One of the toughest decisions she ever had to make was whether or not she should apply to a doctoral program at a prestigious university. She tossed and turned for three full nights over the decision. She was in agony over whether or not she had what it took to be accepted into such a well-known scholarly program. Ever since she was a child, she always dreamt of becoming a professor but the road to such an endeavor is a narrow one.

Many of her friends and peers whom she considers to be the best and brightest, the cream of the crop, applied to the same doctoral program and received rejection letters. She watched many of them roll over in tears, some cried silently while others decided to apply to other universities only to be rejected again.

During her professional life, she became no stranger to the “I regret to inform you letters” from many different agencies and for many different reasons. There was no way she could withstand another rejection. To the reader, all rejection letters bear the same message: a lot of people don’t think you or your [tag]idea[/tag] is good enough for them. So she continued to ponder over whether or not she would complete the application. At the last minute, she decided to complete and submit the application.

She knew that she would have to wait forty-five days for a decision about my acceptance into the doctoral program. Forty-five days seemed like an eternity to her. She thought about her friends and colleagues and their professional experiences. Some of them were Deans, Provosts, and full ranked Professors, and they received rejection letters. As she thought about that, she immediately felt that she made a mistake by applying because she was not a Dean, Provost, or even close to becoming a professor. Doubt set in and she accepted the fact that she was not good enough to be in such a program.

Needless to say, the mailman became her most anticipated visitor. On July 8, 2004, she finally received the letter that held the answer to her future. She purposely didn’t open it because it was thin. Rejection letters are usually thin. She stared at it for what seemed like hours before she mustered up the courage to open it.

The letter read, “Dear Ms. Jones, we are pleased to accept you into our doctoral program… She didn’t finish reading the letter because she was too busy doing cartwheels, backward flips, and all kinds of crazy movements that revealed her inner joy at such a letter. From a glance, one would have thought she had lost my mind, but a closer look would have revealed a woman who was happy that she made the decision to take the first step toward her professional destiny.

You should never base your [tag]potential to succeed[/tag] on the failure of others to do so. Always believe in yourself because when you do, you will discover that others believe in you too. Don’t let anything or anyone scare you out of pursuing your [tag]dream[/tag].

If you have the vision to see it, you have the potential to do it.

Don’t distract yourself by looking at statistics and averages. You are not average. You are meant for greatness, and the path to greatness is littered with failure and forgotten dreams.I would suggest you do the following:

1. Write down 3 of your wildest dreams.
2. Write down 3 steps you will take TODAY toward that dream.
3. Takes those steps!

2007 is your year of increase. Do something about your dream today.