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Good Morning. Here is a great thought for the day:

ATTITUDE — You become what you think about.

LATE ONE AFTERNOON a skinny young man dashed down the steps at his school to check out the bulletin board by the gym. His heart was pounding as he saw the list that would tell him if he had realized his dream of making the high school basketball team. He read it again and again, each time with the same result — his name was not there. He had failed. That day, that moment, would change his life.

For the next year, regardless of the weather, he practiced four to six hours every day in a park about a mile from his home. Many nights he was alone under the moonlight, practicing every move, every shot that he needed to make next year's team.

The ending is a happy one. He did make the team — and Michael Jordan, on the heels of failure, went on to become the greatest basketball player of all time.

What is the lesson to be learned from the Michael Jordan story? It is this... your success or failure in life will not be decided by the number of setbacks you encounter, but rather by how you react to them. Jordan had a choice. He could take his defeat personally, blame the coach, and throw in the towel, or he could do what he did — keep working, keep trying. Would Jordan ever have achieved greatness had he not fought back from failure? My guess is no. I believe with all my heart that, "Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger." If you choose a positive approach in difficult times, you can take control of your life.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the facts.

It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearances, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our pasts, we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you — we are in charge of our attitudes.

Your success or failure in life will not be decided
by the number of setbacks you encounter,
but rather how you react to them.

Have a wonderful day.

"Each morning is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When the sun rises tomorrow this day will be gone forever, in its place will be something you have left — may it be something good. Follow your heart, it knows what to do."

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