<b>By Martha Cooper-Hudson</b>

Thank you to all the amazing people who have emailed me about how my articles this past month have touched them, especially the article last week on Taunya Green that inspired the reader to continue pushing and never giving up, no matter what. What I write comes from my passion and my purpose on this planet, and as I continue to aspire to inspire millions of people on this planet, why not start in the city I have called home for 15 years, Beaufort, South Carolina. Which leads me to this week’s article simply titled “I got the power.”

Are you living the life you really want to live? Do you know exactly what the kind of life you would want to live is? Do you realize that you have the power to create your own life?

More likely than not, your answer to the first question is “no” and to the second question your answer is “yes.” I would challenge you, however, and say that it is more probable that you are not living the life you want and that, in fact, you have only a vague idea what kind of life you really want.

In 97 percent of cases, I would be right because it has been shown time and again that only 3 percent of any given population will excel in any given circumstances. Part of the reason for this is that only a handful of people actually take the time to plan and create their ideal life.

It often strikes me as strange how many of us are so organized and diligent when it comes to studying at school or performing well at work, yet we are so terrible at excelling at the most important thing of all — our lives!

Let me give you an example. Most of us know the value of planning at our work places. In fact, we are probably very good at it and maybe even take the lead in planning at work. We make plans as to what we want to achieve during a certain period; we analyze our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; we make strategic plans and implementation plans and budgets and a lot of other things. It’s tedious work at times, but we do it anyway because we know that without these plans our companies or organizations would fail to achieve good results.

Then we knock off and go home and, unfortunately, leave our brains at work. Somehow, what we do at work doesn’t seem to apply any more. We just lay back and hope for a better life to magically appear. No plans. No time frames. No budgets. No targets. No written goals.

It is no wonder so many people are brilliant at their careers and yet miserable failures when it comes to their personal lives. We do not apply our knowledge and expertise to our own lives.

You must plan your life with much more care and attention than you would plan your business and your work. Stop living by waiting on chance and luck to make you happy, rich or healthy. If most of us put just half the effort we put into our jobs into planning our lives we would be amazed at the difference that would make.

You can take that first step of creating the life you want right now. How? You must create it in your mind. Mohandas K. Ghandi said very truthfully that “a man is but a product of his thoughts; what he thinks, that he becomes.”

Imagine for a moment that you have lost your memory. You have forgotten who you are and everything you have or don’t have. You know nothing about yourself. You now have a great opportunity to recreate yourself!

Money is no object. You have all the resources you need at your disposal. There are no restrictions. You can make your new life whatever you want it to be.

Who are you? What do you do? Where do you live? What car do you drive? What clothes do you wear? Who are your friends? How do you spend your time? What is your purpose in life? In whose life are you making a difference?

Create a detailed picture in your mind of what you want to be. Let your imagination go wild. Don’t hold back anything. Don’t regard anything as impossible. Just fill your mind with all the possibilities. Don’t be vague about it, be specific.

If you did this simple exercise, you should be feeling very excited right now. As lunatic as it may sound, the truth is you are free to create the life you want at any time you choose. The power to create has been yours all along. Here is one little secret though: write it down.

Writing this mental picture of who you want to be is important because writing things down gives power and permanence to your thoughts. You can refer to what you’ve written and modify it until you have perfected the vision.

Writing it down will also help you when it comes to remembering the vision for your life. As you read it every day it will become imprinted on your mind until you will be able to think and say it without referring to the written version.

Then and only then will it become a part of you. This vision will completely take over your mind. Once that happens, you’ll find ways to achieve what you’ve thought and your environment will be forced to align itself with this new found vision.

One thing is for sure: The past is dead and gone. We can’t go back there. The future is the only thing we have control over. Right here and right now is the only time we have that control.

Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Start right now to create the life you want in your mind and don’t forget to write it down. Think about it every day and every waking hour until it becomes a part of you.

Why should you bother? Because, as Earl Nightingale put it, “every day we put in place actions and ideas that will determine the shape and substance of our lives.”

Someone sent me this quote the other day: “We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then with a shock we realize we have to live in the house we have built.” How true. How sad.

Build your life with the care and effort it deserves. Don’t live your life with no direction and no hope. You can create that perfect life. You can dream big, and your dreams can come true.

You are all you can be. Go on and be it!

<i>Join other awesome and phenomenal women from the Beaufort and surrounding areas this Tuesday, October 15, at the Holiday Inn &amp; Suites from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Beaufort’s First Classy &amp; Sassy Tasty Tuesday Women Night Out with a Purpose. For tickets, go to http://tastytuesday-efbevent.eventbrite.com, or purchase a ticket at the door. Whichever way you decide, this is an event you do not want to miss.</i>
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