Motivational speakers have been talking about it for decades.  While you can't control the events in your life, you can decide what you want, and do everything possible to attain your goals.  Need a little lift to get there?

On August 26th, find ways to affirm your dreams.  Rather than waiting for a big break, Make Your Own Luck Day encourages those who want to create opportunities and find success. 

• Study other triumphant people.  They will give you shortcuts in your own journey, and you can learn from their mistakes.

• Strengthen your network.  If someone you know achieves a victory, offer your congratulations.  When you find a valuable tidbit of information, share it.  Strong relationships create vast opportunities.

• Establish your goals by writing them down.  Ask yourself, "What is really important to me?"  A 1950s study of Yale graduates showed that the three percent who wrote down their goals not only achieved what they wanted, but their net worth totaled as much as the other 97 percent combined!

• Meet with yourself - uninterrupted for 30 minutes a week.  Assess your goals and progress.

• Pursue excellence.  Your potential, credibility, and reputation depend on it.

• Narrow your goal down to one sentence.  Write the sentence in bold ink on four sheets of paper.  Choose four places that you pass most during the average day, and post your goal at each of the four high-traffic areas.

• Picture your goal as the bull's eye of your target.  As you take aim, do you ask yourself, "What if I miss the bull's eye?  What if I miss the entire target?"  Each doubt takes your aim away from the original goal.  Focus on accomplishing, not on failing.

• High achievers know how to break down their big goals into a bunch of smaller ones.  By focusing on smaller objectives, each task seems easy, and anxiety melts away.

• Look for win-win situations.  Some people care only about benefiting themselves.  But, if you take the time to profit all parties involved, others will do the same for you.

• Tell a close friend about your goals, and ask him or her to check up on your and your progress.

• Invest in a small notebook to carry around with you.  Write down your ideas and dreams as they come to mind.

• Surpass your fears.  While some fears help you avoid obvious trouble, most fears destroy ambitions.  How do you beat indecision, doubt, worry, and timidity?  Accept the fact that, sometimes, you will have to do things while feeling afraid. 

The first idea that the child must acquire, in order to be actively disciplined, is that of the difference between good and evil; and the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity. 
~Maria Montessori