Constancy of purpose is the first principle of success.

It is critical to your success that you have a well-thought-out plan for your life and that you stick with it regardless of what others may say and the obstacles you encounter. There will always be fault-finders and those who attempt to persuade you that your goals aren’t worth the effort you put into achieving them. Those people will never go far, and they will be the first to ask for your help after you have passed them by.

Virtually every successful person has considered giving up at some point in his or her struggle to reach the top. And many breakthroughs occurred soon after those same people rededicated themselves to their purpose. There is no known obstacle that cannot be overcome by a person who has constancy of purpose, a Positive Mental Attitude, and the discipline and willpower to succeed.

Do your job precisely as if you were your own boss, and sooner or later you will be.

The American system of free enterprise is based upon the premise that every individual may profit in proportion to his or her labors. In today’s hectic, highly competitive, global environment, however, you may feel that you are not adequately recognized and compensated for the contribution you make.

The next time you feel overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated, remind yourself that you really are in business for yourself. Your product is you. Are you the kind of employee you would like to have if you were the boss? When you are considering a difficult decision or when you are thinking about how to avoid an unpleasant assignment, ask yourself, “If this were my company, how would I handle this situation?” When your answer is that you would take precisely the same action you are considering as an employee, you are headed for bigger and better things. You will soon be the boss.

You can always see in others whatever traits of character you are looking for.

Margaret Wolfe Hungerford said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” It was her way of saying that we see what we wish to see in others. Every living human being is a complex combination of feelings, emotions, and thoughts — some good, some bad. Your impression of another depends far more upon you and your expectations of that person.

If you believe someone is good, you will find good qualities. If you don’t, you won’t. When you are yourself a positive person, you tend to find positive qualities in others. As you work to develop good, constructive habits to improve yourself continually, make it a practice to look for those same qualities in others. It’s easy to spot another’s shortcomings, but when you identify the good in others and congratulate them upon their positive achievements, you will make friends on whom you can always depend — both in good times and bad.

Be sure about what you want from life and doubly sure of what you have to give in return.

Examine the lives of successful people, and you will find that they have paid a price that is in direct proportion to the amount of success they have earned. Close examination will almost always reveal years of study and preparation before great success is achieved. This principle is consistent in virtually every field of individual achievement — in the arts, medicine, science, or business. Nothing worthwhile ever comes easily.

As you consider your own goals, also consider what you are willing to sacrifice for what you expect to receive. You should be prepared to give generously of your time and talents long before expecting a return on your investment. Many “overnight successes” labored in obscurity for many years before they were finally recognized for their achievements.

What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement.

Sound character begins with the decisions we make ….. our actions start in our mind.

No one really knows for sure how we develop self-respect, but the experts believe it begins at a very early age. Parents who show their children that they love them unconditionally — just because they are who they are — build a foundation of healthy self-respect that will sustain the children for the rest of their lives. From this foundation comes the moral and ethical decision making structure known as character.

Healthy self-respect should not be confused with egotism. An egotist loves himself for the most superficial of reasons, while a self-respecting person takes pride in qualities of character that he or she has worked hard to develop.

Why does your life direction start in your thinking?

Because the way that you treat yourself greatly influences how others perceive you. If you are a confident, cheerful, positive person, your co-workers, friends, and family will be attracted to your personality. If you are unhappy, negative, and always complaining about your situation, others will be repelled.

Even when at times you don’t feel very happy, by forcing yourself to behave in a positive fashion, you will find that you soon feel genuinely upbeat, because your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between an artificial emotion and the real thing.

When you behave positively, you will positively influence everyone around you — including yourself.

Truly, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that. Every thought you release-good or bad-is a form of energy that can affect those who receive it, for better or worse. You become what you think about most.

If you think about success, you condition your mind to seek success, and you attract large portions of it. Conversely, if you think about failure and despair, you will become miserable and desperate.

To keep your mind on a positive track, the moment you begin to experience creeping negativism, make a conscious decision to eliminate negative thoughts and replace them with their positive counterparts. When you fill your mind with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire it acts on these thoughts and manifest riches, or other material objects.

Examine most carefully the things you desire most.

Far too many people spend more time planning their weekends than their lives. Then they suddenly realize that life has passed them by and they weren’t even aware it was happening.

When you intently study what you most desire in life, you begin to focus your mind and concentrate your energy upon that which you wish to achieve. One of the great advantages of having a definite goal for your life is that it helps you prioritize your activities. When your major purpose is clear in your mind, it is unnecessary to analyze each individual situation.

You know automatically whether your actions will move you toward your goal or away from it. You can then use all of your resources — time, money, and energy — to best advantage.

Boastfulness is generally an admission of an inferiority complex.

Really capable people don’t have to boast about their achievements; they let their actions speak for them. When you boast about your accomplishments, you are telling others that you are unsure of yourself and your value in the world. Baseball manager Tommy Lasorda once noted that there are those who watch things happen, those who wonder what happened, and those who make things happen. Strive to be one of those who make things happen. If you show others what you can do, they will respect you far more than if you had simply told them what you’d done. Anyone can quarrel with words, but actions speak for themselves.

The most insidious problem with drugs is that the human body develops a tolerance for them and requires larger and larger doses to achieve the same effect. The same is true with self-pity. The more you allow yourself to indulge in it, the more you will require. Soon, self-pity will become a habit, one so debilitating that you will rob yourself of all the potential you possess.

Happily, there is a cure. If you truly analyze the situation, most often you will find that the problems that have driven you to pity yourself are mostly of your own creation. It follows, then, that the best person to remedy the problem is the person who created it: you, yourself.

Self-pity is an opiate…..kick the habit!

It is interesting about human nature that we tend to see in others whatever traits of character we are looking for in ourselves. More interestingly, life tends to show us the items we need to work on as well.

Every living human being is a complex combination of feelings, emotions, and thoughts — some good, some bad. Your impression of another depends far more upon you and your expectations of that person.

If you believe someone is good, you will find good qualities. If you don’t, you won’t. When you are yourself a positive person, you tend to find positive qualities in others. As you work to develop good, constructive habits to improve yourself continually, make it a practice to look for those same qualities in others.

If you have more enemies than friends, it’s time to examine your mental attitude.

When your enemies outnumber your friends, the answer to the problem most likely resides within you. Ask yourself, Am I the kind of person I would like to have as a friend? Do I consider the feelings of others, or do I think only of myself? Do I try to find the good in others, or am I always finding fault? When something goes wrong, do I search for a solution to the problem, or do I look for someone to blame? In the answers to such questions, you may find the answer to the question: Why do I have more enemies than friends?

It’s easy to spot another’s shortcomings, but when you identify the good in others and congratulate them upon their positive achievements, you will make friends on whom you can always depend — both in good times and bad.

No one can succeed and remain successful without the friendly cooperation of others. The best way to get friendly cooperation is to give it. When you make it a practice to encourage others and to help them advance whenever possible, most will reciprocate when you need their help. Give generously, and you will benefit in kind.

Really look into life’s Mirror . . .  it will show you all the good and all the challenges. Let if guide you in all its powerful ways on your Matter Journey of life.

Have you ever noticed children born into super rich families tend to grow up to have miserable lives?

Perhaps it is because if you start at the top, you can move in only one direction — downward.

The person born into privilege is often deprived of one of the world’s greatest gifts: the opportunity to reach the highest levels of success of which you are capable, solely on the basis of your own merit. If you were born with less than most, don’t resent others who seem to have more advantages.

In truth, the real advantage is yours, for you will develop the self-confidence that comes only from meeting life’s challenges on your own terms. As you progress, you gain the strength and knowledge necessary to assure your enduring success, things that cannot be given to you, but must be earned.