My Monday Map to Success

The Inside Out Blog

"If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away."

Lord Chesterfield

There are times that I get frustrated with my physical appearance. There are times that I don't look good in my clothes, because I have gained extra weight. There are also times when I am not physically up to doing my hair or putting on makeup, so I put my hair up and I neglect the makeup. In my life, I have faced quite a few moments such as these. What I am talking about is feeling bad about my outward appearance, which many women I know face on a daily basis.

Women want to look beautiful, but more important they want to feel beautiful. Many times, they may look beautiful to others, but feel like an ugly duckling to themselves. They stress over their beauty and waste valuable time obsessing over their weight, clothes, hair, and makeup. It is a frustration that can consume every moment and create depression. Unfortunately, many of the television programs or movies they watch don't help them. In the end, a lot of women feel ugly and useless.

The key to looking and feeling beautiful is working from the inside out. This is a process that can change our whole life. In the last few years, it has helped me to stop wasting my time on unimportant issues. Sure, I like to look beautiful, but I realized that most the time I do look beautiful. It is all in my own perception. To really start working on the inside we need to stop focusing on our outward appearance, deal with our negative emotional issues, create a personal life plan, and do our best. Once we take these steps, we are able to feel good about ourselves without the stress of obsessing over things we can't or don't need to change.

Stop Focusing on our Outward Appearance

"What we achieve inwardly will change reality."

Plutarch

Instead of focusing on what is on the outside, we need to focus on our inward appearance. It is my opinion that there are physically attractive people that are ugly. When I meet someone that is rude and obnoxious, I find that they become very unattractive. This is true whether they are physically beautiful or not.

Character and mindset is an important part of our inward appearance. When we are negative and not open to learning and growing, we do not have an attractive inward appearance. It is vital to work on our values and beliefs. When we value ourselves and others, we are working on what is really important. This maturity is vital for true inward beauty.

When I was in my late twenties, I obsessed over my outward appearance. By the time I was twenty-six, I wore a size 6 and bought clothes I couldn't afford on credit. At this time, I was working out one to two hours a day and taking hours to get ready. In addition, I worked full time and ended up not having a whole lot of time for my two year old daughter, Snow. It is a good thing that this didn't last long. Not only did I become physically and emotionally fatigued due to lack of food and rigorous exercise, but my relationships were in need of repair.

This was when I hit rock bottom, and I knew I needed to change. At this time, I began to work on my character and inward values. Instead of obsessing over my outward beauty, I decided to change my inward beauty. From this point on my confidence grew, and my relationships began to heal. Even my relationship with my daughter is beyond what I ever thought possible. We are close, because we are both working on perfecting ourselves from the inside out. Now, I have a beautiful twelve year old (she keeps reminding me that she will be thirteen in August) daughter, and she grows in beauty daily on the inside as well as the outside. Why? Because her true outward beauty is a reflection on what is inward.

Deal with our Negative emotional Issues

"Let's not be narrow, nasty, and negative."

T.S. Eliot

The above incidence when I was twenty-six is an example of negative emotional issues. Many women carry scares that they try to hide by working on their outward beauty. They don't want to work on the negative emotional issues, because they are too painful and would mean they admit imperfection. Women tend to work excessively on perfection, and they don't want anything to obstruct their image of perfection.

Working on negative emotional issues is one of the most important parts of developing inward beauty. Hurts can make success impossible to achieve. When people hurt they usually hurt other people. This means that relationships and contacts at work can be damaged. If people can't get over their emotional pain, they usually get angry and show that anger outwardly.

For years, I wanted a writing and public speaking career, but, due to the emotional scares, I was unable to learn and grow. Most of my failure was due to inactivity. In fact, I saw myself as a failure, so I never even tried. Lately, I have realized that I am able to do anything with hard work and perseverance. This includes writing, public speaking, receiving a college degree, and taking the GRE.

The GRE is a graduate exam, which is required by many universities to start on masters or doctoral degrees. Fortunately, up to this point, I have attended colleges that didn't require GRE scores. It doesn't matter to me, though. In two years, I will graduate with my master's degree, and I intend on working toward my doctorate. Although there are doctoral programs that don't require the GRE, I want to have my options open, so I need to have high GRE scores. Why do I bring the GRE up when I am talking about negative emotional issues? This is because I am dealing with negative emotional issues that stopped me from taking the GRE. Now, I will do everything I can to prepare for the exam and take the exam. If I don't get high scores the first time, I will take it until I do receive high scores.

Create a Personal Life Plan

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan."

Eleanor Roosevelt

It is vital that our minds are focused on fulfilling our purpose and goals in life, so we are not obsessed with our outward appearance. This is why a personal life plan is so important. When I started working on a personal life plan for my future, I was able to do what I could for my outward appearance and spend the rest of my time on my personal life plan.

There are certain jobs that require a certain type of clothing and appearance. This is where a personal life plan can help us decide what we need to wear and how we need to act, and, because it is already written in our personal life plan, we don't have to spend hours deciding what to wear and how to look each morning. Planning is the key to inward beauty and success.

Questions to ask when developing a personal life plan:

1. What work do you do that you enjoy? (This is your purpose.)
2. What are your goals for fulfilling your purpose? (List specific goals and due dates.)
3. What education do you need to fulfill your purpose? How much education are you willing to pursue?
4. How hard are you willing to work for your goals?
5. How do you need to dress for your purpose? (Your purpose will become your career.)
6. Do you have a schedule for working on your goals daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly? (If you don't have a schedule, work on one, now. There are many articles and books that explain creating a schedule, so take advantage of these great resources.)

Now that we have each answered the above questions, we have the starting of our personal life plan. We can expand on this life plan, so it includes more than just our purpose, goals, education, and clothing. In my personal life plan, I have written vacations I want to take and my dream home. First, we start with the most important parts of our life like purpose (career), relationships, and our education. Once we have the important parts of your life planned, we can develop a plan for the vacations to tropical islands and fast sports cars. This is called prioritizing, and it is important to know what you value and place each part of your life in order of importance.

This is an example of my priorities:

• Relationships: My family is extremely important to me. This family first includes my husband, three children, and my Aunt Ellen who lives with us. Next, I live extremely close to my husband's family. They supported and helped me out after my mother passed away. My sister-in-law, Teadran, is one of my closest friends. She is always there to help out with my children and adjust my back when I am in pain (she's an amazing chiropractor).
• Purpose (career): This is important to me, because I need to stop wandering through life and focus on what makes me happy. Writing personal development blogs, articles, and books is what makes me feel fulfilled. It is also important for me to teach personal development through public speaking.
• Education: At this time, I only have my bachelor degree. In two years, I will graduate with my Masters. After I graduate with my masters, I will work on my doctoral degree. Outside of college, I read books and take non-accredited classes that will teach me different aspects of personal development.

Do Our Best

"A problem is a chance for you to do your best."

Duke Ellington

The most important part of success is never giving up and doing our best. Sometimes it feels like our best isn't good enough. When we try our hardest, our best increases little by little. After awhile, we will realize that our best is more than enough. This is because we are working from the inside out. As we focus on the inward problems, the outward problems begin to disappear, too.

When I first started writing, I didn't get very good feedback and my college papers were returned with a lot of red marks. As I practiced and started writing what was on my heart, I began to improve and receive more positive feedback. Now, my papers don't come back from my professors with as many red marks. This is due to the fact that I did my best and kept working until I improved.

Lately, I have realized that it is more important for me to complement my children on doing their best. At first, I told them how smart and talented they were, but they respond to my requests and are happier when I complement their hard work. My oldest, Snow, has begun to do chores even when I don't ask. It is a joy to see her enjoy work, learning from her work and mistakes, and pursuing her purpose with all her might.

Challenge for the Week

This week we need to work from the inward out. Instead of focusing on our outward appearance, we need to look inwardly and pursue our purpose. This can be done by not focusing on outward appearance, dealing with negative emotional issues, creating a personal life plan, and doing our best. We need to remember that what matters in life comes from within us. As we prioritize and plan for our life, we are more able to work hard and create the life we want.

When my mom died, I knew that I wanted to make the rest of my life count. In the past, I focused so much on my outward appearance, but, now, I know what is really important. Following my dreams of becoming a writer and public speaker are important, and pursuing this dream is important to my family. If I can show my family that they can succeed with hard-work, then they will pursue their dreams and become successful. Even though I miss my mom, I know she is proud of the success I have achieved in my life. Right after she died, I completed my college degree and continued on to graduate school. My mom always supported me and told me how proud she was of my accomplishments. That pride that my mom instilled within me shines through.

"I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind them."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Tina White

Education

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

John Dewey

Education is extremely important to me, now. When I was in my teens and early twenties, I didn't understand the importance of education. As soon as I graduated from high school, I went straight to work. At the age of twenty, I met Brenton who encouraged me to go to college. When I started my journey in higher education, I realized that I had not done my best in school and wasted a lot of years of my life. Unfortunately, I still didn't understand education completely, so I wasted many years in and out of college.

One thing that I learned about education is that it does not always occur in a college or university. Many times, students in college are not really receiving an education. They are simply getting through school, so they can get a diploma. After they take a class, the information is gone. There are other students who get to their graduation day and realize that they are not interested in pursuing a career in the field that they studied in school and want a different line of work.

Education can occur in a classroom, but most of the time education is learned outside the classroom. When I realized that I needed to pursue education, I started reading books and taking classes when I was not in a college classroom. This helped me realized what kind of degree and career I wanted, and showed me the purpose of my life. In my case, the purpose for my life is teaching personal development. This revelation showed me that I needed to take human behavior, psychology, counseling, and communication classes. It also helped to take writing and public speaking classes, because my passion is to teach others personal development through speaking and writing.

My question as an undergraduate was, "What do I need to do to educate myself?" There are several steps that I took to pursue my education. These steps are to discover my purpose in education, decide what steps I need to take to get an education, research my purpose and become an expert, take classes from a community college or seminar, work on my college skills, and never quit. Once I had these steps down, I was able to focus and complete each step of my education.

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."

George Washington Carver

Discover my purpose in education.

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow."

Anthony J. D'Angelo

When I started college, I chose music as my major. As I completed my first two years of college, I decided that music was not for me. It was not something I was passionate about. Instead, I decided to complete a business degree. It was perfect for me, because it consisted of human behavior and communication classes. These were apart of personal development, which was my passion.

When I went to a community college, I took classes in music. If I had taken a more wide variety of classes, I might have found my passion sooner. Of course, sometimes, it just takes time to find one's passion. If you are choosing a degree that you don't feel passionate about, continue to look until you find your passion.

Sometimes, education doesn't have anything to do with college. There are some people who become educated and create an extremely successful career. This means they use self-education and training to educate themselves. The point of education is to never stop growing and learning. Colleges are great educational tools, because they keep you accountable and give you a degree that can increase your income.

Decide what steps I need to take to get an education.

"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence."

Abigail Adams

What steps you take depends on what purpose you decide to pursue. If you decide to obtain a college degree, then it is important to find the right college and enroll in classes. Some purposes don't require a degree, but it is still important you study the subject. There are purposes that need college degrees and certifications, and in other purposes you need a doctorate degree.

When you have found your purpose, write down all the steps you can think of that will help you in your pursuit. Once you have written down all the steps, it is important to ask an expert if you have written down all the steps. They can tell you what you are missing from your list.

For instances, if you want a career as an educator, it is vital that you get at least a bachelors degree and a certification. There may be other requirements for a specialized teacher, so this is where the list of steps comes in handy. As you complete each step, cross it off the list or put a check mark next to the completed step. This will help increase your confidence as you continue through your list.

Research my purpose and become an expert.

"Education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't know."

Anatole France

The most success and educated people have studied their subject until they are experts. This is important to anyone developing a successful career. For example, when someone decides they want to become a lawyer, they read and learn the laws and what it takes to have a career in law. It is better for a person to study and become an expert even before they take classes. There is a book written almost on every subject, so there is no excuse for lack of knowledge.

When I decided to pursue a career in personal development, I started reading every book on the subject. It was important for me to get all the information I could, so I could write blogs and teach others. Now I am getting my degree in human relations, which includes human behavior and communication classes. These classes are a part of personal development, and I use the information I receive from these classes to further my personal development career.

Take classes from a community college or seminars.

"Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere."

Chinese Proverb

It also might be beneficial to take classes from a community college or a seminar. When my husband, Brenton, wanted to pursue art, he went to a community college. He only paid $108.00 for a semester, and he learned about different aspects of art. Now, he uses that knowledge to create art and help our daughter with her art. There are also many community classes that are even cheaper than community college. Our older children, Snow and Danny, have participated in community classes, which were beneficial in keeping them entertained and educating them at the same time. One summer, Snow took a fashion designing class and Danny took a building class.

There are also different seminars or non-credited classes that are not as expensive as community college tuition. One time, I took a writing class that helped me to discover my passion for writing. It also showed me how to create essays, books, and business documents. This was a class I never will forget, because of the valuable information I received. It was online, so I never had to leave my home or my family.

Work on college skills.

"Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you have something to learn, and this will mean all of your life."

Henry L. Doherty

Writing Skills

It is important to know how to write. Most work in college is writing one paper after another. If you know how to write research papers, you can pass almost any class. This can be learned through books, college classes, community classes, or seminars. In the last twenty years, I have attended many writing seminars and classes. It has helped me to become a successful writer and college student.

Math Skills

Math skills are useful in everyday life. This is why it is important to continually perfect math skills. This is especially true if you decide to attend college. Math classes will be a necessity for undergraduate, and it is a necessity for some graduate classes. Although I am not a math genius, I do work on my math skills, so I can be successful in business math and personal finances.

Organizational Skills

There are some people that may moan when they read organization skills. It may not be something you are good at, but it is necessary to success in every area of life. This is a fact that I learned in college. When I was careless with my papers and didn't keep a notebook, I didn't do as well. Now, I always organize my graduate work, so I can be a successful student. Every year, I try to take an organizational class or read books that will help me organize my life.

Never quit!

My primary goal in life is to never give up. This is something I want to inspire others to do, too. If you give up, you will never reach your potential and never succeed in your life. For years, I wasted time giving up every time I could not do something perfect. Now, I know that even if something is not perfect I will succeed if I never give up.

My daughter, Snow, is a great example of a person who never gives up. When she starts to draw a picture, she sometimes messes up and has to throw the picture away. This does not mean she gives up. She literally sits and draws for hours trying to perfect her picture. There are some pictures that she works on for days or weeks (she does take breaks, though!), so she can get the picture just right. Rarely have I ever seen her abandon a picture idea altogether. She always gives each picture her all, and that is why her artwork is so amazing.

Our education should be the same as Snow's artwork. We need to constantly work on educating ourselves until we are experts. Once we are an expert in one area, we need to find another topic, so we can become an expert, again. This educational process is continuous, and it should never stop until we die. Of course, it is important to aim at living until you're a hundred, so you can learn almost everything.

Challenge:

This week's challenge is to become a lifelong self-educator. Do this by deciding what your purpose is and how to educate yourself in that purpose. After you have found your purpose and educated yourself, use your purpose to help others. The whole point of education is sharing it with others.

When I decided that I wanted to pursue personal development, I also wanted to teach others how to pursue personal development for themselves. In the last two years, I have started teaching classes, Bible studies, and writing blogs. At the moment, I am in the middle of writing a book and preparing for success seminars. Now, it is your turn to educate yourself and teach others.

"A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated."

Horace Mann

Facing Challenges

"This only use of an obstacle is to be overcome. All that an obstacle does with brave men is, not to frighten them, but to challenge them."

Woodrow Wilson

Like everyone else, I do not care for difficulties. They make me stressed and feel exhausted. It always seems like they go on forever. When people talk to me about their challenges, they are usually angry, frustrated, and crying. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever had anyone tell me about their challenges with excitement.

    Although this is how I use to feel about challenges, I am now excited when I face a new challenge. They are part of life, and they make us grow. Sometimes, when I am not facing a challenge, I will go out and find a challenge to conquer. The feeling of accomplishment after getting through a difficult challenge is rewarding. After I have conquered a challenge, I am joyful and feel accomplished.

    Once I have celebrated an accomplishment, it is time to find another challenge. If I wait too long to start a new challenge, I become bored and unfulfilled. Starting a new challenge always helps me feel like I am living with purpose. If life is too easy, I don't learn anything. Challenges are the best learning experiences.

"Accept the challenges, so that you can feel exhilaration of victory."

George S. Patton

    Although some find it difficult to get through challenges, it is necessary to succeed in life. There are six ways that I deal with challenges in my life. These steps are be thankful for the challenge, make a positive response to challenges a habit, take responsibility for my life, turn challenges into opportunities, connect what I already know with the challenge, and continue to move forward.

After I started putting these steps into practice, I began to see my stress level and depression decrease. Now, I am less likely to grumble and complain when things become difficult. Of course, I am not perfect, so I still am working on these steps and my grumbling during challenges. It is an on-going process, but I am getting better with every challenge I face.

Be thankful for the challenge.

"Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life."

Robert Louis Stevenson

 

When I go through challenges, I am initially not thankful. This is especially true when I was younger. Every time I found myself going through hard times, I would start to panic and overreact. Of course, this made everything worse. When I got through the challenge, I would feel horrible, because, due to my overreaction, the challenge took longer for me to get through.

What I didn't understand is that thankfulness would have solved a lot of my problem. During a challenge, it is the attitude that makes all the difference. When I was thankful for the challenge and excited about what I would learn, the challenge was more insightful and easier to get through. On the other hand, if I went through a challenge with an attitude, I would stress throughout the challenge and feel horrible when it was over.

    There are still some challenges that are hard to feel thankful for, so I have to consciously make thankful statements to get through the challenge. This is where a gratitude journal comes in handy. Each day, it is important to write down everything that I am thankful for, and that includes all the challenges I am facing at the moment. It is also crucial to my success to write down what I have learned from other challenges and be grateful for those lessons.

"We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning."

Albert Barnes

Make a positive response to challenges a habit.

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kinds of thoughts we wish to dominate over our lives."

Henry David Thoreau

When I respond to a challenge, it is usually out of a habit that I have formed. Most of the time, I form habits without thinking. They are usually bad and negative habits. My negative response to challenges was a bad habit that I had to correct. Once I changed my response, I was able to habitually respond to challenges with a positive attitude.

Thinking negative thoughts about challenges became a habit. As I started to research personal development, I realized that my negative thoughts were the first thing that needed to go. Every time I start to think negatively about a situation, I simply stop myself and replace that thought with a positive one. This process did not happen overnight. It has taken a long time to think positively when facing challenges.

Once I learned to replace my negative thoughts with positive ones, I had to think those positive thoughts over and over, again. Now, I am able to quickly replace my negative thoughts with positive thoughts. This is because it has become a habit. The habit of thinking positively is a good habit, and I am proud of my ability to think positively through negative situations.

"Habits change into character."

Ovid

Take responsibility for my life.

"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes… and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility."

Eleanor Roosevelt

There was a time when I did not take responsibility for my life. At that time, I would blame everybody and everything else for my failures. For example, I didn't receive my college degree until I was thirty-five, because my teachers didn't teach me right or no one encouraged me enough. This thinking was incorrect, and, now, I understand that my success was in my hands.

It is now clear to me that my success in challenges is totally my responsibility. If I fail, I can blame no one but myself. This also includes my attitude through the situation. Like I always tell people, positive thinking and speaking are the two key ingredients to success. For me to succeed, I must use my words and thoughts responsibly. This is not my family, friends, or teachers responsibility, so I cannot blame others for my failures or attitudes.

Bad things happen to everyone. Sometimes there is nothing we can do about the bad thing that happens, but we have a choice to act appropriately in the situation. Our actions speak louder than words. There were times when I would throw a fit, because someone had spoken rudely to me. Although I could not change how they spoke to me, I can change how I speak back to them.

"The price of greatness is responsibility."

Winston Churchill

Turn challenges into opportunities.

"But we can turn challenges into opportunities if we look outwards to the realities of the global economy and modernize our internal institutions in ways that will equip Europe to meet that challenge and create confidence amongst the public."

John Hutton

As a child, I always loved a new challenge. There is a story I always tell my children that makes them laugh and illustrates turning challenges into opportunities. There were two huge trees in my front yard. They were great climbing trees. Every day, I would attempt to climb one of the trees. At first, I would simply fall out of the tree. This did not stop me at all. Once I got up and dusted myself off, I would turn around and climb back up the tree.

Each day, I would get farther and farther up the tree. The more I climbed the more I learned. Every time I would climb again, I would remember what I learned to do and not to do from the last time I climbed the trees. As I climbed up the tree, I remembered each spot for my hand and foot. This continuous tree climbing made me aware of the more dangerous spots, so I could slow down and take care as I passed by them. When I got to the top, I felt like a winner, but I was not done. Once that challenge was over, I was ready for a bigger challenge, so I went looking for more opportunities to succeed.

Now that I am grown up and no longer climb trees, I look for other opportunities to challenge me. The principle I used as a child to climb the tree, I now use as I face challenges as a woman, wife, mom, and writer. When I started writing, I struggled with fear that I would not live up to my own expectations. As I wrote my blogs and started writing my book, I used the fear of failure to propel me into action and do my best. The one thing I don't want to do is let myself down. Failure to me is simply not taking action. There are opportunities for me everywhere, but I need to take the opportunities and face all my challenges. In my opinion, taking challenges and changing them into opportunities is the definition of success.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Winston Churchill

Connect what I already know with the challenge.

"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."

John Dewey

    What I have learned through my challenges, I write down, so I can use the information the next time I go through a similar challenge. All of my challenges and what I have learned are in journals that I love to go back and read. When I am frustrated with a situation, I write down my frustration and, when I find the solution, I go back and write down the answer. These journals are stored in a place that is easily accessible.

    Another way to get through a challenge is by research. When I go through a difficulty, I look up what I am going through and find others who have gone through the same thing. Once I have found someone who has successfully gone through the challenge, I study how they got through the challenge. Usually, I make the answer into steps that I can follow.

    When I go through a challenge, I also enjoy finding a friend that has gone through something similar and asking them to help me. They can give me pointers and help me with my plan to succeed. If I get sad or ready to give up, they can help me by encouraging me. Once I get through the challenge and celebrate my accomplishment, the friend can help me celebrate, too.

"Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it."

Albert Einstein

Continue to move forward.

"Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with power that is greater than ourselves to do it."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The one thing that I believe gets me closer to success is always moving forward. If I stop, I may lose momentum and never get through each challenge. As long as I am moving forward, I am getting closer to succeeding in life. My college education is a great example of continuously moving forward. It has always been my dream to receive as much information as possible. For me, lifelong learning is not an option, because I have made a pact with myself to continuously learn for the rest of my life.

When I met my husband, Brenton, I was working and not attending college classes. He encouraged me to get a college education, so I took his advice and enrolled in a college class. Sometimes, I would take several classes and other times I would only take one. There were semesters that I didn't take any classes, but I would read certain books that kept me motivated or learning about business. After many years of taking classes off and on, I decided I had played around with my education enough. It only took me a year and a half from the time I decided to complete my degree to my graduation ceremony.

Now, I am applying the moving forward concept to my graduate degree. This is a story that I like to share with others, because it shows how moving forward can help each of us get through difficult times, reach our goals, and continue to succeed. Life will be full of challenges, but I know that I can learn and grow as I get through each one. In my life I've had numerous challenges, but I am a better person for getting through them.

"Determine never to be idle. No person will ever have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

Thomas Jefferson

This week's challenge:

This week's challenge is to start looking at challenges as ways to grow and learn. When I am able to have a positive attitude toward each challenge, I am able to get through them faster and more confident. The six steps above guide me through my challenges, and they prepare me for the next challenge I will face. When I complete the six steps, I am in control of the challenge instead of the challenge in control of me.

"Reading makes a full man, meditation makes a profound man, discourse a clear man."

Benjamin Franklin