Introduction

Do you dream of being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Have you wanted to buy that new home you’ve dreamed of for so many years? Exactly what is your idea of success?

YOU determine what success is for you. It’s not based on any judgment other than your own. It’s not dependent upon materialistic measurements. And, for some, success is the journey, itself.

Success may be something material, such as money or a new home. It could be something egotistical, as the power and notoriety that comes with the position of CEO. It could be emotional, as finding love and commitment. Success may even be unselfish and altruistic, as seeing children in third world countries healthy and safe. Success has no particular name or identity. There is no one method to describe what success is, other than the definition above. It means something different to each individual.

All successful people, however, have one thing in common — determination! To be a success, you must first determine to be so. Though not always a conscious decision, the seed that leads to action is to first determine.

Diane’s story is a great example of having a desire in the conscious mind, and the subconscious processing it as a determination. Diane’s love of writing began in middle school, because her friends were writing short romance stories about their favorite music idols. Diane thought she would give it a try. Her stories became so popular that she began writing them in segments. Her classmates couldn’t wait to get the next installment. From that point, she wrote different types of things — poetry, philosophy, and sometimes only her thoughts. She won a few writing competitions in school, but most of her writings were for herself. It was only a hobby. Something she did to pass time, or a way to put her thoughts on paper. When she entered college, she didn’t give writing a second thought. She graduated with a dual degree in psychology and business management. Diane worked in business for several years; then, “fell” into the writing profession.

She thought it just happened; but in truth, each position she held had some writing responsibilities — first, business reports and editing manuals, then putting together and writing a monthly newsletter for the firm. At the job she “fell” into, she started as a secretary, after having moved to another state. Being used to a heavier workload, they finally gave her a small job to do for their technical writer, who was writing an employee handbook for the firm. Between her regular duties, Diane, who had written a similar handbook at her previous job, filled in the gaps, extended the contents so the handbook was complete, and gave a draft to the technical writer for review. Her assignment was only to lay out what he’d written. To make a long story short, they offered her a job as a proposal writer, and then a position as their engineering documentation coordinator, where she wrote customized engineering manuals. Though it seemed to Diane that she “fell” into the job of professional writing, she had “determined” it years before while writing those short stories in middle school. She has now been writing professionally for over 20 years, including books and novels. When I once asked her why she didn’t just go to school for English or Journalism, she said she never thought about it. Her love was psychology. She considered herself to be a halfway decent writer and always believed she would write on some level. She didn’t discount writing professionally; it just never crossed her mind.

So, what was Diane’s problem? Though on a subconscious level, she had “determined” to be a writer. Why did it take so long? Because there was no clear goal in which ...

Being successful is a two-part process — determination and belief! Both of which begin in the mind. Diane was fortunate that her determination to write became a career. She began to believe, because the determination was creating opportunities — her bosses praised her writing and gave her more, college professors praised her abilities, and once a man wept after having read one of her poems. That’s when she began to believe in her ability to write. She began to believe she had talent — if she hadn’t, she would not be a writer today. It was enough to thrust her forward to enter the profession her heart desired. She might have achieved her success much sooner had she been consciously working toward it.

It’s important to be consciously on your path to success, and equally important to prepare your mind, spirit and body for the success you seek. It’s not enough to be an anonymous member of society, who lets others decide your fate. To allow life to “pull you along” creates conflicts, resentments and lost opportunities. Without a clear notion of where you want to be means that you:

• End up in situations not to your liking. Why? Because if you don’t have a clear idea of what you want in life, you get whatever is left over, causing conflicts by not having what you believe you desire but never determined, being in one bad relationship after another, being in one bad job after another, and so on.

• Resent your life and many of the people in it. This isn’t what you imagined for yourself! In truth, if you had taken the time to truly imagine something for yourself and went beyond dreaming and wanting it to determining and believing, you would be there now and would not be reading this book.

• Pass up many opportunities that could help you get to where you’re going faster. You don’t take risks — you play it safe. Why? You don’t recognize the opportunities as such, when they present themselves.

The chapters that follow show you the steps to take to change your life NOW! We teach you how to be consciously on your path. It’s never too late to start. The principles herein are used for any type of success you seek, regardless of what it is.

So, get ready to open yourself to new opportunities and to succeed in any way you desire — you can be anything at any time, anywhere. You only need to open your mind to the possibilities, then ... Change Your Mind — Change Your Life!