Psssst! Wanna know the secret to success?

Psssst! Wanna know the secret to success?

Take a minute to reflect on the individuals you consider successful, whether they are world-famous or someone you personally know and admire. (If you have a lifetime aspiration, think of people who have achieved similar goals.) What do you think made them who they are today - talent, charm, connections, good old-fashioned luck? Sure, we've all heard stories of people who happened to be in the right place at the right time and BOOM, became an overnight hit. But in 99% of the cases, successful people possess one common quality that can be a powerful lesson for us all - perseverance. That's right; they stuck to their dream, whether it was to discover a medical cure or learn to play the piano. When skeptics told them it was impossible, they didn't throw in the towel. Instead, they worked all the harder to prove them otherwise.

These inspirational individuals had self-doubts just like you and me (they are, after all, human), but made a promise to themselves not to give up...and kept that promise. It's easy to come up with reasons why we can't do something (not enough money or time, not enough talent, no opportunities) but there are thousands of people who achieve greatness despite seemingly insurmountable barriers. Take Stephen Hawking, for example; he is unable to speak and confined to a wheelchair, but a brilliant physicist nonetheless. Or Terry Fox, the young Canadian whose attempt to run across the country with one synthetic leg (he made it 5,373 kilometres before falling seriously ill) raised 25 million dollars for cancer research. The list of such heroes goes on and on.

A good way to remind yourself to hang in there on the road to success is to find a role model, someone who you look up to for his/her determination. It doesn't have to be someone you'll find in Time magazine, but could be someone who succeeded on a smaller scale. Whoever you choose, find a picture, a quote, or summary of their life's story and post it where you'll see it often. Whenever you feel the urge to pack it in, turn to your new "coach" for inspiration. And, most importantly, do as Napoleon did - take the word impossible out of your personal dictionary!

by T.L. Scribe