Successful people have a winning mental edge that helps them overcome failure, solve problems, and reach their goals.  We can learn from their examples and then apply the same winning mental edge to our own lives.

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of people achieve success.  The only difference between those who are successful and others is the way they think.  The Hartford Insurance company conducted a survey of 100 new college graduates in the early 1950s.

The college graduates were asked one question, “Will you achieve your financial goals within your working lives-within 40 years?”  Every one of them answered yes.  After 40 years went by, in the early 1990s, the Hartford went back to determined what had happened to the 100 graduates.  Here are the results:

One of them was wealthy, four were financially secure, six were still working, 35 had died, and 54 were broke.  Only five out of 100 had achieved their goals of 40 years ago.  Although not everyone measures success financially, this study demonstrates that only a minority of people actually accomplish what they set out to do.

It’s a winning mental edge that makes the difference between success and failure.  In 1983 Tami Oldham and her boyfriend were 19 days into a 30 day trip from Tahiti to San Diego in a 44 foot sailboat.  They were hit with a category 4 hurricane that capsized the boat and washed her boyfriend overboard. 

Inside the boat, Tami was knocked unconscious for 27 hours. The boat had righted itself, but the mast had snapped.  She fought the desire to give up, set up a makeshift mast and sail, rationed her supplies, and sailed 1,500 miles to Hawaii over 40 days.

Here are some stories of other successful people.  See if you can figure out who they are.

This person had a bit of a rough start. A newspaper editor fired him because, "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." Following that, he started a number of unsuccessful businesses that didn't last too long, ending in bankruptcy and failure. However, he kept plugging along, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.  Walt Disney.

This fellow was a poor learner.  He was four years old before learning to speak.  He could not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow, and even anti-social.  As he got older, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to a polytechnic school.  Although it took him longer than normal, he did catch on in the end.  Albert Einstein.

He was another slow learner.  As a child, he never did particularly well in school.  Later, he was put in charge of running the family farm.  But he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that his uncle sent him off to college where he finally did well.  Isaac Newton.

His teachers thought he was "too stupid to learn anything."  He attended public schools for only about three months.  A teacher told his mother that the he was confused and couldn't learn.

He fared no better at work.  He was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. He failed numerous times at many things he attempted.  Thomas Edison.

The manager of the Grand Ole Opry fired him after just one performance telling him, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."  Elvis Presley.

The formula for a winning mental edge is simple.  Your attitude determines your actions, which lead to results, which determine success.  Also, add in determination and persistence.  Incorporate this formula into your life and you too will have a winning mental edge.

NOW AVAILABLE:  "Dare to Live Without Limits," the book.  Visit www.BryanGolden.com or your bookstore. Bryan is a management consultant, motivational speaker, author, and adjunct professor. E-mail Bryan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or write him c/o this paper.  2011 Bryan Golden

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