Marcus Johns - You Cant Do It!: There Are a Million Reasons You Cant—-Find the Reason You Can

Praise for You Cant Do It!

Marcus Johns has an incredible ability to see past the obstacles that stand between the pursuer and the dream. Through Marcuss lens, every reader will not only be able to suspend disbelief, but also begin to imagine themselves doing the very things they thought they never could. If you need to be empowered, if you want to believe in yourself againread this book!

STEVIE AND SAZAN HENDRIX, The Good Life podcast

What if you entered a world where your impossible became possible? An environment where you could begin to build confidence in yourself and to see examples of dreams applied with persistence and hard work turn into reality? With a beautiful mixture of wit and brutal honesty, my brother documents his journey of highs and lows and how hes managed to defy the odds in this inspiring read.

ALEXYS AND CODY JOHNS, actress and musician

Marcus has always been a dreamer. He is someone who chases his dreams, whether its big or small. Being with him for the last five years has changed my life because of the ways he has gotten me to step out of my comfort zone. But even if you just meet Marcus for a brief five minutes, hell encourage you to go after your dreams and do that one thing youve been too scared to do. This book represents Marcus at his core: loving people, encouraging people, and doing the crazy things no one else thinks you can do.

KRISTIN JOHNS, content creator and CEO of Kristin Made

ZONDERVAN BOOKS

You Cant Do It!

Copyright 2020 by Homeland Productions, Inc.

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ISBN 978-0-310-35886-2 (audio)

Epub Edition April 2020 9780310358848

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Johns, Marcus, 1993 author. | Smucker, Shawn, author.

Title: You cant do it! : there are a million reasons you cantfind the reason you can / Marcus Johns, with Shawn Smucker.

Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: No matter what you aim to do, youll often hear a voice say, You cant do iteither outside or inside you. But maybe thats the perfect reason why you can. With lighthearted insights from his own life, actor and social media star Marcus Johns shifts the perspective on resistance and doubt to change discouraging obstacles into powerful motivatorsProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020003832 (print) | LCCN 2020003833 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310358831 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780310358848 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Determination (Personality trait) | Achievement motivation. | Christian life.

Classification: LCC BF698.35.D48 J64 2020 (print) | LCC BF698.35.D48 (ebook) | DDC 155.2/32dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020003832

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020003833

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Curt Diepenhorst

Cover photo: Tyler Rowell

Author photo: Jon Sams

Interior design: Denise Froehlich

Printed in the United States of America

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Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that the endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication

To my parents

for raising me to love God.

To my wife

for showing me Gods love.

Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.

EDWARD VERNON RICKENBACKER

Contents

I m sitting here with a blank page on my computer screen...

Okay, now I have one sentence and three dots.

You can see where Im going with this.

Ugh.

Who am I kidding? I cant write a book.

Especially a book ironically named You Cant Do It!a name that makes the reader think, Hmmm, let me open up this book and see what this weird guy jumping and pointing has to say about me not being able to do something. He must have the answers, right? I guess Ill see what he has to say.

And now you are here.

And so am I.

Im here, sitting at my computer, a year or more before you ever read this in a print book or on some futuristic tablet my mind cant even conceive of. Im here, just blankly staring at this vast sea of white nothingness on my computer screen, while my blinking cursor of a ship reminds me of the distance I must travel.

Just sitting here, wondering, How am I ever going to pull this off?

I am the captain of this ship. I cut ties at the port, and Ive set sail with promises of treasure for myself, as well as for a book publisher who thought it was a good idea to trust me to do this with nothing more than a map... that I drew. And by map, I mean a crumpled piece of paper that had the name of twelve different chapters Im supposed to write.

I think you get the point.

I cant do this.

And also, this sailing metaphor is making me seasick.

Truly, if anyone ever reads this message floating in a bottle (or on a bookshelf), just know that these were the first words I wrote, unedited, when taking on this whale of a task.

Okay, now Im done with the sailing metaphors.

I guess the point of this is to say you or I will never completely escape the feelings of self-doubt, and You Cant Do It will always follow you. But if well pursue our goal, just one word at a time, we can finish page 1.

And if we can write one page, we can write a book.

So, what new endeavor are you setting out on?

Writing a book?

Making a movie?

Starting a new business?

Becoming an influencer?

Getting married?

Being a parent?

Creating a musical?

Whatever it is youre thinking about doing, guess what? Someone is bound to tell you that you cant do it. Complete strangers, friends, even family members will at some point question your ability, your talent, your work ethic, and sometimes your sanity.

Are you sure this is a good idea?

Thats usually the spin theyll put on it, but what theyre really trying to say, in as nice a way as possible, is, You cant do this. I wouldnt even try.

Sometimes the people closest to you are the ones who have the least confidence in you.

Maybe those around you think they know who you are better than you do. Maybe they think theyre genuinely going to save you from some kind of disappointment down the road. They dont want to see you get hurt, so they try to keep you from going after your dreams.

Theres a lot of negativity in the worldsome of it just happens, but some of it is intentional. And let me tell you, I dont judge anyone for giving in to the negative voices, because those voices are loud and persistent, and sometimes they...

Just.

Wont.

Stop.

But let me tell you this.