This is a pump-you-up piece I wrote after helping a friend with her son. It contains some real-life principles for success. It will help you spell the difference between failure and success. Enjoy.

- Kevan

Have you noticed that people have stories in their heads, their own stories, many of which are loser stories. Some stories do nothing but limit, restrict and depress you. Most of the time its only a matter of perspective that could enable you to see your story differently and create a more productive story. I see this in my own life. The concept of reframing a loser story is the key to creating a story that wins; I believe that, I know that.

Have you ever met a person that is always a “victim”? It’s almost like they just can’t help being the “victim”. From the outside we hear this person’s speech give indication as to who they think they are... Things like “my ex-husband/wife did such-and-such and now I can’t do such-and-such”. Telltale words like “can’t” belie one’s hope for real success in life. If this same person could turn their perspective to be “my ex-husband/wife did such-and-such, and I’m going to do such-and-such so I can show him/her...” Can’t becomes can. Are you the “victim” or the “victor” in the story you tell about yourself?

My running shoes I wore in my first marathon (mind you I haven’t run the 2nd one yet), have written on them “I KNOW” (left shoe), and “I CAN” (right shoe). That has been the basis of my story for the last year; starting a new business, being on my own, beating a lawsuit, etc. I must confess though that some mornings I’ve slid the commitment continuum to “I think I can”, other mornings to “I think I can’t” and even some mornings to “I know I can’t.”

This concept of how we see ourselves, our own story of ourselves is ultimately important. Imagine how powerful concepts like hope and faith play into this story, versus demeaning concepts like dread, fear and depression. Faith is not just a principle of the gospel, it is the ability to see a bright future for ourselves, and believe it can happen. Faith is the foundation of every great winning story; that is the key, faith points our head forward towards happiness, whereas fear points back towards failure. A wise man once said that “faith is not only the principle of action, it is also the principle of power in all intelligent beings”. So it is with our own stories.

Forward with faith, rather than failure with fear. That’s it in a nutshell, the difference between a winning story and a loser story.

- Kevan Kjar