In pursuit of success and accomplishing any dream or goal, most people give the excuses that they don’t have the necessary knowledge, time, or money required to achieve their desire. It is interesting because the only limitations in life are the ones we create, believe, and nourish within our own minds. The reality is that they lack the essential elements and attributes to be successful in anything – desire, faith and belief, a plan and goals, daily action, commitment and determination, learning from failure, and persistence! Truthfully, you do not need money to make money, anyone who is completely committed to their goal will do whatever it takes to gain the necessary knowledge, and it is not the lack of time that is the problem – it is the inability to prioritize and make time for their goals and dreams.

It is my personal belief that an individual can become and accomplish anything – IF they truly believe in themselves, overcome their own fears, take a risk, and persist until their goal or dream is realized!

Unfortunately, far too often we allow our culture and society, educational system and workforce, literature and media, as well as peers and even our own family members convince us that success is measured and potential is determined by certain qualifications. These fallacious qualifications range from GPA’s to standardized test scores, institutions attended to education obtained, work experience to titles held, social connections to family heritage, and from the color of our skin to the anatomy of our body. Undoubtedly the GPA’s and degrees obtained, etc. are important and will help on the journey to success, but they alone are irrelevant and will prove insignificant if the laws of success described above are not understood, believed, and implemented as well.

Do you really believe that you can literally become and accomplish anything in life? Your successes, greatness, and potential are determined by you alone; and all of the characteristics necessary to achieve your goals and dreams already lie within you. Our potential is made or unmade by ourselves – we simply need to discover or create it. If you realized how capable, brilliant, talented, beautiful, and powerful you really are (or could be), it would not only astonish you, it would inspire you. And yet ironically, most people are not ignorant of this reality, they just willfully choose to ignore it because they are afraid of their own potential or they are not willing to put in the work necessary to achieve it. Thus, Ben Herbster summed it up perfectly when he penned: “the greatest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become.” Never forget, however, that in the journey to reach our potential, dreams, and successes in life, it is desire, belief, action, and persistence that are essential.

You alone must discover, create, and determine your own potential. Gone must be the days when we mistakenly follow the masses and believe the misconceptions of what actually determines our potential and success in life. Our full potential is reached, successes are achieved, and our dreams and goals are realized if we can understand, believe, and implement the laws of success – think big, believe more, act now, and never quit!

However, as necessary as a resume is to our culture – a culture filled with people who don’t live up to their full potential – the reality is that far too often we wrongfully assume that the items listed on this silly document actually determine our potential. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges on the ‘path to success’ is to learn how to not allow others to determine our potential, and to actually believe that the ability to become and accomplish anything comes from attributes within us – not from irrelevant acronyms, job titles, degrees earned, and company names listed on a resume.

I want you to do something that I hope will change not only your perspective, but your entire approach to life. Pull out the document we are referring to, called a ‘resume.’ Decide now to re-think the way you view that piece of paper, and commit to create your own potential and not let our culture define it.

First, look at the institutions you’ve attended and the degrees earned. Why should your potential and future success be determined by the name of a school? Is there a MBA, JD, M.D., PhD, B.S., or any other acronym that really means nothing when determining who you are and what you can achieve? Do you really believe that the awards won, extracurricular activities participated in, titles held, or skills obtained will somehow eventuate into your dreams and goals being realized? The majority of those who believe that the experiences and skills displayed on a resume will result in eventual success will most likely be those who will continually get excited about pay raises and promotions, be content with mediocrity, and never reach their full potential. Being blinded by the ‘rat race,’ developing the typical employee mentality, not learning how to dream big and think differently, and never taking risks because you continually listen to your fears and doubts – the result of such actions might produce a good life, but good is the enemy of great.

This is not to suggest that the degrees we earn, the institutions we attend, the work experience we have obtained, or even the resume we have built is irrelevant or unnecessary in any way; in fact, these very things are absolutely vital to achieve and experience in order to realize success. The reality is that when people do accomplish or become anything great in life, it was not solely as a result from the things listed on the resume, it was because the very laws of success were understood, believed, and implemented. Barack Obama, as perhaps the most modern example of one who epitomizes this concept, was in no way qualified to be the President of the United States based solely on his resume. While it is true he had the likes of Harvard University, the acronym J.D., as well as State Senator listed on his resume – these alone, at that point in his life and career – would never have qualified him to have the knowledge or experience necessary to be the most powerful man in the world.

However, Barack Obama possessed the very attributes that every successful person has obtained – regardless of what their success was in life – and those attributes include: a strong desire, belief in himself and his dream, the ability to overcome fear and doubt, not worrying about what other people say or think, a plan and a goal, not letting circumstance or uncontrollable barriers (race) dictate his potential, daily action and a lot of hard work, learning from failures and persisting, and never quitting until his dream was realized. Were the items listed on his resume helpful? Of course. Were they the reason why millions flocked to the poles in astounding support of the first African-American President of the U.S.? Not at all!

The moment we start to understand, believe, and implement these very same laws of success, and stop allowing the culture and resume’s of life to dictate our potential – then at that insightful moment, it is then that our dreams and goals become achievable, that our desired successes become possible, and we start to realize the power and height of our unlimited potential.

Considering this perspective, it is absolutely essential to understand more fully, and more specifically, how we determine and how others contribute to our success. Let me suggest three essential concepts that must be understood and implemented in order for our successes to be accomplished:

1) You Alone Determine Your Potential: We must first understand that our potential in life is not determined by uncontrollable circumstances and settings, racial or gender characteristics, or even economic conditions or access to knowledge. And it must certainly not be defined or determined by others. Success and potential are created, developed, and determined within ourselves. Because success, greatness, and potential are determined by us alone, we must recognize that all of the characteristics necessary to achieve our goals and dreams already lie within us. If we actually realized how capable, brilliant, talented, beautiful, and powerful we really were (or could be), it would not only astonish us, it would inspire us. And yet ironically, most people are not ignorant of this reality, they just willfully choose to ignore it because they are afraid of their own potential or they are not willing to put in the work necessary to achieve it.

2) Take Advantage of a Master-Mind Group: Although our success is determined by us alone, we must recognize and accept the fact that we absolutely need others in order for our goals and dreams to be realized. The talents, knowledge, expertise, services, ideas, warnings, and counsel of others are vital to our success. For an entrepreneur wanting to start a business, for example, a ‘master-mind group’ might consist of legal advisors, financial experts, business partners, co-workers, industry experts, or even family and friends (and ideally a combination of them all). The people included within this type of master-mind group must be trusted enough to share business ideas, and also enhance them. For the person wanting to learn how to develop a talent, for example, their master-mind group may simply be family and friends. This master-mind group must be composed of those people who will encourage, inspire, and assist them – through the good and the bad times. Regardless of what the pursuit is or who forms the master-mind group, the key is to be humble and open enough to go to and receive help from these other people, to both share ideas and bounce ideas off of, and to utilize the expertise of those helping – and be willing to help them also.

3) Learn How to Network & Who to Associate and Work With: An individual who is unwilling to network with others can still accomplish their goals and dreams – it will just be much more difficult. To ‘network’ is to meet, associate with, contribute to, and be benefited by other people. And yet, for networking to be truly effective, it must be more than just a casual meeting, and it certainly must be mutually beneficial. Thus, those who network simply to ‘schmooze’ or selfishly obtain what they desire will usually fail in their attempts because effective networking entails continual contact, as well as both parties mutually benefiting each other. Just as important as networking, one must understand the significance of surrounding themselves with like-minded and more talented people. Those individuals who have accomplished great things will collectively agree that they surrounded themselves with people who contributed to their goals, encouraged them, thought similarly, and did not detract or weaken their ability or resolve. They will also agree that their success was partly due to their own drive, courage, and actions; but certainly, it in large part resulted from the abilities, knowledge, ideas, services, time, warnings, and help of others. Thus, they were humble enough (and wise enough) to surround themselves with people who were more brilliant, experienced, talented, and capable.

Your goals and dreams will only be attained when you realize that you determine your own potential, and that others must certainly contribute in order for your successes to be accomplished.