* Watch your thoughts. Realize that what you think powerfully impacts who you are and will become. Decide to be an optimist. Meditate on thoughts that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise. Spend time regularly reading the Bible and other inspirational books. Avoid negative material from the media and in conversations with others. Feed your mind positive thoughts, knowing that they will lead to positive actions. Embrace healthy attitudes, such as knowing that you’re never a victim of your circumstances, trusting that God will cause everything that happens to you to work together for a good purpose, and thanking God for all the gifts He has given you.
* Plan wisely. Submit all your dreams to God and ask Him to direct your steps. Ask Him to help you develop a plan to accomplish the goals He wants you to, yet still remain flexible enough to adjust the plan whenever necessary. Don’t picture the negative – what you don’t want to do. Instead, envision the positive – what you would like to achieve and what your life would like if you do. Realize that life is a journey rather than a destination. As you go through life, have faith to take action as you can, learning along the way, persevering with hope, and steadily moving forward toward the future God has for you. Trust that fulfillment will through the process rather than the results. Regularly review your progress on your way to your goals, and stay focused on God and His guidance. Use the resources He has given you wisely to accomplish your goals. Remember that He wants you succeed.
* Don’t let failure stop you. Accept the fact that failure is an inevitable part of life. But realize that it is also a valuable learning tool. Understand that experiencing failure doesn’t mean that you’re a failure as a person; it simply means you tried something that didn’t work at a particular moment in time. Study what went wrong to see what you can learn from the experience. Remember that failure can teach you: to depend on God, to be humble, that you can’t always get what you want, to correct your course of action, to have strong character, to persevere, and to realize that you can survive. After failing, try again, and keep trying as long as God urges you to do so. Remember that you may be just one more effort away from success.
