he was going to be the champion and that he would be the greatest of all time. Similarly, Connor McGregor also does this, he believes very strongly in mastering his thoughts and his words. Now there are some words that I have tried to avoid saying because they can be so destructive. One of those words is CAN’T. I really try to avoid using that word, because as soon as you say that you can’t do something, it shuts off all possibility to do that thing. “Can’t” is giving up on the possibility of doing exactly the thing you are trying to do. The way so many things get done is through creative thinking and by forcing yourself to look at other options. Other words I really try to avoid are HATE, ALWAYS, IMPOSSIBLE and NEVER. These words have similar effects where they will shut off possibilities, and eventually will put you in a corner where you won’t be able to do anything. You can just about make anything happen, you just have to be creative enough to find a way there. This episode was brought to you by Waypoint - Watch all your favorite Saltwater Experience episodes at any time and find your favorite podcasts on the Waypoint Outdoor Collective. The episode was produced by Tom Rowland and Brock Rustand. The show was edited by Brock Rustand. See you next week - no excuses, -Tom Rowland