A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work的全文

A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work. He may have the belief that he is not capable of it. A child may think he is stupid because he doesn’t understand how to make the most of his mental faculties (才能). Older people may be mistaken that they are incapable of learning things 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 way, even though he may think he is doing so. He is therefore likely to fail, and the failure will strengthen his belief in his incompetence (无能).
Alfred Alder, a famous doctor, had an experience like this . When he was a small boy, he had a poor start in maths. His teacher told his parents he had no ability in maths in order that they would not expect too much of him. In his way, they two developed the idea. He accepted their mistaken thinking of his ability, felt that it was useless trying and was very poor at maths, just as they expected.
One day he worked at a problem which none of the other students had been able to solve.
Alder succeeded in solving the problem. This gave him confidence. He now worked with interest, determination and purpose, and he soon became especially good at maths. He not only proved that he could learn maths well, but luckily he learnt deeply in his 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.

Attitude toward work
A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work.
He may have the idea that he is not very capable .A child may think he is stupid,or he may accept another person･s mistaken estimate of it.Older people may be offected by the mistaken belief that they are incapable of learning anything new because of their age.
A person who believes his incapability will not make a real effort,because he feels that it would be useless.He won･t go at a job with the necessary confidence,and the failure will strengthen his belief in his incompetence.
Alfred Adler,a famous psychiatrist,had an experience which can show this.When he was a small toy he had a poor start in arithmetic.His teacher got the idea that he had no ability in arithmetic,and told his parents about it in order that they would not expect too much of him.Gradually,Alfred too accepted their mistaken estimate of his ability,felt that it was useless to try.
One day,Alfred said he could do a problem which none of the other students had been able to solve.The teacher and the whole class laughed.This made him very angry.
Alfred succeeded in solving the problem.This gave him confidence.Now he worked with interest and determination.As a result of it,he soon became extraordinarily good at arithmetic.He not only proved that he could do arithmetic,but he learned 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.
Many people have more ability than they think they have.Their failure is,on one hand,the result of lack of ability,but on the other hand it is often the result of lack of knowledge about their real ability,lack of confidence,and lack of determination.