As motivational speaker Martha Lanier says: “We all have challenges, they just have different names.” I had the pleasure of interviewing Martha and her philosophy of life would be well heeded by us all.

Martha has written a book about the challenges she has faced – and stood up to – in the past couple of years. The title of her book is Pink Lemonade and it can be purchased at http://PinkLemonadeBook.com. You will be inspired and motivated to meet your challenges face-to-face and come out victorious!

Here’s the interview, enjoy:

Ahhhhhh a day at the beach. Just thought we all needed a break from winter. This was taken about a year ago on St. Simon’s Island, GA

Despite this cold weather it will soon be spring and the earth will refresh herself with new growth and life. And guess what?

We get to do that everyday. Everyday we’re allowed to wake up on this beautiful planet we are given a license to begin a new day in a new way. Of course, if the old way is workin’ for ya’ don’t get ride of it. But if something needs to be changed, today is the day to do it!

Begin with small steps, but begin. Start working on your dream. Life is short and precious so don’t waste a minute of it. So let’s begin.

1. Write out your dream on some 3×5 cards.

2. Place the cards in different spots around your house where you can see them several times everyday.

3. Write out IN DETAIL how your dream life will look. Where, how and with whom (woo hoo) will you wake up? What is the first thing you’ll do, what will you eat for breakfast, etc., etc., etc.

4. Be sure to write it in the present tense so that your subconscious will think it’s real.

What’s your dream? What does your dream life look like?

“Your past is not your potential.” This quote was given to me by Blue Ridge, GA artist, Liz Nicholas. You see many of us look at our past and see a picture much like this:

A desolate space where  nothing happened, there’s no life, and no accomplishments.

This picture was taken this morning here in Atlanta after our “big snowstorm” last night. It looks like the planet is empty and devoid of people and life in general.

However, when walking up the driveway we found all kinds of animal tracks. There were rabbit, raccoon, cat tracks, and one we couldn’t even decipher! There was life! We weren’t alone. What’s the point?

The point is that Liz is correct. Even if you haven’t accomplished anyhting in life (and I’ll just bet you have), it doesn’t mean you can’t now.

Because you’ve done things in the past you shouldn’t have done or because you haven’t done things in the past you should have done, doesn’t mean you can’t be successful in the future. You DO still have potential.

As long as you’re still breathing, you have potential. The trick is to utilize your past to build or enhance your potential. Yes, I’m speaking of lessons learned. Take what you have learned from mistakes you’ve made or lessons learned from what you might have done or done better and build your future and your potential.

Got potential? Yes you do. How are you going to build on it?