How I got to where I am and why you can too! (That is, get to where you want to be, not get to where I am unless you want to... :)

(Thanks again for the kind words, Robert!) I recently got this comment via email and I thought I'd address it here (since it may or may not be useful to others): "...how [did] you [manage] to get where you're at in life, and how I can stumble myself in that direction." I think the key things for me have been determination (or some may call it hardheadedness... :), resourcefulness and my positive outlook. Regarding determination, one of the things that I am trying to teach my kids now is that "can't" is a bad word. Why? Because in my eyes it is! There are very few things that you are not able to do and in those cases those are the words I try to use: "I am not able to..." But, for the most part I often hear people say "can't" when they don't want to or are afraid to do something. My kids are a prime example. This past summer, I taught my oldest daughter, who was 7 at the time, to ride her bike. (Well, now that I think about it, I didn't really teach her, I encouraged her, but you catch my drift...) At the beginning she was saying that she couldn't do it and that she would fall, etc. etc. I told her that she could do it and reminded her that can't is a bad word. So reluctantly, she started trying and before you know it, she was riding by herself! (Within a couple of weeks, she started riding my son's, her older brother's bike.) The moral is that you are the only thing or person holding yourself back. Got something you've been wanting to do, but haven't done it because you don't know how, are afraid to or any other excuse? Now's the time to do it! Among the worst excuses I hear is I don't have time. Why is this one of the worst? Because you can always make time for things that you really want to do. For example, right now, I'm blogging from my Treo while on the way to the King of Prussia Mall in PA. (And no, I'm not driving in case you are wondering, my wife's driving. :) Why? Because I enjoy it! What else could I be doing? Sleeping (though I did snooze for a few minutes...) So what are you putting off that you could be doing instead of sleeping or watching 24, Lost or Survivor? Succeed! eMarv