Almost every successful person begins with two beliefs; the future can be better than the present and they believe that they have the power to make it so. They believe that they have the power to make it so because they believe in themselves.  Believing in yourself, believing that you can do whatever you set your mind to do is crucial to making your dreams become a reality. A lack of belief in yourself will limit you no matter how great the ideas or opportunities are that you are exposed to. If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

Believing in yourself is the first secret to success. If you believe you can then you will. If you lack confidence in yourself, you’ll break like a twig the first time you face an obstacle. Whatever you want to achieve, there will be countless barriers questioning your competences. The only way to get through them is by being confident enough that you can and will. This confidence comes from within, from the deep belief in yourself and your abilities. Believe that you can do it and believe that you deserve it and you will achieve it. You are what you believe yourself to be. Your mind will always believe everything you tell it. Believe in yourself. Don’t let yourself or anyone else bring you down. You are worth fighting for.

Michael Jordan failed countless times. As he admits, he missed thousands of shots and lost hundreds of games. However, he realized that’s part of the process so he used it as a driving force to work even harder. He also emphasized that it was his failures that pushed him to work harder until he believed in himself. You too should be prepared to succeed because you can do anything. Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside of you that is greater than any obstacle. Don’t wait until the right time comes along to go after your dreams. There is no perfect time to go after what you truly desire. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. But so what? Get started now. Stop yourself from stopping yourself. With every step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger and more self-confident.

Believe in yourself. You are capable of great things in your lifetime but great things can only be created if you first believe they can and then you take action, Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t do.   There will be critics. There will be supporters. There will be you standing alone but whether others believe in you or not, if you do not believe in yourself success is unattainable. Be your biggest fan by believing in yourself.

If you believe in yourself, a positive attitude will follow. There’s no way to convince a man with the wrong mindset that he can do something. The same goes for telling people with a positive attitude that they can’t do something. Anyone who believes in himself will not listen to negative talk. Instead of letting negativity discourage them, a person who believes in himself will let negativity propel him to keep pushing. It’s like adding fuel to the fire. Stop letting people who do little for you control your mind.  The biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful ones is that successful people are determined to make their situations work for them. They believe that they have it in them to rise to the top. Don’t be too hard on yourself. There are plenty of people willing to do that for you.

You have this one life. How do you want to spend it? Apologizing? Regretting? Be brave and believe in yourself. Millions of people can believe in you but it won’t matter if you don’t believe in yourself! A man can be as great as he wants to be if he has the courage, the determination and the belief that he can do what he sets his mind to do. A bird sitting in a tree is never afraid if the branch breaks because his trust is not in the branch but in his own wings. Always believe in yourself no matter who’s around being negative because whatever you believe you become. No matter what you do, no matter how many times you screw up and think to yourself ‘there’s no point to carry on’ no matter how many people tell you that you can’t do it’ keep going and believe that you can succeed. If you don’t give up, every day that passes gets you closer to your goal.You only fail if you quit. Even mistakes mean that you are trying. Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Your happiness begins with you.

One of the most important keys to success is having the discipline to do what you know you should do, even when you don’t feel like doing it. It’s so easy to become distracted. There is always one more errand to run, one more phone call to answer or a deadline to meet. In reality there is only one thing that keeps us from reaching our goals – lack of focus. How well you master the ability to stay focused is going to determine your level of success. If you are able to stay focused at school, work or home, you will be productive and you will get things done.  Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. If you are distracted all the time, you will accomplish little and become frustrated in the process.

The big question is how do you stay focused in times like these when there are so many constant demands on your attention and everyone is pulling you in different directions? The first step to getting focused is to reduce or eliminate distractions. Imagine that your focus is a bucket full of water and every distraction is a little hole in your bucket. The more distractions you have, the more holes you have. Water is going to leak out and eventually your bucket is going to be empty. Stop being distracted by things that have nothing to do with your goals. Don’t get sidetracked by people who are not on track. Staying focused will mean that you must say no to some opportunities. Ask yourself if what you are doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow.

If you are going somewhere, some days are going to be harder than others and that is what keeps your brain alive. You will have peaks and valleys but take one day at a time instead of looking ahead. Tough times are just that – tough. but I promise you, that if you stay focused you will work your way out of them. Successful people never worry about what other people are doing. To survive those days you will need to pick yourself up and stay focused on your life’s purpose. Hold on tight to what you are working for. Let go of the thoughts that do not make you strong. Don’t lose sight of your goal just because your current situation looks like you are headed in the wrong direction.

Don’t be afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive about what could go right. Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do. Big things have small beginnings. Your start does not determine how you finish. Be more intentional with what you want. Your actions should reflect what you want. Let you faith be bigger than your fear. Things might not go the way you planned but that doesn’t mean that you lose hope. Stay positive and focused. Focus on where you want to be, not where you were or where you are. You get what you focus on so focus on what you want.

One of the greatest distractions you will face when trying to stay focused is knowing who to trust. One question to ask yourself is ‘has this person been with me the last time I needed help?  Will this person keep me focused or be a distraction? Remember, you can’t take everyone with you where you are going. Let go of people who don’t share your dream. If they are not part of your vision, then their season in your life is over. Haters can see you walk on water and yet say it’s only because you can’t swim! So shame them with your success.  Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable.

Your main focus should be to remain focused. Against all odds and against all obstacles you are going to make it. It’s only when you focus on something larger than yourself that you will know your true potential. If it doesn’t challenge you then it won’t change you. Your life only gets better when you do. Attract what you expect. Reflect what you desire. Become what you respect. Mirror what you admire. Be disciplined about what you respond and react to. Not everyone or everything deserves your time, energy and attention. Courage is being yourself every day in a world that tells you to be like someone else. If you desire to be happy and succeed in life, get focused and remain focused. Your dream will never become reality if you don’t.

It’s easy for us to take the people in our lives and the things we treasure most for granted when they are there for us all the time. Sadly, most people tend to realize the value of these things only after they lose them. Unfortunately, we often take for granted that something is just there. This enables us to not appreciate or be thankful for what we have but this is wrong. Countless people have been put in positions where they lost something or someone of value without telling them how much they meant to them. Never take anything for granted. The things you take for granted someone else is praying for. Learn to appreciate what you have before it is no longer yours to appreciate.

Nothing in life is guaranteed. Life is unfair at times and bad things do happen to good people so don’t take anything for granted. A meaningful life is not being rich, popular or highly educated. A meaningful life is about being real, being humble, being able to share ourselves and touch the lives of others. Respect people who find time for you in their busy schedule and love people who never look at their schedule when you need them the most.

We always take for granted the life we have. We complain about how life is so unfair. We never stop and think about the people who have nothing. There are some people who don’t even know where their next meal is coming from – for them or their families. If you look at what you have in life you will always have more. If you look at what you don’t have, you will never have enough. Appreciate what you have before it turns into what you had. Appreciate what you have before someone else comes along and appreciates what you took for granted.

Relationships should never be taken for granted both the good ones and the bad ones. The good ones allow you to be who you really are. You learn that friendships require just as many deposits as withdrawals. Good friendships enable you to not only give love but receive it as well and if you are lucky, you will have some friendships that you can trust that will last a lifetime. Don’t take trust for granted. It’s hard to earn but easy to lose. Loyal people are the hardest to come by. If you have one in your life hold onto them. Bad relationships have value as well for they are learning experiences that have taught you who should not be in your life. Appreciate the really great people who are currently in your life.

Enjoy the little things in life for one day you will look back and realize that those little things were actually big things. In the blink of an eye anything can change. Don’t wake up one day and realize that you forgot to tell someone “I love you.” Don’t forget to say ‘thank you’ to that person who didn’t have to help you but they did. A person who feels appreciated will always do more than expected of them. Some people don’t notice what we do for them until we stop doing them.  Love the people God gave you because He will need them back one day.

The life God gave you is precious. Don’t take your life, nor the life of another person for granted. Look around you. You have much to lose. Hold on to the important people in your life and make sure they know how much you love and appreciate them. Don’t assume that they already know. Every day that goes by is a day that you will never see again. Make each day count!

Life is full of disappointments, failures and setbacks but none of those things should be used as excuses to not go after what you truly desire in life. You have the power in you to overcome anything life throws at you. There is nothing as powerful as a made up mind. Strength shows not only in the ability to be persistent but in the ability to start over. Instead of thinking that things are so bad and they can’t be fixed, set a new goal, dig down deep and begin again. Don’t be afraid to start over. Starting over is a new chance to rebuild but this time it will be better and more like what you want. Just because the past didn’t turn out like you wanted it to, doesn’t mean that you can’t have what you desire most in this world. Forget what is no longer available to you be it a person, place or thing. Appreciate what remains and look forward to what’s coming next.

Very few people find success after only one try. Persistent people are determined to try and to try again. Some have lost everything and have been broken to the point that they could easily have given up because they had no more to give. They laid everything on the line to reach their dream but became exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally and financially when their dream slipped away. But this is when you must realize that you have more potential than you think you do. Until you are broken, you don’t know what you’re made of. But once broken, you become stronger and stronger as you build upon what has been inside of you all along. Never be afraid to be broken because this is when you find out who you really are. Falling down is an accident but staying down is a choice.   If your situation seems too big for you, it’s because you are about to find out who you really are.

When something doesn’t go your way in life, it’s important to look at it as an opportunity to prove that you can adapt and overcome. If you don’t ever try to make a comeback, you’ll never get better at anything.   Grow through what you went through. Be thankful for your struggles for without it you would have not discovered your strengths. Life is not about being perfect. Life is about the effort you put into it. That’s how changes happen. Be wise enough to know when to let go of something and be strong enough to wait on what you deserve. Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of our life. As we work through and overcome our own fears, it sends a signal to others that they can do the same. You have been assigned that mountain in front of you to show others that it can be moved. When we rise above our challenges, we silently encourage other people to do the same. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain. The caliber of a person is not how well they prepare for everything to go right but how they stand up and move on after everything has gone wrong.

Your journey is not yet over. Setbacks are designed to take us into a different direction – one that you would have never attempted before. You might have to fight a battle more than once in order to win. Don’t look back – you are not going in that direction. Hardships prepare ordinary people for extraordinary things.  Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. Be crazy enough to think that you can do anything in this life. While some storms uproot some trees, that same storm forces the roots of other trees to grow deeper into the earth. What about you? Will you dig deeper and start again or will you let adversity break you? You are not what happened to you. You are whatever you choose to become. Most importantly, be to someone else the person you needed when your back was against the wall and everyone who you thought you could depend on were nowhere to be found.

The 3 C’s in life are Choice, Chance and Change. You must make the choice to take the chance if you want something in your life to change. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up and never give up. The late Steve Jobs said “surround yourself with dreamers, doers and believers but most of all surround yourself with those who see greatness in you even when you don’t see it yourself.” No situation defines who you are. You haven’t made it this far only to remain this far.   There is so much more ahead for you to experience. Your past is who you were. The future is who you can be. Just when the caterpillar thought her life was over she became a butterfly. Besides, everybody loves a good comeback because the comeback is always stronger than the setback.

Empathy means the ability to understand how another person feels because you can put yourself in their shoes. Empathy will allow you to identify with another person’s feelings probably because you have felt the same pain some time in your life. Empathy enables you to see things from another person’s perspective which perhaps might change your opinion of them. The harm we do other people is not always an act of maliciousness but simply dismissing them and their feelings is all it takes. Instead of putting others in their place, first put yourself in their place.

They say that if you talk kindly to your plants every day that it will make them grow. Imagine what would happen to an individual, especially someone who is going through a difficult time, if someone showed them a little kindness . Whenever you see another person therein lies an opportunity for kindness because we are all facing our own challenges. Their fight is just as important to them as your fight is to you. Their pain is as real to them as your pain is to you. We all have doubts and fears about something. We all carry wounds from our past, and no matter how strong we think we are, our pain surfaces every now and then. So when this happens to you, when you feel pain either physical or emotional, do something nice for someone else and just for a moment you will notice that nothing is as bad as it seems.

Kindness is a medicine that will go a long way in making both the receiver and the giver feel good. When you are down, don’t stay down. Rise and pick someone else up who is also down. Show up when someone needs you. Be selfless because when you are in a bad place you will want someone to be there for you. We are all human. We are all vulnerable. We all need to be supported. We all need to be accepted and respected. Love people when they need it and even when you feel that they don’t deserve it. Love and compassion are not luxuries but necessities in our world today. Rather than think that everyone who is different than yourself should think like you, respect other people who have other views and embrace diversity. Our differences should be used as a bridge for communication and unity not anger or separation. Although our human nature gives us the ability to have empathy, empathy is a choice. Having someone show you empathy feels good because it tells you that someone not only noticed you but cared enough to do something to help you.

Can you remember the last time someone showed you empathy? Do you remember how it made you feel? When someone makes you feel that you are valued and cared for, it leaves such an imprint in your life that it compels you to show that same kind of care when you see another person hurting. How you make others feel says a lot about who you are. People will forget what you said; they will even forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. No one heals themselves by wounding another person. In a world who couldn’t care less, be someone who couldn’t care more. Maya Angelou said ‘be the rainbow in another person’s cloud.’ Empathy creates a better world. Empathy is contagious. Pass it on!