He may have the idea that he is not capable of it. It is easy to get such an idea even though there is not justification for it. A child may think he is stupid because he does not understand how to make the most of his mental faculties, or he may accept another person’s mistaken estimate of his ability. Older people may be handicapped by the mistaken belief that they are incapable of learning anything new because of their age.
A person who believes that he is incapable will not make a real effort because he feels that it would be useless. He won’t go at a job with the confidence necessary for success, and he won’t work his hardest, even though he may think he is doing so. He therefore is likely to fail, and the failure will strengthen his belief in his incompetence.
Alfred Adler, a famous psychiatrist, had an experience which illustrates this. When he was a small boy he got off to a poor start in arithmetic. His teacher got the idea that he had no ability in arithmetic, and told his parents what she thought in order that they would not expect too much of him. In this way, they too developed the idea, “Isn’t it too bad that Alfred cannot do arithmetic?” He accepted their mistaken estimate of his ability, felt that it was useless to try, and was very poor in arithmetic, just as they expected.
One day he became very angry at the teacher and the other students because they laughed when he said he saw how to do a problem which none of the other students had been able to solve.
Adler succeeded in solving the problem. This gave him confidence. He rejected the idea that he couldn’t do arithmetic and was determined show them that he could. His anger and his newfound confidence stimulated him to go at arithmetic problems with a new spirit. He now worked with interest, determination, and purpose, and he soon became extraordinarily good in arithmetic. He not only proved that he could do arithmetic, but he learned early in life from his own experience that, if a person goes at a job with determination and purpose, he may astonish himself as well as others by his ability.
This experience made him realize that many people have more ability than they think they have, and that lack of success is as often the result of lack of knowledge of how to apply one’s ability, lack of confidence, and lack of determination as it is the result of lack of ability.
工作態度
壹個人如果不自信，事情可能就不會做得很好。
他可能覺得自己能力不夠，無法將事情做好。即便毫無事實根據，也很容易這樣想。由於不知如何充分運用心智，或者接受他人對自己能力的錯誤評估，壹個孩子可能會認為自己很蠢。而老人可能因為歲數關系覺得自己無法學習新知識。
壹個人對自己的能力缺乏信心，就不會真正盡其所能的做事，他會覺得做與否無任何區別。即便他認為自己正盡心做事，也不會懷抱成功所必需的自信，工作起來就不會全力以赴。因此，他極有可能失敗，而這又強化了自己無能的想法。
阿德勒，壹位著名的精神科醫師，他的經歷足以證明這壹點。小時候，他的算術不是很好，老師覺得他毫無數學天分，便把情況告訴了他的父母，讓他們降低對他的期望。於是，大人們便想：“阿德勒不會算術，那不是遭透了嗎？”他們對阿德勒能力的錯估，使他覺得無論怎麽努力也不會有結果。結果，壹如所料，他的算術成績壹落千丈。
壹天， 當其他同學因壹道題而壹籌莫展時，他說他自己知道題目的算法，這招來老師和同學們的壹致嘲笑。他生氣極了。
阿德勒成功的算出了這道題，這給了他自信。他不再認為自己不會算術，於是決定向他們證明自己的能力。他的惱怒和重新找回的自信激發他以壹種新的精神去學習算術。現在，他憑借興趣、決心與意誌來鉆研，算術成績進步很大。他不僅證實了自己可以攻破算術，也驚訝的發現，別人有的能力，他同樣擁有。
此次經歷讓他體會到，人們的能力往往出乎意料之外。而之所以失敗，往往是因為他們缺乏運用能力的認知，缺少自信，沒有決心，而這常常也導致個人能力的缺乏。