I've been given permission to post some of Mary's secrets to success, I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to share these tips and insights with you. Look forward to more from Mary over the next year as I've decided to keep the spotlight on her and her fantastic program!
People often think that the key to success is to gain more knowledge. This is like thinking that the key to getting somewhere is just getting a car. There is still more to it. I learned from my mentors that the two main ingredients for success are attitude and action. I also learned that the difference between wealth and poverty is just a little bit. What drives that little bit is your attitude. It is not enough to be in a car if you want to go somewhere, the engine has to be running and it has to be in gear. Having the right attitude but not taking action is like just revving the engine when you are not actually in gear. You are not going to go anywhere. But with the wrong attitude, you will probably never take any action because it is like putting a car in gear without the engine even running. There is no way you are going to go anywhere. Knowledge alone will only get you so far. Your attitude is what is going to drive you to success, not your knowledge, what you learn, or your education.
So how do you have the right attitude? People who have not pursued success have a difficult time understanding why attitude is so important and how to have the right one. The key is to have a goal. And it really does not matter how unrealistic achieving your goal may seem to you today. You could have a goal that one day you want to be a millionaire. If you are into real estate, you could have a goal that one day you want to own hundred properties. If you are flat broke right now and you are renting, that may seem like an unattainable goal. But the goal is like a destination. Before you can go anywhere, you need to figure out where you want to go. You may have no idea how you will get there, you just need to know where it is that you want to go. Once you have your goal, or your destination, then you can start trying to find a way to reach it. And it usually is not easy.
Once you start taking steps to reach your goal, you start to understand that there will be disappointments and set backs along the way. A lot of people do not realize that this is part of the process of reaching a goal. When they have their first set back, they quit. People let their circumstances tell them what to think. Having a set back is like driving down the road toward your destination and running into a washed out bridge. Your destination is not going to change unless you give up on it. But if you decide that you are going to keep the same goal, then the destination itself does not change but your path to that destination has to change. You have to find another way. You cannot let disappointments and set backs affect your decision to reach your destination. This should be your attitude. You should be determined to reach your goal no matter what your circumstances are.
You need to keep your focus on your goal with the attitude that, “I am not going to let anything sway me; I’ll just have to find another way.” That is the right attitude. You have to find another way. In my own experience as a single mother with four kids facing obstacle after obstacle, I took it to an even higher level. Sometimes you have to find a way, and sometimes you have to make a way. The key is to be determined to reach your goal no matter what. That right attitude is, “I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it. I’m going to find a way. I’m going to make a way.” I remember reading that when Bill Gates first launched the “Windows” program, it was unsuccessful. Rather than saying, “I guess I am not good at creating operating systems,” he decided to find another way. That is so often how it works. You set a goal. You try something. It does not work out. You try something else. It does not work. Finally, you may try another thing, and then: BAM! You hit a gold mine. You will not ever find that final gold mine if you are not determined to keep trying.
That is what happens to a person who has the right attitude. They do not let the set backs or disappointments change their goal. That is the real difference between the truly wealthy people in the United States and those that are not. They refuse to give up on their goals. They have a goal. They do not know how they are going to meet it. They do not know how they are going to do it. No one gave them a game plan. No one is going to set a blueprint in front of you and say, “Okay, here is your road map to success.” And that is very important to understand. Making up your mind that you will reach a destination does not mean that you have to know every step it will take to get there. It is the determination to reach the goal that often causes the path to unfold as you go along. No matter how many training seminars you attend or books you read, you will still have to find your own path. You can get education and tools to help you along the way, but the key to success is your attitude. Having that attitude, “I don’t care what it takes, I don’t care what I need to do; I am going to find a way. If I don’t find a way, I’m going to make a way.” If you have the right attitude by making a decision to reach your goal no matter what the circumstances, then you will be able to find the path to reach your goal.