“You can do it” is definitely one of my all-time favorite movie lines, especially the way Rob Schneider says it in Adam Sandler’s Waterboy. It’s also one of my favorite motivations for life.

“You can do it” is even compatible with the latest research on encouragement versus praise. At Living Montessori Now, I published a post on “A Montessori Approach to Praise.” New research says we need to be careful about giving excessive praise, be careful about praising for talent and intelligence. It’s better to give encouragement or specific praise for hard work. Otherwise, we’re at risk of our kids becoming afraid to try new things, afraid of failure, afraid of not living up to expectations. That’s something none of us wants, whether our kids are athletes, scholars, businesspeople, or artists.

But “you can do it” and “you did it” still work.

“You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.” Jimmy Carter

 “Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A word of optimism and hope. And you can do it when things are tough.” Richard M DeVos

“If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.” Priscilla Welch

 “You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.” Ralph Marston

“I wasn’t popular in high school. I was the weird kid. So to all you weird kids out there – you can do it.” Adam Lambert

 “You can do it all by yo self!” Lil Jon

“You Can Do It” Word Art Freebie (without watermark)

One of my very favorite YouTube videos:

Photo Credit: Photo by Steven Depolo at Flickr Creative Commons (license).

Linked with Thought-Provoking Thursday and Kirsty & Friends.