S T R E T C H I N G YOUR Outer Limit

You can't prove anything to anybody who doesn't want to believe you ... just like you can't attempt to help somebody to improve their circumstances if they won't let you coach them in that direction. Why would you want to help someone to do this anyway? The main reason that I do this is because as I help others, I improve myself in the process ... a self-perpetuation if you like. The word *success* comes from a Latin word meaning "to follow." It's a future-oriented concept. If you don't consider what's ahead when pursuing your goals, you may reach the place where you thought you would find success only to discover that it's not there. Take for example a quarterback throwing a pass. He has to lead his receiver; to throw the ball not where the pass-catcher is now but where he expects him to be at some future moment. He must be able to improvise: if his primary receiver is taken out of the play he has to target on another before he's thrown for a loss. And he has to move the ball downfield: three completions don't mean a lot if they don't result in a first down. When you were born, you were blessed with only Good. Being of free will (unless born into slavery), you were given the choice (as you came of age) to create whatever kind of life you wanted for yourself. Unfortunately, there is a great chance that you *fell into* a world where you observed others who were self-centered, self-delusional and basically demonstrated laziness and lack of ambition. This is prevalent in society. Your Choice to get on a Success Journey engaged you into a process of expanding your potential for achievement. But in a wider focus, you're also creating for yourself what Maxwell Maltz called a *success-type personality* --one that will empower you to set and achieve goals throughout your life. "When we say that a person has a *good personality*, Maltz wrote, what we really mean is that he has freed...the creative potential within him and is able to express his real self.... A good personality is one which enables you to deal effectively and appropriately with environment and reality, and to gain satisfaction from reaching goals ... " The catch is that *environment and reality* today are changing at a faster rate than Maltz could have envisioned back in 1960. To develop a success-type personality means *leading* your self-image, anticipating what skills and qualities will be needed for success in the years ahead. He used the letters in the word SUCCESS to help to see an easy-to-remember picture of the successful personality ... (S)ense of direction, (U)nderstanding, (C)ourage, (C)harity, (E)steem, (S)elf-confidence and (S)elf-acceptance. It is necessary to keep your mind filled with forward thinking thoughts ... a process usually satisfied with reading material, planning, note-taking, etc. Don't leave ANY room at ALL for negative thought to creep in ... because it will and destroy your hope for success. Get your hands on a reading list from someone who has achieved what you want to achieve and keep reading it and more. Learn and apply everything that falls in line with how you see your life 5, 10 even 20 years from today. Get started today.