***Reinvent Yourself to Reach Your Dreams

Dr. Arthur Caliandro, the inspirational minister who succeeded Dr. Norman Vincent Peale at Marble Collegiate Church in New York, believes that if you are going to succeed, you need momentum. He has a favorite story about it that he likes to tell. While taking a walk one day, Dr. Caliandro noticed an ant that was trying to find its way around a big stick that lay in its path. First, the ant tried to climb over the stick. It was too high! But that didn't slow the ant down. It sped up and started to dart right and left, constantly trying new angles. In a few minutes, it got around the stick and was on its way. This story teaches two essential success secrets:

• Never stop moving if you are blocked. Don't sit down. Don't make excuses. Don't call a meeting about the stick. Feel your energy rise and bring all your fighting spirit to the process of finding your way around.
• Keep trying new approaches. Don't keep batting your head into the same obstacle in the same way. Be flexible instead and try everything you can to get around.

nThe Power of Reinventing YourselfnNever stop moving . . . and keep trying new things That's another way of saying that to reach your dreams, you need to keep reinventing yourself. How do you reinvent yourself? Start by studying the lives of successful people:

• Bill Gates started as a computer nerd. At some point, he realized that to attain his full stature, he needed to refashion himself into a highly skilled entrepreneur. He did, and now Microsoft is everywhere.
• Donald J. Trump has reinvented himself many times. Early in his career, he developed properties in Queens, New York. He could have stopped there and built a lucrative real estate enterprise that would have been the envy of many. But to attain his fullest potential, he had to reinvent himself as a Manhattan real estate developer. He did, and then he kept reinventing himself as hotel owner, casino owner, author, celebrity, and more.
• Sam Walton was an old-school retailer who distrusted computers. But when growth of Wal-Mart slowed, he honestly admitted that his personal technology intolerance was the reason. He did an about-face, studied computer science and made Wal-Mart a leader in retail computerization. The rest is history.

nReinvent, ReinventnReinvent yourself wherever you feel blocked. If you dream of becoming a legendary salesperson but the big accounts elude you, reinvent yourself as a consultant who helps businesses meet their needs with products you can provide. If you dream of building a real estate empire but feel blocked, find a partner and start investing as a team. If those things don't work, try something else. Don't sweat it. Don't slow down. Behave like that ant and you cannot be defeated. And don't forget that education plays a central role in self-reinvention. Be sure to access all the learning tools you can. Find online courses and other resources that meet your needs. What you understand, you can become.