“There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.”

- Napoleon Hill

And Victor Hugo said, “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”

These two powerful quotes speak volumes in their simplicity, escpecially when tied together.

When an idea’s time has come, there is always someone behind it with singularity of purpose. When you are ready for success, you must have focus and diligently pursue it.

We named him Milo.

In the month that we have had him, I’ve already noticed and learned some things from him. I would like to share them with you over the course of some time.

But here is the first lesson.

When Milo came to live with us, he weighed 2.8 pounds. Besides the other cat, we also have an 80-something pound shapherd pitbull mix. Naturally, the dog wanted to sniff Milo. After a big hiss and arch of his back, Milo would run. The curious thing was, he’d wait until he saw the dog sleeping then walk up to him and attack.

Now, weighing about 6 pounds, Milo no longer runs from the dog. He walks up, smacks him on the face,  bites his tail if he’s sleeping, and attacks his feet when he walks by.

Lesson #1 is be fearless. Size doesn’t matter. If you know what you want, tackle it. If you can’t whip that problem outright, then attack it from different angles until you find when your advantage. No matter how large the  problem, there is always an advantageous angle f attack for you.

Milo doesn’t just attack the dog. He will attack anything. He takes the dog’s toys from him, dragging away stuffed animals that are larger than he is. For example, the dog has a stuffed duck. Milo will jump on that duck (which is bigger than he), wrap all four legs around it, and roll with it. He likes to dive out of the dining room chairs at my feet as I walk by, attacking my calves and ankles.

Nothing is too big to attack when you don’t focus on how small you are. Forget your size. It doesn’t matter. If you are fearless, you can tackle any problem.

It’s a lot easier to stay positive when you’re standing on the pinnacle of your world, but it requires little faith.

Faith in God and faith in yourself is never tested when you’re high on the mountain. You may be thankful or grateful, but you’re “faith” only extends as far as confidence (or hope) you will not fall.

It isn’t until we feel the world on our shoulders that we are actually blessed with the opportunity of putting faith into action. When times are the hardest is when we discover true faith, because those are the moments that require we believe in something we may not see or feel. The Bible put it this way in hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith (whether in God or ourselves) demands that we are just as appreciative in the bad times as the good. It is with faith that we can remain confident and stay positive, because we know that things will get better. We may not see it yet, but we can believe it.

Here are some things you can do to help yourself stay positive:

• Pray. I realize not everyone who reads this believes in God, but for those who do, there is nothing more uplifting than prayer and Bible reading
• Positive affirmations: When you wake up, tell yourself with as much zeal as if you just won the lottery, “Today is a great day!” Look yourself in the mirror and repeat it a couple of times. Make sure you smile as you do.
• Go online or pull out some books and read positive quotes and stories. The libraries and internet are full of stories of underdogs who conquered the most adverse of conditions. The one thing they all have in common is they knew they would overcome. You, too, will overcome your situation.
• Force yourself to smile
• Refuse to speak or listen to anything negative – every time you hear or say something negative, immediately replace it with three positive thoughts
• Count your blessings…again and again. You may not think you have any, but every morning you wake up is a blessing in itself; do you have someone special in your life? Family still alive? A pet? A job? Can you see? Hear? Speak? Do you have a car? There are many things for which we should be thankful every day, but we take for granted