You may have read the story about Abraham Lincoln's climb from unbelievable challenges to success. Have you read the more recent true story about the little boy who went from an environment of gangs, drugs and crime to sit on the boards of a few prominent organizations? He used adverse circumstances as fuel to propel himself up each rung of the success ladder.
- While growing up in the New York City Edenwald housing projects, from ages 6 through 13, this little boy had to fight bullies just about every day and never won a single fight. He fought so hard each bully became his friend, because bullies really don't want to work that hard. These experiences prepared him for future corporate business encounters.
- He could have been in the Guinness Book of world records for the longest car ride an 11 year old could take. He and his father drove from the Bronx through Mexico into Guatemala and back. This trip lasted a month. Did I mention the little boy and his father slept in a car called a Rambler (seats turned into a double bed), throughout the entire trip. The little boy was shocked by the climate of other geographical locations, since the desert sand does not hold the day time heat. It can drop to below freezing in the desert at night. Indiana Jones did not have anything more than the little boy's father, except a theme song, when he and his father visited the Aztec ruins in Mexico during an excavation being done.
- At age 12 his father took him on a trip to Trinidad, which included attending school there for four months. The young boy had forgotten his "play sneakers". His father only allowed him to wear his "Sunday shoes" to church and to school in Trinidad. Although his father could have easily afforded a pair sneakers, his father made the little boy walk around barefoot to play outside with friends (ouch ouch).
- His father made him pay his own high school tuition to a prep school, called Salesian High School, the boy wanted to attend. In between doing his school required summer reading of 5 books each year, the young teenager worked as a messenger in the New York City garment district to pay his tuition. Paying his own tuition motivated him to go from being a less than average grammar school student to being an A+ high school student consistently being on the dean's list. This is a proven lesson in ownership for success, when parents make their children contribute to paying college tuition.
- At age 24 his father was murdered gangland style (one gun shot behind the left ear). This short circuited his promising career of attending officer's candidate school in the United States Marine Corps. He had to abruptly return home to help his mother support his 3 younger brothers and sister. The young Marine cried for 7 days straight over the loss of his best friend and mentor. On a beautiful sunshine filled Sunday, in the middle of the Mojave Desert, the young man made a decision. He would leverage the best education his parents' money bought, to make himself successful.
- Although the Marine Corps spent $100K training this young man in microwave communications technology, he couldn't find a job. He was on unemployment for 6 months. He finally took a job fixing answering machines and video games (are you old enough to remember the 1st video game called pong?).
- He became a single parent raising his daughter from the ages of 2-8 and then from 16 to adult. In between those years he was always there taking care of his daughter to insure she was prepared for success in being a contributing adult to society. And that she has become.
- Having the goal of getting into the computer field as a senior executive, he held temporary jobs. He finally landed a job in the mail room of a company that had 200 software developers located at the World Trade Center. He had a vision of using the mail room as a stepping stone to bigger and better opportunities in the corporate arena. Not being able to buy a suit, he could only afford $20 to buy a second hand jacket and tie. This took him from the mail room, through several promotions, to becoming a software developer. His vision and taking action was quite an interesting journey from the mail room to becoming a business analyst, executive and consultant at major corporations.
- He had two marriages fail before he married his third wife. She provided the winning formula for relationship synergy success. His third wife started as his friend (25 years). Then became his business partner (17 years). Then they married (10 years).
- By the time he hit his late 30's his third business venture became successful, after having two (2) businesses fail. He learned having a business plan and focusing on customer service creates successful businesses. Anyone who is in business solely to make money will surely fail.
- He became a 50 year old orphan when his mother passed away, after being in a diabetic coma for over a year.
- That little boy turned into an extremely successful adult. He is a motivational speaker, published author, successful entrepreneur, holds community leadership positions and currently sits on the board of few companies.
Patience, persistence, developing confidence, believing in yourself, being associated with a master mind group (aka networking), being teachable and taking a little action everyday is the answer to changing your current situation. No excuses. No blame game. No whining.
"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford
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