“Keep your head and your heart going in the right direction, and you will not have to worry about your feet”

Dr. Miles Munroe

You have probably read the title of this book and said to yourself; it sounds pretty cool to learn how to live, learn, and lead powerfully! Or, maybe your parent or a close friend recommended it to you. Regardless of how you got to this point, I am so excited that you decided to invest in yourself and take this journey with me. I wrote this book for you, as a tool that will promote your willingness to become the strongest person that you can be.

Author and Entrepreneur Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.”

I want to get you on the right path toward finding out and understanding what your true “why” is. It will be one of the best discoveries of your life. What’s your “why”? Why do you want to be successful? I believe that your””why” in life is built around something that you become naturally good at.

Your “why” is the purpose, cause or belief that inspires you to want to be successful. For example, there are people born with great athletic ability. Some are gifted with the singing voice of an angel. You have persons with amazing math skills, or other less dazzling and attention-grabbing abilities. Every one of these things is significant today. In other words, you were born with your “why” we just have to uncover it.

My goal with this book is to get you on the right path to this discovery. This is not a discovery that will happen overnight and being self-aware of the fact that we all blossom at different times on our journeys is worth mentioning. Some of us figure out what we want to do with our lives in grade school, while some discover it in their adult years. So, if you are a late bloomer, please don’t beat yourself up about it.

You are not alone.

I want to encourage you to underline the things that are most important to you in this book and reread what you have underlined as often as you need. I recommend that you read this book over and over again. You will discover that with each rereading, you will not only go over things that you already know, but you will also discover something new. It takes a while for things to really sink into your memory, so give yourself time and don’t be hard on yourself. Being on the right path of finding your “why” or purpose in life is rarely one big “Ah-ha!” moment. Purpose can be defined as the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. Dr. Miles Munroe taught that purpose is the original intent in the mind of the creator that motivated him or her to create a particular item. In other words, your creator was motivated to design you for a unique purpose to fulfill on earth. I was almost 25 when the so-called “Ah-ha!” moment happened for me.

I want to share a story with you…

It was Friday morning, and I worked the previous night shift. I woke up around noon that day. My girlfriend at the time, Amy (now my wife) and I were about to go to Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday that weekend as it would be the following Monday. Amy was not at the apartment when I woke up. She had left with a close friend of hers to get her nails done. I got out of bed, went downstairs, and discovered that her friend had driven them and that the car was still parked outside. Due to poor choices I had made in the past, I had drinking and driving charges and did not have a driver’s license at the time. Although I was close to getting my license back in a few months, I still did not have much respect for authority.

I played the scenario in my head; it would only take me about 8 minutes to get to my destination and back home.

I would not get caught driving such a short distance. So, I decided to take my girlfriend’s car, a Blue Honda Civic and drive to the nearest liquor store. I purchased some liquor, and I drove back to my apartment. It was a successful mission. I began playing one of my favorite games, Gears of War on Xbox, while drinking a 1/2 pint of Hennessy. I remembered finishing the bottle and thinking to myself that I wanted more. The alcohol began to work on me, and I started thinking about everything negative that has happened in my life. I started feeling sorry for myself and wanted to get even drunker. So, I got back in my girlfriend’s car and drove back to the liquor store. I purchased another 1⁄2 pint of Hennessy and made it back home. Again, I started playing my video game and drinking the new bottle.

To this day, I draw a blank from the time that I got close to finishing the bottle while playing the game and finding myself awakening after briefly passing out behind the wheel of the car. I woke up seconds before I hit another car head-on. After missing the car by just inches, I turned the wheel to the right and crashed into the wooden gate of a church. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

I didn’t get to make it to Las Vegas that weekend. The police showed up and I was arrested.

I sometimes wonder what made me stay and try to pull my girlfriend’s car out of the ditch. I had the opportunity to just run, to avoid another DWI charge, but it was the last thing on my mind for some reason. The following week, I visited my lawyer and I remember him telling me that because of this offense, I would have to do even more time without a driver’s license and face a jail sentence. He told me that I really needed to get some help.

I remember the frustrated looks on the faces of my lawyer and Amy. After we left his office, Amy told me that when I had stepped out briefly from the lawyer’s office, he had recommended that she get away from me. He told her I would end up ruining my life, spending it behind bars. He told her, “Most of the people I worked with that are repeat offenders like he is will “always” do it again.” Amy was considering leaving me since I had let her down so many times. I let my family, co-workers and most importantly myself down.

I knew that a change needed to happen!

Due to repeated red flag behavior, I enrolled myself in a 42-day rehabilitation program. It was designed to help me overcome the adversity that I was facing in life due to substance abuse. It changed my life forever. There, at the clinic I was able to build an authentic relationship with God, becoming a follower of Christ.

I was able to work through some of the tragic events of my life dating back to the age of five that had become overbearing contributing factors to this red flag behavior. After finishing the program, at the last group meeting, I remember sharing with the group that it was as though I had a book bag on that was full of bricks when I walked into the program. I was moving slow and was tired of life. It was as though through sharing, and counseling I handed them all one of them.

I went in like a caterpillar and came out as a butterfly.

I felt lighter and wanted to build a fulfilling life. The program had put me back on the path to discovering my real purpose in life. I found my calling helping people through physical therapy and
providing empowerment speaking, mentoring and coaching services. My work encourages willing participants to live, learn, and lead as they are powerfully influenced by God. I find purpose in assisting many to overcome adversity. One of my goals with this book is to give you the opportunity to learn from some of my mistakes that I made and will share with you.

I believe one of the fundamental concepts we need to address to be on the right path towards living, learning, and leading powerfully is being self-aware of maintaining a finished mindset.

What is having a finished mindset?

Having a finished mindset is realizing that you are equipped at birth with everything you need to fulfill your purpose and become the leader you are destined to be. You should be excited to know that your abilities to be successful has been tested before you were born into this physical world by the creator. I genuinely believe that you were born to succeed. You have greatness in you because greatness made you! I find the biggest problem that we face in society is having self-awareness of how powerful we indeed are. Having a finished mindset requires the right perception, thoughts, and feelings of yourself and the way you look at the world. Perceptions are the way you see something; your point of view, frame or belief.

An example is a way you view your teacher’s impact to teach the class, or your feelings of having your opinions heard in situations or conversations at home, or how you positively influence your family and friends. Your perception of your environment is created by the amount of knowledge that you have. The more things you know and feel, the more things you can see. So I ask, what do you see? Or, in order words, what are you trained to see?

I think it is essential to discuss some abilities that I believe from numerous studies and through life experience that I have found a promising approach to having a fulfilling life led by God. You can make a significant impact on your life and others right now! I want this to be in your thoughts as you read this book.

So, as we dive into these concepts, ideas, guidelines, and teachings, don’t be hard on yourself.

Remember you are a teenager/young adult and shouldn’t have everything figured out yet. This book is meant to set you on the right course. Theologian Howard Thurman once said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” It gives me great joy to know by the end of this book you will have confidence in making the most of your talents, gifts, and opportunities. You will be able to deal with problems in a positive way, no matter what life brings. You will be on the right path towards achieving success the way you see fit.

I am super excited about sharing these resources with you, and I know you are eager to apply these concepts to your lifestyle right now.

Let’s get started!

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