The little engine that could
September 2010
A little railroad engine was employed in a station yard for doing small little pieces of work such as pulling a few cars on and off the switches.
One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a large engine in the roundhouse to take it over the hill. “I can't; that is too much a pull for me,” said the great engine built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused.
In desperation, the train asked the little switch engine to draw it up the grade and down on the other side. “I think I can,” puffed the little locomotive, and put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
As it neared the top of the grade, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, “I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can.” And indeed it could. Because of its hard work and determination the little engine achieved what much bigger engines could not. As it went down the slope of the hill, the engine’s heart swelled with the joy of achievement. “I thought I could, I thought I could,” it said.
Takeaway: This is a very famous story that is quoted all the time for its diehard grit. Don’t you just love the image of the brave little engine puffing its way up the steep mountain with nothing but its courage and self-belief to keep it going? No matter how young you are, you too can be like the little engine by simply believing in yourself.
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