DO YOU HAVE A PURPOSE IN LIFE?

Do you have a mission or life plan? Then how can you plan for success for yourself. Just like a company plans their success in life so do you have to plan your success. As a child in school each year you have a set of classes to take and pass. You set your goal in how high you want your grade point average to be. In the Individual Disability Education Act (IDEA) parents sit down with their childs' teacher and write out an Individual Education Plan (IEP)--together they write down a set of goals for the student to achieve. Sometimes they need to be adjusted depending on the ability of the student.

Just like a business has to state a mission or plan for success so do we. If you do not plan for success than how can you succeed. When you write down a plan then you look at what it will take to reach that goal step-by-step. If you don't then you don't know what you need to do to reach that goal. You are just guessing at what you need to do.

It is often prudent to sit down with someone else to brainstorm what you need to do to reach a goal and then put it in order. Sometimes we may want to jump ahead or skip a step. That is one way to set yourself up for failure. Something we often like to do if we lack self-esteem and want to sabotage our succeess because it is easier to fail then prove someone wrong by reaching the goal you set for yourself.

We have to decide for ourselves what our purpose or mission in life is. We can not let someone else decide it for us. That is often a disaster waiting to happen. You know yourself better than they do. Plus, they do not have your best interest at heart. No one wants to see someone else to be more successful then they are. So, only you can determine what your purpose in life is. Go forward, and find your purpose and place in life.

SUCCESS IS NY ONLY OPTION! SN.com

I have cerebral palsy (paraphlegia--affects right side only. As a child societies norn was to act as though the disability community did not exist. My parents followed this same belief. It was a dysfunctional family as well--my father phsically abused his children and my mother verbally and emotionally abused. Both of these issues can be psychologically damaging to any person but to a child with a disability more so.

My older sister is deaf and had so much potential but because she had the type of personality that needed to be encouraged and pushed to succeed today, she lives with my mother, gets a disability check, and physically abuses herself because of her displaced anger.

My younger sister treats her sisters exactly as her parents did and her expectations of her sisters is very low. And yet, she is a special education teacher, teaching childen with disabilities. She once had a student whose family my mother knew and made the remark to her--"at least they gave him a name he could learn to spell". That child has downs syndrome and when he was 13 he had a Bar Mitzvah. What does that tell you about the lind of teacher she is.

As a child growing up in that environment I felt insecure. Being the only child with a disability and having the other kids being cruel to me just because they misunderstood my disability and their own irrational fears did not help either. Growing up neither of my parents ever told us they loved us. Only after entering college and studying both mental health and psychology did I understand how they were scripting me for failure did I start to turn things around for myself. By this time my father was deceased.

First, I had to change my perception of myself, and learn to love myself for whom I am, that I had to decide did I want to accept myself as a failure or recript myself for success. Of course I chose the latter.
Once I start to change my attitude, but my younger sister or mother could not accept the changes in me than there was a rift in our relationship.

I hold an AAS in Mental Health, BS in Psychology, and credits towards an MS in Rehabilitation Counseling. It was when I was in graduate school that the Congress passed the Individual Disability Education Act (IDEA) in 1977. For the first time people with disabilities were gaurenteed the right to an education until the age 21. It was because of this law that the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. As you can see because of my experiences I am an advocate for disability rights.

I entered the workplace in 1977. After getting a position with the Lownde-Valdosta Development Center and moved out on my own my mother says I ran away from home. After leaving this position I did not have a lot of opportunities or options opened to me so I started my own business in 1983. I always knew that once I left home it was for good and no going back. First as the Human Relations Development Centre and later the Career Performance Institue. As a member of Toastmasters I achieved both the CTM and ATM certifications. As a member of NSA-GA. I took part in their mentoring program. I wrote a speech titled SUCCESS IS MY ONLY OPTION! Then I took the American Seminar Leaders Association University and received the Certified Seminar Leader (CSL) certification. I have written two seminars that I offer as a homestudy program with personal coaching. They are CREATE YOUR OWN SUCCESS IN LIFE and START YOUR BUSINESS ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET. I am also an Internet Marketing Expert and can help clients build their business on the internet.

Because my mother still tries to control me she is unwilling to help me so I've had to build my business as my funds allowed. Taking care of basic needs and keeping the roof over my head took priority. I only now have put together a contract with a client to help them write and market their seminar and assist them with marketing on the internet.

Someday I would like to set up a foundation to assist people with disabilities who want to start their own business with mentoring and low-interest loans. If this had been available to me I may have been able to reach my goals much sooner. I am looking for someone to help me with this ende

BEING RECOGNIZED AFTER 35 YEARS

Have you ever run into someone you last saw in junior high or high school and have them recognize you? This happened to me twice. My theory is because I was the only person in the school with a disability I was different and stood out. I am my brand that is why I can help people to find success for themselves.

Being the only person in the school system with a disability I was different and a convenient target because I was different. At 14 I had surgery which improved the way I walked but not completely. My hand was very tight, surgery improved this, but did not give me the flexabilty to allow me to use it except with limits. I have no feeling on my right side, so I have no real control over these limbs. I also do not have peripheral vision or depth perception in my right eye. Due to the disability I learn differently. At that time teachers and students did not understand this about me.

The surgery was a turning point for me. That is when I started to question "why me?" and also started to turn inward to find my strength to cope with what was happening to me. This helped me understand what my purpose in life was in life and what direction I needed to take.

This was also a time when I learned how to deal with how my peers were treating me and began to look at life differently. I then began to understand that my purpose in life to help other people with disabilities, or anyone for that purpose, to have a more positive attitude about themselves.

For anyone, if you look back at you childhood and the experiences you have, those experiences determine who you are as an adult. Since I was different, and in their teasing would wordplay using my name--they all remember my name. And since as a speaker, my personal stories come from my personal experiences I am my brand. In any business you want to brand yourself or your company so when someone needs your services they know where to turn.