The carpenter continued. “I once met a man, Dr. James Gills, who completed six double Ironman triathlons. That means he swam for 2.4 miles, rode his bike for 112 miles, and ran 26.2 miles. Then 24 hours later, he did it again. He was the only person on the planet to do this six times. When I asked him how he did it, he paused for a moment and said, ‘I have learned to talk to myself instead of listening to myself. If I listen to myself I hear all the negative thoughts, all the complaints, all the fears, all the doubts, and all the reasons why I shouldn’t be able to finish the race. But if I talk to myself I can feed myself with the words and encouragement I need to finish the race.’ He told me he would memorize and quote scripture, and this kept him going and fueled him toward the finish line.

“How about you? Are you talking to yourself or listening to yourself?” asked the carpenter.

“I’ve definitely been listening to myself lately.”

“And if you were trying to complete an Ironman triathlon with this state of mind, what do you think you would have done by now?”

“I would have given up.”

“So what do you need to do from now on?”

“I need to talk to myself and feed myself with the words and encouragement I need to keep moving forward.”

“Exactly,” said the carpenter as he walked toward the front door to leave, knowing their work was done for the day. “Negative thoughts are the nails that build a prison of failure. Positive thoughts will build you a masterpiece. We are ready for great things. Your mind is prepared for success and the room is prepared for us to begin building our masterpiece tomorrow.”

When Michael opened the door and looked outside, he realized the carpenter didn’t have a car. “Do you need a ride home?” he asked.

“No, I love to walk. Gives me time to think, reflect, imagine, and create beautiful things,” he said before flashing his radiant smile and giving Michael a hug. Then before he left he handed Michael a card from his pocket. “Here, take this. It’s a positive pledge that you can say when challenges come your way and you aren’t feeling very positive.” Michael looked at the card. It said:

1. I vow to stay positive in the face of negativity.
2. When I am surrounded by pessimism, I will choose optimism.
3. When I feel fear, I will choose faith.
4. When I want to hate, I will choose love.
5. When I want to be bitter, I will choose to get better.
6. When I experience a challenge, I will look for an opportunity to learn and grow.
7. When faced with adversity, I will find strength.
8. When I experience a setback, I will be resilient.
9. When I meet failure, I will fail forward, toward future success.
10. With vision, hope, and faith, I will never give up and will always move forward toward my destiny.
11. I believe my best days are ahead of me, not behind me.
12. I believe I’m here for a reason and my purpose is greater than my challenges.
13. I believe that being positive not only makes me better, it makes everyone around me better.
14. So today and every day I will be positive and strive to make a positive impact on the world.

Michael closed the door, walked inside, stood in the family room, and looked at all the wood and materials. It seemed like a mess, much like his life, but for the first time since his accident he had a glimmer of hope and belief that it was all going to come together.

Unfortunately, that night he would need to read the positive pledge and talk to himself more than ever because he was about to receive some bad news.