You are responsible for everything that happens to you in your life.

“Everyone knows that weeds eat out the life of the garden and of the productive fields. The gardener and the farmer alike each has to keep the weeding process alive. It’s like that in the building and developing of character. No one knows our faults and tendencies better than we do ourselves, so that it is up to each of us to keep the weeds out, and to keep all growth vigorous and fruitful.”

-George Matthew Adams 

Before you can ever hope to change your circumstances, you must first improve yourself. If you want to lead a company, learn to lead yourself first. If you want to manage a family or a team, learn to manage yourself first. Self-mastery is the DNA of life mastery. The surface of your thoughts is your character. All of the thoughts which dominate your mind, come together like the wires of a powerful cable to create your character. If you have weak thoughts, you will most certainly have a weak character. Be a strongly disciplined thinker and your are assured of a strong, unstoppable character. A character rich with integrity, courage and trustworthiness is the bedrock of lifelong success. 

You are responsible for everything that happens to you in your life. You can make your existence a shining example of personal and professional excellence or you can make your life miserable. You can choose a nirvana or a nightmare. The key is to realize that you have power to see problems as challenges and to take any action required to have what you want. The quality of your life is determined by your interpretation of what happens to you. 

Remember, it is not the snake bite that kills but the venom which circulates afterwards that is fatal. Do not let the snakebite of another person release any venom inside of you. You can control its entry and you are responsible for every thought in your mind. You can make every day an extraordinary celebration once you control the thoughts you allow into your mental garden every second of every minute of every day. Your mind is like any of the other muscles of the body: you must use it or “lose it”. Not only must you use it, but if you do not push it and challenge it daily, it will grow weaker. If you are not going forward, you are going backward. 

Keep in mind one thing that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and you must start off small if you want to achieve big results.