In 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down and the World Wide Web went up, the world changed forever. This marked the end of the Industrial Age and the beginning of the Information Age. It is not just a new world we are living in, but a brand-new world, where the changes are so profound, so sweeping and so swift that we may no longer be able to control our own lives, much less achieve the success we want.

The Information Age is exploding with social, political, and cultural change. With the coming of the internet and instantaneous communication, the world is shrinking and the earth is pressing its diverse people into uncomfortable relationships and unexpected competition.

The Information Age can be very tough and very disorienting. But it also presents unbelievable opportunity if we choose to see and take advantage of them.

As this new age emerges, each of us must choose from two very sobering options:

Option 1: You can choose to ignore that you are living in a new age, see it as a passing phase, and risk the eventual disintegration of your career and lifestyle as you currently know them.

Option 2: You can recognize that this is a new age, and begin the challenging task of preparing yourself to share in its potential and its benefits.

The obvious choice is Option 2. But Option 2, like Option 1, comes with a very stiff price. To make the second option work, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to equip yourself to succeed in the Information Age.

Here are seven keys to success in the Information Age that are critical to attaining success in your personal and business life.

1. You must develop and maintain a positive mental attitude. The foundation of your success is the total, uncompromised acceptance that you are living in a new world and it is here to stay. The world is not going to ever revert back to way things were ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. You must develop a positive attitude about this new age and yourself. You must teach yourself to see only the new possibilities that exist today and be blind to its obstacles.

Accepting the new world and developing a positive attitude will position you for success, but taking action, putting these seven keys to work every day of your life is the ultimate requirement to achieve the success you want.

2. Become a master of change. Change is the culture of the Information Age. Change has always been part of our lives. But in the Industrial Age, change was slow, evolutionary, and we didn