The one thing that I think is critical in the entrepreneurial spirit is that it’s all attitude. If you think you can, then you’re half way there. If you say, ‘I can’t,’ then you’re defeated.

Fields frames entrepreneurship less as a fixed set of skills than as a mindset that precedes action. “Attitude” here means the willingness to attempt, persist, and learn in the face of uncertainty—an internal stance that can determine whether obstacles become problems to solve or reasons to quit. The contrast between “If you think you can” and “I can’t” emphasizes self-talk as a practical force: belief does not guarantee success, but disbelief guarantees inaction. The quote also echoes a common entrepreneurial reality: early progress often depends on confidence sufficient to start, iterate, and endure setbacks before external validation arrives.