Chief O’Hallorhan: We’ll go down by rope. We’re gonna rappel down to 65, get on top of that elevator, use it as an exit.
Young Fireman: I can’t make it. I’ll fall. I know I’ll fall.
Chief O’Hallorhan: Okay. Then you better go first. That way when you fall, you won’t take any of us with you.

— The Towering Inferno

There are really two ways to fail:  lack of ability and failure to try.

If someone lacks the ability to do a task, it can usually be corrected through coaching, and practice.  “I can’t” normally equates to “I can’t, yet.”  This may even be a case where someone cannot imagine doing something, so they assume that they aren’t able to do it.  When pressed either by gentle coaching or harsh reality, these people always seem shocked when they realize the extent of their capabilities.  That’s probably where the “New Shooter Grin” comes from.  True, there are limits to what anyone can do, no matter how much they learn and train, but those limits are usually beyond where they will normally have to perform, be it on a playing field, in a job, or in a classroom.  Their limits are usually far beyond what they themselves thought they were.

The second way to fail, failure to try, is infuriating to me.  In this case “I can’t” means “I don’t want to.”  I’m not talking about the occasional urge to sleep in or go fishing on a nice day.  I’m talking about the lifelong habit of letting others carry the weight, or at most, doing the minimum to get by.

These people usually need a psychological slap to get them moving, and telling them exactly how they will fit into a larger plan will sometimes do that.  That goes double when you explain how their self-confessed inability is going to delegate them to something unpleasant.   It’s amazing how quickly someone grows an ability when lack of it makes their lives harder.  “I can’t” becomes “I’ll try”, which in turn becomes “This sucks.  What do I have to do to get a better life?”

Of course, there will always be those who find a way to live with being on the bottom rung, but then again, the world needs tackling dummies and impact pads too.