It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.

- Antoine Saint-Exupéry

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Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.

- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

- Albert Schweitzer

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There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it's the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a business person.

- Anthony Robbins

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When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world.

- Harold Kushner

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There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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"Slow and steady wins the race." It's not glamorous, but it's true. The tragedy is that most people never even get in the race, and many of those who do hope that success comes easily and swiftly. When it doesn't, they're out of the race, before it really begins. What they don't realize is that the decision to be unstoppable is never made just once. It is made moment by moment, again and again.

Setbacks are inevitable. In fact, they're evidence that we're doing something. The more mistakes we make, the greater our chance of success. Failures indicate a willingness to experiment and take risks. Unstoppable women have learned that each failure brings wisdom and insight that will take them one step closer to achieving their dreams. When we focus on one unstoppable moment at a time and stay the course, the end result will take care of itself.

It's important to remind ourselves that failure is an event, not a person. If you don't achieve your 30-day goal, does that make you a failure? If you don't get a promotion at work, does that make you a failure? If you get married and then divorced, does that make you a failure? Of course not!

Failure doesn't characterize who you are. It is simply an event that happens to you. And when you continue to move forward, despite difficult experiences, you have already won!

ACTION: Find the gift in the setback

The next time the outcome you had hoped for doesn't transpire, look for the gift. Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What can I learn from what happened?
2. What am I grateful for about this experience?
3. What are the potential benefits of this experience?
4. What is the best way for me to move forward?

Commit to finding the gift in any setback. And in advance, tell yourself that you will never, never, never quit. If you don't give up, you simply cannot fail. Not only will you achieve your dreams, but the combination of your commitment, courage, and faith will rise as the greatest triumph of all.


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Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create
what you will.

- George Bernard Shaw

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It's easy to look at our present circumstances and let them dictate whether we think we can or cannot do something in the future. For example, perhaps you've attempted to lose some weight for years, yet when you look in the mirror, those unrelenting pounds are still staring you in the face. Or maybe you've made efforts to earn extra money, but your checking account remains consistently overdrawn. Or perhaps you've tried to lower your blood pressure, but your doctor tells you it's still too high. It requires enormous faith in yourself to stay focused on your goal when your current situation reflects something quite different.

To have faith regardless of your present circumstances requires great discipline-yet that is exactly what must happen if you want to make real changes in your life.

One proven way to develop empowering evidence to support your new belief is through a technique known as success imprinting. Belief, or self-confidence, is developed from past successes, or, as psychologists call them, success imprints. Success imprints are created anytime you have successfully achieved something that was thought to be difficult. Finishing a 5K run for the first time imprints a positive message on your subconscious, which makes the next race appear easier.

The same is true at work. Every time you accomplish something difficult, such as closing a complex sale, dealing with a challenging customer, or completing a project on time, you've created a success imprint that not only strengthens your self-esteem, but builds the belief that you can do it again in the future. Failures also create an imprint on our psyche and have the opposite effect on our self-esteem. That's why it's critical that we focus on each positive result, even if it seems like a baby step, so that we continue to create more of them in the future. Once you believe your goal is possible, the difficult will become routine.

For example, for years it was assumed that no one could break the 4-minute-mile barrier. Physiologists of the time considered it dangerous for anyone to even attempt to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. But on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister broke that "unreachable" barrier. And once he did, the next 3 years saw 16 runners around the world also record sub-4-minute miles.

Success necessitates that we overcome obstacles. It is a natural part of the process. Each time we do so, we create a success imprint that strengthens our belief system and leads to greater and greater successes. When we consciously choose to rewrite our negative beliefs into positive ones, self-esteem and self-confidence will develop exponentially.



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Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets.

- Nido Qubein

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Life happens. It will happen again and again - the routine demands of life will overload you, or unexpected events will blow in from nowhere and threaten to drive you off course.

You might run into a crisis at work and feel overextended, your kids might get sick, your computer might burn itself to smoldering microchips (as mine did while I was writing Unstoppable Women), or your babysitter could announce she's moving to Des Moines.

Life has infinite possibilities - and infinite ways to complicate your plans. When such things occur, we all must confront the urge to give up. Don't do it! When you're tempted to rationalize - "Well, I'll quit for now, but I'll get back on track tomorrow or next week" - seize the day! Take one immediate action to get yourself moving toward your task before the temptation to once again throw in the towel gets too strong.

Quitting is a habit. Every time you quit, you damage your self esteem and send your psyche the message that you're incompetent. You are competent! And each time you take action and stick to your commitment when you felt like quitting, you'll gain a newfound confidence that makes the next step increasingly easier.


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