Your goals are set now. You should have experienced the sweet victory of achieving a couple of the small goals you set. Now, let’s work on the tools to help you soar further.

Focus on the development of courage, conviction, communication and introduce a sense of urgency into your daily life.

Mentally push aside the fears that are holding you back…Believe that you can manifest greatness when you work for it…Work on your leadership and communication by taking a public speaking course or actively participating in group discussions at work, church, and community functions…Most important, take actions now that will move you toward your goals.

Just taking action can make you feel better about yourself.

First you have to take responsibility for your life. You and only you can accomplish your dreams. Get a feel for it by setting small goals and accomplishing them.

Review your goals every day. Be focused on achieving them. Reflect on what truly motivates you. For the remainder of December I will help your appetite for success skyrocket!

Do not live with the coulda, shoulda, woulda’s…
DRIVE, SURVIVE AND THRIVE!

Take a look at Lance Armstrong. He has conquered the Tour de France not one, not two, not three, four, five or even six !...but seven consecutive years – after fighting testicular cancer and coming out triumphant! This is a man with a real passion, he is hungry! There was no obstacle too large to stand in the way of his dream.

Feeding a fire within you – living FOR a dream – is real living.

When life knocks you down, you should always try to land on your back….because if you can look up, you can get up! I have that hunger within to make something of myself.

That hunger is a motivating force.

Then just as it appeared I was recovering, I came to her one morning after awakening and my voice was gone. Mama was devastated. After all she had gone through in dealing with my illness, she feared it had sneaked back in and robbed me of my voice forever.

That night she set to praying again, “Lord, give the child my voice. I’ve talked enough in my life. I don’t need my voice no more.” By morning my voice had returned – but mama’s was nothing but a squeak! I swear it is true!

Mama took some of the diphtheria medicine for herself and in a few hours her voice returned. But after that, if I dared to sass my mother or she heard me curse she would say, “You talk like that again, I’ll take my voice back, you use it like that, I’ll take it back!”

I intend to use my mama’s voice for good, lest I lose it for good. I urge you to use your talents and gifts to their fullest too!

I. You can achieve far beyond your horizons and in avenues of life you have never explored.
II. You possess a basic goodness, which is the foundation for the greatness you can ultimately achieve.
III. You must take responsibility for your actions, your well-being and the attainment of your maximum potential.
IV. You must seek self-awareness, self-approval and self-commitment in order to attain self-fulfillment.
V. You must commit yourself to building and maintaining relationships that are critical to the social development of your family and community.
VI. You must manifest the belief that mutual respect is the fundamental element of all relationships.
VII. You will heighten your life by helping others heighten theirs.
VIII. You will work toward your goals by planning, executing and measuring your progress.
IX. You will make commitments with care and honor them with integrity.

Acknowledging and growing your gift is one with making the decision to take on responsibility for your life. You must now accept the consequences of your actions, and become the agent of your mental, physical, spiritual and material success. Can you imagine looking back and discovering that you used so few of your natural gifts.

Henry David Thoreau said, “Oh, God, to reach the point of death only to realize you have never lived.”

You may not always be able to control what life puts in your path, but I believe you can always control who you are.

As I say each day, I am Mamie Brown’s baby boy…I never knew my natural parents and for a long time carried the burden of hatred for them. For everything I didn’t know and for the very few things I did know, I hated them until it weighed my soul down.

Now, Kahlil Gibran, a great philosopher, once said “our children come through us, but not from us.” What a relief! I didn’t have to be them. I was further encouraged to release my burdens by the blissful knowledge that Mamie Brown chose me out of love. Let me repeat that, she chose me out of love. The knowledge of that has allowed me to release my anger and charge forward with the passion for what I am and what I do. No longer plagued by the thoughts of where I came from.

Remember it is the person you become, not the things you achieve that is most important.

We weren’t a wealthy family and a trip to the grocery store was serious business. There was no room for wastefulness in our lives.

One afternoon as I turned the corner into the alley, arms full of groceries, I was faced with a real dilemma…Two neighbor boys blind-sided me and started a serious whooping all over me! Do I save the groceries or save myself?!

The answer came in the form of Mama hollering loudly “Throw those groceries down and get those boys!”

You see there comes a time when you have to drop your burdens in order to fight for yourself and to live your dreams.