There are two key words that lead to success in life. These words control the successful outcome of your business, marriage, and many other areas of life. Although you may have incredible talent and skill in life, you will fail if you do not master these two words- and vice versa. Even if you have only limited talent and skill, you will win if you live by them. These two words determine your future. They are attitude and expectation.

If you have a positive, forward-looking attitude, you will accomplish great things. How is your attitude? Does it need an improvement? Are you positive and upbeat? If you have the attitude that every challenge or obstacle leads to new opportunity, success is all but guaranteed. Thomas Edison was said to have worked on creating the electric light bulb because darkness interfered with his ability to conduct further experiments. He wanted to be able to work long into the night. Edison could have moaned about the darkness, though that would not have done any good. He used his attitude and solved a problem of darkness. There are thousands of examples in life of how some people took lemons and, with a great attitude, made lemonade.

Start building your attitude today. Convince yourself that you are the best at what you do. You have to be convinced yourself before anyone else will be convinced. The attitude you bring when faced with objections in your business will help you handle them. The attitude that you take when you have a problem will make the difference as to its outcome.

One technique to improve your attitude is using affirmations. Affirmations drive positive mental pictures into your subconscious mind. Create affirmations like:

*I am a great _____ (you fill the blank).

*I am skilled at handling objections in my business.

*People do business with me because I am positive, knowledgeable, and professional.

*I earn__________(you fill the blank).

*I am a great spouse.

Use these affirmatives, or create your own, to improve your mental attitude daily.

The second power word is expectation. If you don't expect to win, you will not win. Henry Ford said, "If you think you can or think you can't, either way you are right." Make sure to set the positive expectation of success before your appointment with a prospect or client. You also need to set a positive expectation before every call you make. Expectation is the gateway to confidence. The first step to having unshakeable confidence is to believe that you are the person for your job. If your expectation is strong enough, people will come around to your way of thinking. You just need to be stronger in will and mental focus than your clients, prospects, and others in your field. A perfect example is Henry Ford.

Many years ago, Ford went to his engineers and told them to build a V-8 engine. They said it could not be done. Ford plainly told them to go do it and report back in 90 days. When the 90 days were done, they reported back to Ford. They had spent the whole 90 days figuring out why a V-8 engine was impossible. In the meeting with Ford, they spent their time trying to convince him it could not be done; a V-8 engine was impossible and could never be created. Ford's attitude and expectation of a V-8 engine was stronger than the engineers' attitude and expectation that it could not be done. We all know who won in the end.

Your expectation will create your reality. You have to expect before you can receive. You need to expect the people and situations that will enable you to create the future you desire. Expectation does not mean you don't have to work. You will work harder than before to develop the outcome you desire. The expectation takes away the fear of failure. Don't be paralyzed by the fear of failure. Failure is a natural part of success. You cannot have success without failure. It's truly a masterful design. You cannot have good without evil. The exhilaration of success would be lost without the frustration of failure. Most people forget their failures over time and only remember their victories. Take Babe Ruth as an example; he hit the most home runs of his time. He also had the most strikeouts. No one remembers that. . .only the home runs. . . the successes.

Set your attitude to positive. Look for the opportunities in every situation. Expect to win, every time.

Vince Lombardi had a famous saying:

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't have to win once in awhile; you don't do things right once in awhile; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit; unfortunately, so is losing."

Lombardi had the right attitude and the right expectations. He believed they would win, every time.