IT'S YOUR TIME

I had the honor and privilege to meet and spend some time with Joel Osteen back in April while I was in Houston for the Final Four.  He is truly a man after my own heart.  Whenever I read a book I underline passages that catch my eye & then my assistant types them up for future reference.   I hope you will enjoy summary from Joel Osteen's book, It's Your Time. 

IT’S YOUR TIME
By:  Joel Osteen

A global recession has forced many to postpone their dreams and cancel their
plans.  You may have lost your job.  You may have lost your savings, maybe even
your home.  It could be that you have health concerns or relationship problems.
Maybe you are frustrated because it’s taking so long to get where you want to be
in your life.  Yet now is not the time to talk yourself out of your goals and
dreams.  Now is not the time to get discouraged.  You may feel you have so far
to go.  But the truth is, you don’t know.  Your dream may just be up around the
corner.  You may think it will take another two years.  But if you stay in
faith, who knows?  It may just be two more months.  You are closer than you
think.


God wants to breathe new life into your dreams.  He wants to breathe new hope
into your heart.  You may be about to give up on a marriage, on a troubled
child, on a lifelong goal.  But God wants you to hold on.  He says that if
you’ll get your second wind, if you’ll put on a new attitude and press forward
like you’re headed down the final stretch, you’ll see Him begin to do amazing
things.


You are closer than you think to a better life, a richer relationship, a
healthier body.


Rewards await you if you stay steadfast in your faith.

Before you see a new level of God’s favor, don’t be surprised if things come
against you to try to discourage you.  People may try to talk you out of your
dreams, to convince you to just settle where you are.


It’s difficult when we go through a time of loss.  There’s a proper time for
grieving.  But we can’t let a season of mourning turn into a lifetime of
mourning.


When you feel like dying, you should talk about living.  When you feel like
giving up, you should talk about pressing forward.  When you don’t see any way
out, you must talk about how God can make a way.  And know this:  The enemy
always fights you the hardest when he knows God has something great in store.


When the bottom falls out and it looks like you hit an all-time low . . . when
it just couldn’t get any worse . . . you don’t know what God has around the
corner.  That is not the time to get bitter.  That’s not the time to get
negative.   That is the time to put your shoulders back and boldly declare: “My
time is coming.  I am a victor and not a victim.”


No matter how long it’s been, no matter how tempted you are to get discouraged,
get up every morning and just declare it by faith: “My time is coming.  The
promise is in me, and I will not die until I see it come to pass.”


When you feel intimidated, like you can’t do something that you know on the
inside you should do, just remind yourself:  “I have the DNA of Almighty God.
He breathed His life into me.  I will not drag around feeling discouraged,
intimidated, and inferior.  I know I’ve been equipped with everything I need.  I
can do all things through Christ, and I will fulfill my God-given destiny.”


If you’ll have that attitude and keep pressing forward, believing, expecting,
then those genes of favor, increase, talent, and promotion will activate and
help take you to new levels.


If you get rid of any kind of negative, defeated attitude and simply stay in
faith, you will see good things released in your future—new seasons of increase,
new seasons of favor.


You must shake off any feelings of inferiority or low self-esteem.  Put your
shoulders back.  Hold your head up high.  You are a child of the Most High God.
You have His royal blood flowing through your veins.


Maybe you’ve made mistakes, poor choices.  You feel like you’re washed up or
that you are supposed to just endure life.  But God is saying, “If you’ll ask,
I’ll give you a new beginning.”


Keep your faith flowing even when there is no hope in sight.  Dare to dream big
and pray boldly, especially—yes, especially—when there is no hope in sight!


Challenging times have served as catalysts for creativity, innovation, and
accomplishment throughout human history.


Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult,
no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive.  You will thrive in
spite of it.


Keeping God first, believing and expecting His favor, then as His branches, we
will not survive, we will thrive!


Still, you have to keep your faith out there.  Negative voices will try to steal
your dreams and talk you into settling for life as it is.


If you believe to barely get by, you will barely get by.

If you believe that you will have a tough year, your faith will draw that in.

You must believe it before you see it.

Psychologists and researchers who study “hope theory” have found that focusing
on solutions increases our capacity to reach our goals while lifting our spirits
in the process.


What you mediate on takes root.  If you go around all day thinking about your
fears, and you play those fears out over and over again in your mind, they will
become your reality.


Your fears are almost always greater than the reality.

Don’t accept difficult days as the way it will always be.  You may be a little
bent right now because of hard winds, but that’s not permanent.  Those winds,
that storm, that trouble, that sickness, will not last forever.  When the ill
winds stop blowing, and they will, know that this too shall pass.


You will rise again.  Why?  You’ve got that bounce-back power.  Life will hand
you disappointments and setbacks.  You and I are like the palm tree.  We may bet
battered and beat up, but we will return stronger than we were before.

Nothing you are going through can keep you from your God-given destiny.  You
have bounced back before and you will do it again.  You may be a little bent
because of the strong winds, but the good news is, you’re not broken and you
will bounce back again.


Everyone goes through adversity.  We’ve all had hard times.  Maybe you were
struck down by an illness or laid off from your job.  Your savings were cut in
half.  A relationship went bad.


It’s easy to become negative and bitter and to lose your enthusiasm for life.
So many people live in the past and focus on who hurt them.  They have a victim
mentality, always blaming someone else.

Maybe you’ve made poor choices.  You’ve made some mistakes and opened the door
to trouble.  Now comes the condemning voice.  The accuser tells you, “You blew
it.  It’s your fault.  You can’t expect anything good.”


No, you’ve got to shake that off and say, “I may have brought trouble upon
myself, but I know God’s mercy is bigger than any mistakes I’ve made.  I will
not live with guilt.  I will not give up on my dreams.  I know I’m growing.  I’m
learning.  And in the end, God will use it all to my advantage.”


If you run from your problems and turn negative and sour, really, you’re running
from your destiny.  If you’ll learn to run to your problem, face it in faith,
knowing that God is in control, knowing that He can become what you need, then
you are running to your destiny.


To stay focused on your dreams, you may have to tune out negative voices coming
from others and from within too.


Many people let doubts take a stronghold in their minds.  Something negative was
spoken over them, they believed it, and suddenly it’s holding them back.  The
first step to dealing with doubts is to determine how they were planted.  Was it
a family member who said you’d never be successful?  Was it a teacher who
predicted you’d never get an A?  Was it a friend who said you’ll never break
your addiction?


Just because they didn’t see it, just because they couldn’t do it, doesn’t mean
you can’t make it happen.  Reprogram your thinking.  Break free from the
strongholds of doubt.


Ask yourself, “Who told me I don’t have what it takes?” “Who told me I’m just
average?” “Who told me I’m not talented enough?”


People don’t determine our destiny; God does.

Don’t make the mistake of comparing yourself with others.

It’s when we try to be something we’re not that life gets frustrating.

Don’t get discouraged, give up, or settle just because it didn’t happen one
way.  Keep knocking.  Keep believing.  Keep hoping.  Keep dreaming.  You may
hear ten people tell you no before you come to that one yes.  But that one yes
will make up for all the other noes.  You may have a dozen things that you’ve
tried that didn’t work out, but if you’ll stay in faith, you’ll come to that one
thing that does work out.


When you truly believe, it sets a series of events into motion.

THE POWER OF UNSELFISHNESS

Two words that never seem to go together or work together are selfishness and winning.  On the other hand, when we study the key characteristics of winning organizations we find that unselfishness is of paramount importance.  It's a necessary ingredient that enhances other aspects of success in a team endeavor.

So why is unselfishness so important?  What does it do to teams?  It has been my experience with the Boston Celtics (and in particular, as a coach in our 2008 NBA World Championship run) that unselfishness alone was extremely important for us, but the ways this unselfish attitude created additional advantages for us was also very important to our success.

Below are some by-products of an unselfish approach:

    •    the sprit of our team was much greater
    •    the intensity of our play was much greater
    •    the willingness to move the ball created easier, high percentage shots for us
    •    it helped us plug holes in our defense; we covered for each other
    •    it created frustration in our opponents, as the power of the pass can never be underestimated
    •    it kept us juiced up for the next game (which is very important when you are playing over 100 games in a season); our guys wanted to come to work
    •    it gave us confidence knowing that we could survive a player's off night because the ball always found the open player (and therefore, the high percentage shot)
    •    it allowed us the feeling that one guy never had to carry the burden
    •    it gave us a sense that we could not be beaten because opponents had to beat all of us together -- not just one superstar on his own
    •    most of all, it gave us a feeling that we wanted to be out there on the floor every night and that we knew it was truly US against the opponent; we knew our backs were covered every minute of every game; simply put: we knew if we absorbed ourselves in the team that we would have a chance to succeed at the highest level!

Is unselfishness important? Yes -- important enough that every champion has it as a vital part of its DNA!

Kevin Eastman

Boston Celtics Assistant Coach 2008 NBA World Champions Corp. & Motivational Speaker Consultant to Coaches Worldwide 

HOW TO BECOME A POSITIVE THINKER

Norman Vincent Peale shares four easy steps you can take to cultivate a positive attitude.

By Norman Vincent Peale

The world in which you live is not determined by outward circumstances as much as it is by the thoughts that occupy your mind. You can think and believe your way to misery or to a life of joy, satisfaction, and abundance. You have the power to choose.

The concept of positive thinking is a philosophy, an expression of faith. It doesn’t ignore life’s problems, but explains a practical approach to deal with, and overcome, them.

Anyone interested in seeking a better, promise- filled way of life, can find it through positive thinking and faith in God. To become a successful positive thinker, here are some ideas to think about:

1. To every disadvantage, there usually is a corresponding advantage. Consider the old truism that behind the darkest clouds the sun is shining. In the toughest situations there is always some value that is inherently good. The positive thinker will look for the good, for the advantage, and will therefore do far better with the difficulty than the negative thinker will. What you deeply think and visualize has a strong tendency to happen. So always think positively, believingly, expectantly, hopefully.

2. It isn’t what is happening but your attitude toward what is happening. Let’s assume a big, hard fact, and here are two men of equal intelligence facing it. One man says. “This is an overwhelming difficulty, more than I can handle.” So he is defeated by the fact. The other man says, “This is a tough situation, but with God’s help, I can handle it.” And he proceeds to do so successfully. It is the attitude toward the fact that is crucial—more so than the fact itself.

3. Develop a positive mental attitude toward the bottom. I have often had to deal with glum and discouraged people who have said, “I’ve hit bottom and there is no hope.” To one such man I replied, “Congratulations. Having hit bottom, you can go no lower; the only direction is up. So start thinking up.” He did, and after a time new ideas came that helped him to move up well above the bottom.

4. Put thoughts of God up against your trouble. A friend of mine, at 84, had her leg amputated. Even so, she does all her housework from a wheelchair. When asked if she ever becomes discouraged, she answered, “Certainly I do.” Then I asked, “What do you do when you get discouraged?” She replied, “What is there to do but get over it? I simply take the attitude that, with the Lord helping me, I can sweep all dark shadows from my mind, as I do the dust in my house.”

Top Five Characteristics for Success in Sports

Researchers at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, recently compiled a list of 128 characteristics of what makes a good athlete a winner.  They divided the list of 128 traits into half psychological and half physical characteristics.  Examples of psychological characteristics were: they perform well under pressure, they are teachable, etc.  Examples of physical characteristics were items such as body size, natural physical strength, and general talent or athletic attributes.

They then asked 658 coaches from 43 different sports to choose five of these characteristics that they felt defined winners.  The majority of these coaches chose psychological qualities over physical abilities for determining successful/winning athletes.  

These researchers determined that the top five characteristics for success in sports to be:

That these athletes love to play their game or sport.

They have a positive attitude in general toward life.

They are teachable and coachable.

They are self-motivated.

They have the discipline and drive to take the necessary steps to improve their game.

The “natural physical athlete” characteristic ranked 19^th out of 128 characteristics listed in this study.  These finding support the belief of many sports psychologists that success in sports is as much as 90% mental.   

These same five characteristics are essential for a person’s success in business and life as well. 

COMPASSION

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, asks why we aren't more compassionate more of the time.

Click on this link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_goleman_on_compassion.html

Avalanche Survival Leads to Paralympic Dreams

Sam Kavanagh is a testimony of the "Never Give UP" spirit.

Click on this  link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2729478

COURAGE CONQUERS FEAR

Relative to the whole scheme of things, your life span could be compared to lighting a candle and immediately blowing it out. In other words, life is short - very short. Missing out on any of the joys life offers is a tragedy.

If your life is being controlled by your fears, you are most certainly cheating yourself.

Courage is the mental muscle that conquers fear. Like all muscles, the more you use them the stronger they become. Courage is not something you are born with, it must be developed. Individuals who fail to develop courage, remain confined in mental prisons and face each day as mental lightweights.

It has been said if you face the thing you fear, fear leaves you.

For years I believed that courageous individuals had no fear. I was wrong. Eddie Richenbacher put it very well when he said, "There is no courage without fear." We all have fear, however, not everyone becomes subservient to their fears.

There is, very likely, something you have wanted to do for years - move to another city, start your own business, apply for that better position, go after the big account. Whatever it is you should do it. Remember, life is not a practice run. This is it. A little courage leads to more.

Observe those poor souls who are without courage. They merely tiptoe through life hoping they make it safely to death.

You and I were never meant to live that way. Learn to live the way you like by no longer living as you dislike. Forge into the remainder of your day with an abundance of courage. That's living!

Bob Proctor Speaker and Author

PRACTICE ACTIVE GRATITUDE

BJ Gallagher

Sociologist, best-selling author, and popular speaker.

My friend Sam Beasley taught me how to get more of what I love in life. He calls it active appreciation -- here's how he explained it to me: Sam asked: "Do you like where you live?"

"I love where I live!" I answered.

"Good," Sam said. "Then here's what you do. Every morning and every evening, for ten minutes or so, walk through your home and notice the things that you really love. An old quilt your mother made, a vase you inherited from your great aunt, a piece of furniture you treasure, a room you love to spend time in, a piece of art, or whatever it is that you love. Touch these things, run your fingers over them, and say out loud, 'I love this; I'd like more of this.' This is an act of 'active appreciation' in which you tell the Universe that you are deeply grateful for these blessings. You show appreciation and you ask for more. The Universe is a giant YES machine -- it will always send you more of what you pay attention to."

Sam summarized: "If you don't like what you're getting in your life, change your prayer. How you live your life is a form of prayer; what you pay attention to is a form of prayer; what you express gratitude for is a form of prayer. If you want your life to be different, your prayer must be different."

"Schedule this time on your calendar, just as you would any other appointment," Sam added. "Because if you don't schedule it, you'll start forgetting to do it. This is scheduled gratitude -- active appreciation."

"Once you've done that," he said, "start practicing active appreciation in other ways. When you walk your dog, look for three things you're grateful for. When you're driving to a business meeting, look for three things to be grateful for. When you're out running errands, look for three things to be grateful for. You want to train yourself into the gratitude habit."

I've been following Sam's instructions for some time now and the results are amazing. I feel like a very rich woman. I walk around happy almost all the time. I notice what's right in my home, in my business, and in my life. I give gratitude for my pets as I stroke their fur. I am grateful for my home-based business and count my blessings when I sit down to write every day. I give thanks and appreciation for my wonderful family, my loving friends, my car, my garden, my neighborhood.

I give thanks for money in the bank ... and I say a quick prayer of gratitude every time a check arrives. I kiss the checks and say, "Thanks, God." I make sure to write "thank you" on every check I write ... because I'm grateful to have money to pay my bills.

Sam taught me that gratitude is more than attitude -- it's action.

Click on this link: The Top 100 Most Creative People

Fast Company's Top 100 most creative people in business today.  Click on the link above for profiles of each person.  This is an interesting list.

The Power of Encouragement

By Renee Swope

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

I do not like open heights. I can't stand narrow balconies. And when driving across a bridge, you'll find me hugging the rail along the inside lane.
A few years ago, some friends tried to help me conquer my fear of heights by inviting our family to an indoor rock-climbing center. My heart stopped as we entered the doors and I scanned the highest peak at 25 feet. The instructors assured me that a web of ropes and harnesses would hold me tight. Before I could say "no thank you," I was strapped in and signing an injury waiver.
Towards the end of the day our friends, John and Laura, asked their eight-year-old son Steven if he wanted to try to climb to the highest peak. Steven seemed a little hesitant, but when his dad offered game tokens and ice cream if he reached it, Steven took the challenge.
Although Steven wasn't crazy about heights, he loved a dare. The promise of reward, mixed with the challenge and faith of his father, evoked courage in him.
I watched with admiration as Steven started the climb with confidence. He made it to 10 feet, then 15, then 20. But as he inched past the next face of the wall, he looked down. Realizing how high he was and how far he still had to go, he insisted he couldn't do it.
By this time, John was holding their very tired and fussy 3-year-old and Laura was feeding their hungry baby girl. I don't know where my brave husband was, but I quickly realized I was the only one standing there who could do something.
Suddenly courage and strength surged through my body and I called out, "Don't give up buddy. You can do it. I'll help you!"
In record time, I reached the 20-foot marker, crossed over the peak and up beside Steven to encourage him, reminding him of how far he'd come. I told him he could do it with God's strength and that it would be worth it if he'd persevere. With my words and my confidence in him, I helped Steven turn his thoughts towards a higher goal, an inner peak, a reward much greater than ice cream and game tokens – the reward of getting to a place he had stopped believing he could reach.
I surprised myself. I had silenced the voices of my own fears by focusing on helping someone else overcome theirs. In that moment, I realized the same promises I was claiming for Steven were true for me, too. I could do it with God's strength, and I did!
Each day we have the same opportunity. Like God did with Joshua in today's key verse, and like He does with us, we can come alongside each other in some of life's hardest challenges and highest peaks and say, "Don't give up, you can do it. I'll be with you and I will help you."
Isn't it amazing that when we take our eyes off our fears, our doubts, and our struggles and focus on someone else’s needs, we somehow forget our own? In believing the power of God's promises for others, our confidence in His promises for us seems to grow as well. And that my friend is the power of encouragement!

Click on this link: Five Tips for Managing Information Overload

Harvard Business Review

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

8:58 AM Friday February 25, 2011
by Heidi Grant Halvorson  | 

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.
4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist, and author of the new book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals (Hudson Street Press, 2011). She is also an expert blogger on motivation and leadership for Fast Company and Psychology Today. Her personal blog, The Science of Success, can be found at www.heidigranthalvorson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hghalvorson

Persevere If You Want to Succeed in Business

By Gladys Edmunds, for USA TODAY

Perseverance is a key ingredient when seeking success in entrepreneurship. While addressing a church-based youth group of aspiring entrepreneurs, I noticed that a large number of participants became frustrated and disillusioned when they didn't achieve instant success. 

One young man was at wits' end because his efforts to break into the music business had met with defeat. He said his homemade music CD had not been taken seriously and all doors to success appeared to be shut tight against him.  He recited a number of young artists who had achieved fame and fortune long before they had reached his age of 16. His prime examples were Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers. A number of the other participants agreed with him. The group took the position that these young, famous artist couldn't have struggled and worked hard for very long.  I suggested that he take a minute and do a review. I asked him to consider why he wanted to make it in the music business? Did he have a real passion and commitment and love for music, and if so, was he pushing forward? Or, was he stuck on the image of these young artists signing autographs for screaming adolescent girls and getting loads of media attention? The room fell silent.

Persistence is an important ingredient toward success. Persistence is a learned condition. We can learn it from our own experience or by watching someone else. I shared the following story that taught me how important and powerful persistence can be.  While getting dressed for my first day at kindergarten, my mother picked up my shoe to put it on my foot and suddenly a mouse jumped out of my shoe. My mother screamed in fright. As for me, I was too excited about getting to school than to be concerned about a mouse taking a nap in my shoe.  That evening during dinner, my mother told my dad what had happened and informed him that she needed a better home for her kids than our cramped rodent-infested dwelling. My father said that was not possible. The money just wasn't there yet. My mother listened quietly and said nothing.  Shortly after that, my mother would take my brothers and me on streetcar rides to neighborhoods that she hoped to raise her children in. We walked tree-lined streets and admired houses with green grass, trees and flowers in the yard. We watched while kids my age played in backyards and walked their dogs. This was completely different from where we lived. After each trip, she would remind me not to mention the excursion to anyone, and especially my doubtful dad.

One day, while looking for something in my mother's closet, I happened on a huge glass piggy bank loaded with money. I thought I had struck gold. I ran to tell my mother what I had found. She told me she was saving for our new home and I must keep quiet about the huge pig in the closet.  Every now and then I would take a peek in the closet, and sure enough that pig was growing fatter and fatter with coins and bills. My mother was saving every dime she could scrape from sewing and baby-sitting for neighbors. And, we continued our secret excursions into tree-lined neighborhoods. She was persistent in her goals and dreams. By the time I reached the third grade, my mother had more than enough for the down payment on her dream house. She also had enough to retire our old wringer clothes washer for a new automatic washer and dryer. That Thanksgiving found us in a new home in one of the neighborhoods we had frequently visited.

I never forgot that lesson. My mother told me that seeing others people's beautiful homes let her know there was a possibility for her to have a beautiful home, too.  In concluding my remarks to the group, I reminded them: If you think you are going to make a decision to enter the music business or any other business by just walking through a door marked "success" and arriving at success, you had better think again.

The path to success is heavily strewn with obstacles. These obstacles show up in many ways, sometimes as doors being slammed in your face, not being taken seriously, or the negative and doubtful comments of others, or, as in my mother's case, having to delay reaching your success goal while you gather the necessary resources.

But if your heart is truly at home with your interest then you must prepare for those challenges. One way is by being persistent. Regardless of what anyone says or thinks persist in your dreams.  Much of what it takes to get into any business or to reach a heartfelt dream has plenty to do with mental attitude. My mother had the love, passion and conviction to make a commitment to find a better life for her family. This world is overflowing with people who gave up on their desires, dreams and goals at the first sign of opposition. To achieve your dreams, be persistent.  My mother's story and the success of young people like Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers serve as a reminder of the possibilities that exist for us if we persist.

Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh, is a private coach/consultant in business development and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, published by Viking.