The smallest adjustment can remove a barrier that confidence alone could never overcome.

Some obstacles are not matters of will. A step at a doorway, a form with no large-print option, a counter set too high: no amount of encouragement moves any of them, though a small change in the thing itself moves all of them. Telling someone to try harder against a fixed barrier asks them to supply what the design withheld.

When something is not working for a person, look first at the arrangement rather than the effort. Ask what one detail could be altered, and whether you are in a position to alter it. A shifted chair or a wider gap often settles what a pep talk cannot.