Do you believe you can pass the GED?

Belief is everything. It all begins with a belief.

Changing a Buick LeSabre’s Light Bulb by Myself

Although my Dad was a janitor and my Mother a seamstress, I was taught from an early age to go to college. I learned how to paint with my Dad but was never mechanical. I can’t change a light switch, I changed the oil in my car only once, I’ve never fixed a leaky faucet.

I wish I could.

But today I decided I wasn’t paying the oil change guys to change my 2002 Buick LeSabre’s light bulb for the 5th time. How tough can it be to change a car’s headlight bulb? (Honestly, I saw a guy do this during a party this weekend.)

I believed I could change my car’s light bulb.

I drove to a car supply place during the lunch hour, spoke with the nice young man behind the counter, told him I wanted to learn how to change a light bulb on my car. And he taught me how to do it. I did half of it myself. Tomorrow I’ll do the other light bulb just for practice.

You’re Laughing Because You Can Change a Car’s Lightbulb

OK, I don’t mind if you laugh. You’re a guy who has changed light bulbs in cars since you were 14. Or, you’re a gal who can do it.

You know you can change a light bulb.

What’s the Circumference of a Circle with a Radius of 9 ?

So, are you still laughing? I was taught the formula for calculating the circumference (distance around a circle) given a radius (length from midpoint of circle to its outside edge) when I was a freshman in high school. Do you remember the formula?

More importantly, do you believe you can learn and remember that basic geometry fact about circles?

Remember, belief is everything.

If you don’t know what circumference or radius mean you can look them up using Google. Not too tough.
Finding the formula for a circumference might be harder. Knowing how to search on Google might be more difficult. Or, you could use a good old fashioned geometry book to find the answer.

Circumference = 2 π r

In plain English, if you know the radius of a circle, you can calculate its circumference.

Remember, I already told you the radius of the circle is 9.
Multiply 2 times the radius. That’s 18. Why? Because some Greeks 3000 or so years ago came up with that math rule, that’s why.
Multiply 18 times 3 1/7. Why 3 1/7 you ask? Because 3 1/7 is equal to the funny symbol π which equals 3 1/7. Once again, the Greeks figured this out 3000 years ago when they worked out Geometry for you. So 18 times 3 1/7 = 40.
So, if the radius of a circle is 9, the circumference of that circle is 40.

I Believed I could Lose Weight with Weight Watchers

I believed it and I did it. I’m 40 pounds lighter than last year. My weight loss has slowed because I’m not believing I can lose ten more pounds. Again, belief is the difference.

Have you ever Believed You Could do Something, and Did It?

OK, you’re a high school dropout.

You believed you could become a Burger King manager, and you did.
Alex across the alley from me has rebuilt a 1973 VW Beatle, he probably doesn’t have a high school degree.
My mother never graduated from high school (she came from Germany to the U.S. in 1936 at the age of 16), believed she could learn English, and went to school to learn sewing in her 30′s. She was a great seamstress.