"Creative," "flexible," "imaginative" - these three words are almost interchangeable. If you are creative, you can think of alternative ways to work around problems, ways that align with your own skills and reflect your values. If you are flexible, you are able and willing to change and modify plans; you adjust to new circumstances and needs. If you are imaginative, you envision what is not and what can be--you see in your mind what you haven't yet seen in the material world.

All three words refer to your willingness to experiment with new approaches and fresh solutions. When you have these qualities, you will bend and not break when challenges arise.

When a great wind blows, that which is rigid will snap
and break. That which is flexible will bend. When the
wind dies down and calm returns, the flexible will rise
again.

We see almost limitless creativity in inventors. We have all read or heard the stories of people like the Wright brothers, Eli Whitney, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford.

These people triumphed by using imagination and flexibility. They experimented with new materials and techniques that often seemed unrealistic or preposterous at the time. For years, they suffered failure after failure, but they never felt regret. Each time they simply abandoned what did not work, revised their theories, and continued to look for what would work. They were flexible and humble enough to learn from other people's ideas and experiments and to adapt them to their own projects.


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Visualize this thing you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin.

- Robert Collier

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Your biggest break can come from never quitting. Being at the right place at the right time can only happen when you keep moving toward the next opportunity.

- Arthur Pine

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When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

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We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

- Maya Angelou

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How you deal with challenges will determine whether you achieve your goal or give up and settle for less than you deserve. If we really want to create different results in our lives, we must become aware of how we interpret the "facts" or "events" of our lives and understand that our explanations often do not represent the "truth" of what's possible for us.
In a very real sense, facts are an objective account of the event that occurred. No interpretation or meaning is attached. For example: "I was rejected by a potential investor for my project," "My husband left me," "I lost my job," "I was diagnosed with an illness," "I can't get pregnant."

Truth represents what's possible in any situation. "Each rejection brings me one step closer to an investor for my project," "I will find a new, better relationship," "I can find a better and more fulfilling career," "My health will improve," "I can adopt," and so on.

Many people believe that events control their lives and that their circumstances have shaped who they are today. It's not true. It's not the events of our lives that shape us, but how we respond to those events, what we think they mean, and whether challenges trigger the "giving up" reflex in us or motivate us to hang tough and keep fighting.

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Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.

- George Sand

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Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.

- Joel A. Barker

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The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.

- Blaine Lee

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The great leaders are like the best conductors - they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.

- Blaine Lee

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Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all.

- Dale Carnegie

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Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, has had at least a hundred "excuses" for failing in business - he started a business with no business sense, he expanded too soon, went broke, lost everything, built it back up, and almost lost everything again. But what's incredible about Tom Monaghan is that he's never given up.

After working 16 to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week for 10 years, he lost control of his company in order not to have to file bankruptcy. The new management team kept him on as president, but with no authority, because they couldn't find anyone willing to work those types of hours for only $200/week. Overnight, Tom went from CEO of Domino's Pizza to the manager of 12 corporate stores. He visited each store driving a rusted out, beat up Rambler, sleeping in his car to keep expenses down. After ten months of this arrangement, the new management decided Domino's had no future and agreed to give Tom his stock in return for just one of the Domino's franchises.

With Tom back in control of Domino's, it took him 6 long years to rebuild his business, paying off every last creditor. And today Domino's is a billion dollar organization.

Tom's story proves that you can reach the pinnacle of success despite having a difficult childhood, the skimpiest of financial resources, and little more than a high school education. Like him, you may feel you have every reason to make excuses, to fail, to quit. But "quit" wasn't in Tom Monaghan's vocabulary. "Persistence" is.

And persistence is what will make you unstoppable.

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Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.

- Willis Whitney

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Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.

- Willis Whitney

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The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill

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Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own.

- Robert Collier

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The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill

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Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

- Napoleon Hill

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Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

- Napoleon Hill

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The only opinion about your dream that really counts is yours. The negative comments of others merely reflect their limitations - not yours. Fashion photographer Richard Avedon tried to convince Cher that she didn't have the right look to be a model. He told her flat out, "You will never make the cover of Vogue because you don't have blond hair or blue eyes." When she did, Vogue sold more copies than it had ever sold before.

When Gustave Leven was making plans to launch Perrier in the United States, several consulting firms advised him, "You're foolish to try to sell sparkling water in the land of Coca-Cola drinkers."

A New York Publisher told James Michener after reading his first unpublished manuscript, "You're a good editor with a promising future in the business. Why would you want to throw it all away to try to be a writer? I read your book. Frankly, it's not really that good." Michener's manuscript, titled Tales of the South Pacific, eventually was sold and later won a Pulitzer Prize and was adapted for stage and screen as "South Pacific."

Remember, there is nothing unrealistic about a dream that aligns with your purpose, ignites your passion, and inspires you to plan and persevere until you attain it. On the contrary, it's unrealistic to expect a person with such drive and commitment not to succeed.

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Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own.

- Robert Collier

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The most important characteristic of becoming unstoppable is to have perseverance.

There is an old adage that says "the arrow that hits the bull's eye is the result of a hundred misses." And that is so reassuring to those of us who are pursuing a dream and along the way things don't go as fast or exactly as we'd hoped.

Ray Charles was a testament to the power of never quitting.  When he was six years of age, he lost his eyesight.  His mother told him, "Ray you've lost your sight, but you haven't lost your mind.  You can still create a productive life for yourself."  To a young, poor, blind child from the south, the possibilities didn't seem too bright. But as Ray thought about what he really wanted to do with his life, he dreamed of becoming a recording star.  His dream wasn't just to produce an album, but becoming a star.  So as a child, he would practice playing the piano and singing each day.  One day a teacher heard Ray practicing at school and told him, Ray, "You can't play the piano, and God knows you can't sing. You'd better learn how to weave chairs so you can support yourself."

This type of comment would stop most people, but it didn't stop Ray.  He deeply wanted to become a star and remained focused on his goal.  Many times after auditions, people would tell him that he should just quit, that he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.  But Ray Continued.

Ultimately, Ray's perseverance paid off.  He received countless awards for his music including winning 12 Grammy Awards and he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  He performed before millions of people, including presidents and heads of state.  And his unique musical style made a lasting imprint on all forms of popular music in the past 50 years.  All because he didn't listen to the negative influences in his life and refused to quit. 

The next time someone tells you to forget your dream, remember Ray Charles, and if your dream is something that you REALLY want, don't let anything stop you until you achieve it!

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We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.

- John Dryden

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