Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something!

This article is a discussion of the meaning of the words -don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something. Key themes identified in this discussion are: Influence of others on your dreams, your aspirations and commitment. At each point of our lives, we have doubters and nay sayers about your capabilities.

I’ve often wondered what these negative influencers gain and the reason for their influence on our thoughts. This later migrates into thoughts about how to stay strong amidst these negative influences.

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Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something – Pursuit of Happyness

Meaning of Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something

This segment is about identifying the importance of blocking negative influences in your life. Any time you want to start something new, you meet two types of people:

  1. Optimists: Those who are excited for you and boost your motivation. They don’t necessarily understand the risks or challenges but are excited about prospects
  2. Pessimists: They see challenges in your approach and may have questions about how you’d make it work. The pessimists act as a great sounding board for your ideas that need critical feedback.

Both are valuable and can provide insight into your approach. Make sure you remind yourself that they only provide a perspective. It’s only their version of reality that needn’t be yours.

The meaning of don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something isn’t about turning a deaf ear to people. It is about listening to them with full understanding that it is only an opinion and not the final truth. The key however is to separate the noise from feedback so that you don’t get distracted.


I love this dialogue for the essence it creates, every part of it, the delivery, the intonations and above all, the message is so clear and powerful.

How to use negative comments which influence your ability to dream?

I’ve often wondered why people are negative and sometimes even wonder why I’m negative in perceiving people around me. Truth is – people are what they are. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with either you or me. It is just their perspective of life and opportunities.

Although sometimes, I think the best suggestion anyone could ever offer is none at all. That’s not very helpful either. If you are trying to do something new, you’ll need support and motivation to put your plans into action. Instead of wondering why people are the way they are, some better questions would be:

  1. Why are they telling me this? Is it valuable enough so that I can change my approach – does it provide anything useful for my strategy?
  2. What is useful in this commentary, how can I pivot this for my benefit?
  3. If they provide you a word of caution – think about how you can prevent this situation from happening to you?

At the end of the day, it is about your perspective. Don’t let the advice tell you what to do. Instead, use this advice to build a case as to why and how you’ll succeed.

How to regain your beliefs about your dream and passion to do something

As much as we’d like to be impervious, these things often have an impact on our motivation. Negative influences make us question our dreams and approach. You can find a compelling piece on building self-confidence that can help you through this journey.

Your dreams and passions however are extremely personal. No one has the right to trample on your thoughts. If you ever feel down because of the negative words from people around you, start thinking about how you can use them.

  • Look within and ask – Why your dream started in the first place. The beauty of this dream is that it gives you the motivation and vision about what you want instead of the negative influences of threats to your approach.
  • Identify your opportunities: Threats don’t always convey the full picture and neither do opportunities. But they help provide you a balance between the two. Instead of letting the threats bring you down, create an objective framework for them – balance them with opportunities you have.
  • Define your threats: Ignore what people feel and think. Objectively identify what these threats mean to you and what strategies you can define to tackle them.
  • Find opportunities in your threats: The most valuable aspect of people telling you negative things about why you can’t do something gives you some feedback. See if there’s anything sensible in it. If so, find out how you can work on it. Knowledge about some of these limitations will help you develop a strategy to deal with these possibilities.

If you use these properly, even people telling you that you can’t do something is useful. Instead of drowning in sadness, ask them the reasons why they think it is not possible. They might even give you suggestion on alternate possibilities if asked the right questions.

Don’t let them change your dreams

The most important point in this discussion is that you can’t let them question your dream. Manouver your questions such that the discussions are about how to do something and chase your dream. Don’t let them talk you into giving up.

The meaning of don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something isn’t turning a deaf ear to people. It is about protecting your dreams and passions. It’s your dream, passion that defines you as a person. It gives a definition of who you are as a person. If you don’t protect them or fight for them, who would? Who’ stand up for what you believe in?

Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something – Pursuit of Happyness

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12 thoughts on “Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do something!”

  1. nicely penned thought…this is one of my favourite movies & the favourite scene from it.

  2. Thank you my mate. You always have such nice words to say. I really loved writing this one. And the quote and the thought of proving the inner mettle – class at its own accord :)

  3. Thank you Preethi :) . That’s a lovely thought, it makes a perfect validation – people who say that actually believe we can! Jealousy, preconceived notions, and more reasons to add but like you said- what matters is the inner mettle :)

  4. suggestion is a powerful thing…when we do hear a number of people telling us that you cant do it, the idea kind of settles in your head. But I think people who say that, actually believe that we can…and out of fear or jealousy that we may actually succeed, or out of the fear of how their lives may change if we succeed, or just because they cant do it themselves or have preconceived notions about it, try to stop us from doing what we want. but like you have rightly said, “beyond that all that matters is your inner mettle. Make it all matter!” nice write up :)

  5. Vinay .. fabulous post … its only when we know our metal can we prove it to the world .. and make the world agree !!

  6. Thank you Meera :) ..

    True everyone may not be very well equipped to do everything. But at the same time if we offer the persistence and action something would demand I’m sure there’d be a way to accomplish it. I think how much we want something would go a long way in telling how close we get.

    Thank you for your thoughts Meera. Would love to see more of such lovely thoughts coming

  7. Hi, This is an interesting post about believing in yourself. But I also think that when we say ” Don’t let people say you cannot do something” we must also remember that everyone cannot do everything. Some of us can do something and some do something else. But what each of us can do is unique and that has to be recognized and appreciated!

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