Why Stop Now?

A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April of 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time!

The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.

Cha-Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official at the driver's license agency in Jeonju 130 miles south of Seoul.

Police said Cha took the test hundreds of times, but had no specific total. Local news media said she took the test 950 times.

"NOW she must pass a driving test before getting her license," Choi said.

Cha said that she needed her driving license for her vegetable-selling business.

So the next time you start out on an endeavor just think of Ms. Cha and don't give up. People who find ways to say 'yes' rather than give up, in the end succeed.

P.S. Let's hope the actual driving test went quicker!

Thoughts Are Powerful!

It has been suggested that we have around 60,000 thoughts per day...whew. That to me is astounding number. What is even more astonishing is how many of these thoughts are self-defeating ones. How easy it is to allow our train of thoughts to jump from one track of thinking or subject to another.

How difficult it can be to stop an old mental tape from playing over and over again about a frustrating conversation that we had with someone at work or at home. We replay the mental tape until we are exhausted and yet where have we found ourselves? The answer is in the same place we were before but now with wasted mental, physical and emotional energy. We have solved and resolved nothing.

Do your thoughts shape your life? Albert Einstein believed so. He said, "The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking." James Lane Allen, author of the book, "As a Man Thinketh" states, "You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you."

So how do you take control of your thoughts? How do you direct them from self-destructing thinking and behaviors to self-constructing and positive behaviors? By making a decision to do so and then committing to a thought controlling program, then you can begin to change your life. After the decision and commitments have been made, you must implement a mindful state of being...that is living a life that is mindful of what you think and are doing.

Now What? What If? It's Not Too Late!

I was talking to a friend recently about the state of events of being in "mid-life". We discovered that there are alot of 'mid-lifers' who agree that as they were "painting their lives" they ended up in the corner of their world. Not deliberately mind you. Maybe the fumes of life's moments got to them because one day they looked up from painting the floor and there they were pushing their backsides up against the wall and wondering how in the devil they got there. Stop and think about the frustration of it all. Can't step forward...WET PAINT!...can't go backwards...WALL! In a word, many mid-lifers feel TRAPPED! This was not suppose to happened right?

Sometimes people...mainly that baby boomer generation, 1946 - 1964, experience that great torture of watching a repeating movie of their lives when they could have believed in and pursued the dreams and goals that were available and attainable to them.
Sure its true you can't always dictate what issues come at you in life. Work, family, relationships, children, older parents, economy, health, etc. we all get to experience them. Raise your hand if none of these are a challenge for you...(that's what I thought...) each of us has one or maybe all of these.
So what can a 'mid-lifer' do to get out of the painted corner of their lives before its too late?

Don't be a Spectator!
While we all say we don't have enough time to do justice to our goals and dreams, each of us has all the time there is. None of us really has a time management problem. We really have a dream and goal-focus problem. We spend too much time worrying about the things we want to do but can't, instead of concentrating on doing the things we can do but don't. It is the regret for something we did or didn't do yesterday and the apprehension of what we can't do tomorrow that is the biggest energy drain on our lives. So many 'mid-lifers' become spectators, resigned to live their lives vicariously through others. They can see success for others but can't imagine it for themselves.

Stayed Focused on You
Avoid the tendency to measure your own progress by looking over the fence at greener pastures. There are many others who may have started a little earlier than you, and you may become discouraged if you see them harvesting success when some of your seeds are barely in the ground. Comparisons rarely benefits anyone. You'll always be able to find someone smarter, younger, older, wiser, richer, more clever, better looking, or working harder than you. So avoid comparing yourself to others. You will only lower your goals and settle for average when you could have had excellence.

Work on Your Attitude
Having a good attitude is the single most important key to success in anything and getting out of that corner. One of my favorite quotes is "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." Hey I never said it was easy but it is the truth. You have to think like a winner to be a winner and that can be a challenge. Our attitude has a profound effect on our environment and there are those people who given the opportunity will squash it like a bug. Its what they do in life. They poison every conversation with their negativity and will draw you deeper into the corner you find yourself painted into if they can. Why should you have a great attitude when they don't is how they think. Do these people really ever go far in life? I mean really? Go flush your toilet right now and you'll get a visual of where these people are headed! They want you to join them.

Life is completely what YOU make of it. You create your own reality. So focus on the good things. Focus on adding value to your life. Focus own creating success for yourself and that's exactly what will happen.

And by the way...if you currently find yourself painted in the corner...think about it. Whoever said you couldn't walk on wet paint or knock a hole in the wall if it meant getting out and moving on. Sometimes you do what you have to do to keep moving. As my grandfather told me once, "alittle wet paint never hurt anyone."