Week 1: No One Drifts to Success

You don't have to be a futurist or a fortune-teller to be able to predict someone's future. You can do so by asking him or her one simple question: "What is your one definite purpose in life- and what plans have you made to attain it?"
If you ask a hundred people that question, ninety-eight of them will answer with something like, "I'd like o make a good living and become as successful as I can." While the answer sounds good on the surface, if you dig a little deeper, you will find a drifter who will never get anything out of life except the leftovers of truly successful people- those who have a definite purpose and a plan for attaining it. To be successful, you must at this moment decide exactly what your goal is and lay out the steps by which you intend to reach it.
Years ago I worked with a fellow named Stuart Austin Wier of Dallas. He was a contributor to a magazine I edited and was just getting by financially. He would probably have remained a starving writer if a story hewas writing about an inventor hadn't suddenly inspired him to change his life.
Much to the sruprsse of those who knew him, he announced he was giving up journalism and going back to school to become a patent attorney. He wasn't going to be just any patent attorney, he was going to become "the top patent attorney in the United States." He put his plan into action with such fervor that he completed law school in record time.
When he began his practice, he deliberately sought out the toughest cases. Soon his reputuation spread throughout the country and his services were in such high demand that even though his fees reached astronomical levels, he was turning away more clients than he accepted.
The person who acts with purpose anda plan attracts opportunities. How can life give you anything if you don't know what you want yourself? How can others help you to succeed if you haven't decided how to get there yourself? Only with definiteness of purpose will you be able to overcome the defeats and adversities that will stand in your way.
One of America's earliest and most successful franchisers was Lee Maranz, a man who knew what he wanted and how to get it. A mechanical engineer, Maranz invented an automatic ice cream freezer that made soft ice cream. He envisioned a chain of ice cream stores from coast to coast and worked out a plan to make his dream become a reality.
He, like many others since, built his own success by helping others achieve theirs. He helped people set up ice cream shops by furnishing construction and design plans, a revolutionary idea at the time. He sold the ice cream machines at cost and made his profit from the sale of the ice cream mix. The result? That chain of stores Maranz was determined to create across the country.
"If you have a strong belief in yourself, in what you are doing, and what you want to do, no adversity is too difficult to overcome," he said.
If you want to achieve success, make today the day you stop drifting. Decide upon a definite goal. Write it down. Commit it to memory. Decide exactly how you plan to achieve it. Then begin by putting the plan into action immediately.
Your future is what you make it. Decide now what it shall be.