Success is not something inherited.  In fact, no matter what age, color, or origin you are, success is something that everyone has achieved at one point in their life.  Success is defined as obtaining a desired goal.  When you first learned to ride a bike or roller skate, you stumbled and fell, but with practice became very good at it. You were successful!   At one time my definition of success was having a lot of money, a big house, and a car.  This is no longer my definition.

Success is a state of mind.  Remember the story of the little train that could?  He kept saying to himself, “I think I can!  I think I can!”    These three words should be engraved in children from year 1.  When I was young I was taught that “can’t” is not a word. I almost cringe at the thought of the word. 

Remember that you will fall many times before you will succeed.  It’s the failures that give us character and make us that much stronger as a person. When you were learning to ride a bike, didn’t you always get back up when you fell?  Weren’t you determined to ride all the way down the street without help from mom or dad?  Eventually you became a master at riding the bike and you owe it all to your can-do attitude! This is the attitude that everyone should have. 

Some of us are surrounded by negative people all the time.  Their attitudes are sometimes passed on to us.  There are many things in life that can lead a person to have a negative attitude.  Perhaps they had a rough childhood, tragedy in their life, or hang out with negative people.  You must stay away from negative people.  Misery definitely loves company.  As for having a rough life, well, all of us have had our share of ups and downs.  Life will never be perfect.  You must keep in mind that some good will always come out of whatever happens in your life, no matter how tragic.

Developing a positive attitude just doesn’t happen overnight.  The first step is to have an awareness of the thoughts that go through your mind.  You have the ability to filter out the negative thoughts, ideas, and words that try to creep into your head.  The second step is to take the word “can’t” out of your vocabulary.  The third step is strengthening your faith and knowing that anything you want to do you can achieve. 

Success starts with you.  Success is about living a purposeful and fulfilling life.  It is about your contribution to the world.  It is about staying positive amongst the challenges.  And most of all, it’s about being true to yourself and living authentically.