Success is what you make it

This morning the WordStorm team were lucky enough to attend a great motivational talk by Peter Baines. Peter is the founder of the charity Hands Across The Water, but he is also a motivation speaker that does talks for corporations and governments. His talks help individuals and companies build and develop their leadership and crisis management skills. Today the talk was about shared experiences and how experiences together as a group, whether with love ones, colleagues, or friends, can help you achieve things not thought to be possible. So it got us thinking, what makes people achieve the impossible?

Problems and challenges can occurs when you least expect it. However, it is how you deal with these problems that dictate what your life will be. Challenges are what makes life interesting but overcoming them is what makes your life meaningful. This is where attitude comes into play. How you deal with it will determine whether you can achieve the impossible. Yes, challenges are hard and some perhaps unachievable. However whether you achieve it or not, is not the point! Least you have TRIED. Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tired is the true failure.

Take Michael Jordan- what most people wouldn’t believe that a man often regarded as the best basketball player of all time was actually cut from his high school basketball team. However, Jordan didn’t let this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Here are some tips for you to take on when you are faced with a challenge:

It’s impossible to overcome a challenge without a plan of action. Once you have figured out a plan you will be able to be proactive in achieving the goals needed.
Nothing will come without action. You can talk all you like but remember you still have to walk the walk!
Last but not least, be positive. Yes it hard at times, and no one is saying you can’t have bad days. Sure, have those bad days but use those days and experiences as a driving force to overcome challenges and negativity.

Use experiences as lessons and continue to learn from them because the only person that says you can’t is yourself. Success is what you make it!