The strength of personal determination (aka Donna's my hero!)

I have a dear friend in St. Louis (one of my bestest) who has been through an interesting time these past few weeks. She had pain in her right thigh for several weeks, which the medical community was treating as bursitis. Well, on a Saturday about noon, she turned in her kitchen, heard a 'pop' in that thigh, and fell on the floor in extreme pain. The medics take her to the hospital where she waits for literally hours, because she went to one of the ERs that was shut down in that hazmat scare they had. Once the docs are able to treat her, they find she had broken the thigh bone! So, she goes in for surgery to put a rod in the thigh and spends almost a week at the hospital learning to walk again. Then she goes to a rehab center for another week. Last Friday she was released and has gone home.
The success part of this story is that she took it all with incredible courage and fortitude, and truly made lemonade from it. She took the opportunity of these two weeks and decided to use the time to improve her health by incorporating better eating and exercise habits. She is determined to take control of her life and she is making huge strides! As well, she put in so much effort on her rehab that she improved twice as fast as they thought she would!
My plan is to remember her courage and determination when the little things go sour in my life, and then take those opportunities to make life better for myself, and for others.
How about you? Who's your hero and why?

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

When I was in undergrad (Special Education at Indiana State University) I learned about the concept of the self fulfilling prophecy. In a nutshell, studies show what we all know. Kids will live up or down to what they hear you say about them. If a kid hears, "This little girl is sweet, but she probably won't be very good in school, she just doesn't have the smarts," odds are she won't be that great. And she will not think of herself as smart. The more they hear it, the higher the chance they won't succeed.
While I was in grad school I was exposed to a great book, "What to Say When You Talk to Yourself" by Shad Helmstetter/ It helped me understand more about how the concept actually works and how it is even more powerful for ourselves.
And tomorrow, I will have a great example of the truth of this principle. Tomorrow, I walk in the Walk From Obesity at Concord Mills, Concord, NC. I care about this cause because I have dropped 180 pounds in the past three years, through diet, exercise, and gastric bypass (Roux en Y with Fobi Band). But the actually journey began a couple of years before that, when I started using self talk to change my self image to be at 180 pounds (rather than the 423 that I was at when I began). I still have 60 pounds to go, but I *know* that I would not be where I am if I had not changed my self image through influencing my self fulfilling prophecy.
So I encourage you to get the book and use this to make your life more enjoyable!
To your personal success!
Robin

What do you bring to the table?

Had a question from some business associates yesterday. We are putting together a businesss concept and wanted to know what each of us involved brings in terms of expertise and skills. In this journey of self discovery (marvelously directed by Jodi Kahr at Right Management!) I am looking at myself in a more structured way. Organization, creativity, vision, optimism, the ability to analyze the issues and develop a solution, the ability to get others on board and excited about the process, the ability to develop the path and keep the team on track.
Yesterday I used all of these to help a local business establish a plan to increase traffic. I'll report on how it goes. I'd love to hear what you bring to your tables. Celebrate yourself today, and celebrate others!