From John Maxwell's "Put Your Dream to the Test"Be willing to bet on yourself: You may succeed if nobody else believes in you, but you will never succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.
Lead your life instead of just accepting your life: The power of choice is the greatest power that a person possesses.
Love what you do and do what you love: Successful people—those who see and seize their dream—love what they do and do what they love. They allow their passion and talent to guide them.
Don’t compare yourself (or your dream) to others: Everyone I know wants to be successful, but nearly everybody defines success differently. Success is doing the best you can with what you have wherever you start in life. You should never let others set the standard for you, just as you should never try to live someone else’s dream. Author and friend Joyce Meyer wisely states, “God will help you be all you can be, but He will never help you be someone else.”
Believe in your vision for the future even when others don’t understand you: You are not an accident. You are here for a reason. Ralph Waldo Emerson asserted, “Self-trust is the first secret of success, the belief that if you are here the authorities of the universe put you here, and for cause, or with some task strictly appointed you in your constitution, and so long as you work at that you are well and successful.”
“If success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your soul, it is not success at all.” (Anna Quindlen)