Welcome to Module 4 and Lesson 1

1. Module 4
Project – Write Your Own
Success Story – Description
This module is a fun project! Following the instructions, you’ll get to
create a detailed picture of the future, living the successful life you
always dreamed of. You’ll show the actions you take to overcome your
obstacles and reach your goals.

2. Welcome!
• Congratulations on getting to the last part of the course!
• We hope you’ve gained some real value from this course and we also hope
you’re well on your way to achieving so many successes!
• Don’t forget to complete all the
worksheets if you haven’t already.
Remember: A dream without a plan
is simply just a dream, so write it
down, and break it down into more
achievable actionable goals.

3. Lesson 1 –
Writing Your Own Success Story – Part 1
• So far in this course, you’ve learned about overcoming setbacks,
maintaining your motivation for your goals, and developed a habit of
persevering. In this module, you’ll get to put it all together to create
your own unique success story. This first lesson helps you prepare for
writing your story.

4. Preparing to Write Your Own Success Story
• Everyone wants to be a success in both their personal and
professional lives. Unfortunately, not everyone will take the steps
necessary to become a success. What about you? Are you ready to
step out of your comfort zone and write your own success story? Only
you can do it!

5. What does success look like to you?
• To some people being successful means they have their own business,
a large house, and enough extra money to spend on anything they
want. Others see success as raising children to be productive
members of society.
• There are many ways to view success and many ways to reach it.
• Before embarking on this exercise of writing your own success story,
do you know what form you would like to see your success story
take? In what ways do you want to be successful?

6. Do you know where you’re going?
• Before you head out on a journey across the country there are some steps
you probably take:
• Determine your starting point.
• Mark your ending point.
• Plot the route you’ll take with stops along the way.
• It’s much the same for becoming a success except that your journey will
start with writing your own success story and determining the goals to get
you there (the route you need to take). The final destination is your
success.

7. How do you see yourself now?
• Currently, where are you in relation to your final goal of success? The answer will depend on the
goal you’ve chosen.
• Are you starting a new business venture?
• Do you need to lose weight?
• Have you decided to learn a new skill?
• Your success story begins when you know where you are and have a plan on how to reach your
ultimate goal. To help determine where you are, and what you may want to include in your new
plan, look around you.
• Are you currently doing things that may be sabotaging your chances of success? This may have
been part of the reason you haven’t been successful in the past. Are there habits that hold you
back? Do you need to go back to school to reach your goal?
• Decide now that you’re willing to do whatever is necessary to become a success, and include the
necessary steps in your plan.

8. How do you see past failures?
• Do you see your past failures as reasons why you can’t start over? Do
you see them as obstacles to success? That’s one way to look at your
failures, but it may not be the best way to view them. From another
viewpoint, you probably learned something from them, and that’s a
good thing!
• Perhaps, instead, you see the times you failed as stepping stones that
took you to another level? You may also see them as lessons you
needed to learn in order to spur you into further action. If nothing
else, they gave you experience in what NOT to do in the same
situation!

9. • Thomas Edison, when creating the light bulb, was asked about the failures
of his first attempts. He replied, “I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways
that don't work.” He also said, “Many of life's failures are people who did
not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
• It may be a case of looking at the same glass and seeing it half full or half
empty. It’s all in the way you perceive things.
• What may seem like a failure when you’re in the midst of it may actually be
a great learning experience that gives you the knowledge you need to
succeed in the future.
• Perhaps failing will allow you to see a need that no one has considered in
the past. Because of your need, you end up coming up with a great
solution!
• You can start now to view future failures differently than the way you’ve
viewed them in the past. There’s no reason why you can’t make changes to
move forward rather than falling backward.

10. What changes do you need to make?
• Do you see yourself as a failure or a success? What type of self-talk do you use?
Amazingly people don’t really think about these things when they begin to search for
success. The answers you give to these questions can determine whether or not you’re
successful.
• Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing,
you're right.” In other words, how you think can have a large impact on your reality and
how well things work out for you.
• See yourself as a success or see yourself as a failure, the choice is yours.
• If you realize that you’ve always seen yourself nearly making your goals but never
actually obtaining them, you can change that in your mind. Writing your success story
can help.
• In the next lesson, you’ll get to finish the course by writing your success story.

11. Here’s what you need to do today:
• Look at your past failures and describe to yourself how you could have used those
experiences as stepping stones to success. Now consider how you viewed them at the
time. Would the more positive perspective have resulted in a different long-term
outcome?
• Please download, print, and complete the “How to Write Your Own Success Story
Worksheet” from your Additional Resources box. This worksheet contains valuable self-
reflection questions that will help you write your success story.