A relative asked if I could help them file their taxes. She and her husband were drug addicts for years. Found out she was pregnant just days before she was arrested and put in jail. Her jail sentence was a blessing ... helped her kick her drug habit and saved her son's life. When she got out she moved with her husband to rural America. They lived in a trailer on food stamps. She and her husband got their GED, but no other schooling.
Fast forward to today, she made 6-figures for the first time in 2022. She keeps her head down and works hard. It took years and moving a few times, but she made it work. She now has a second child and bought her first home in 2020. Incredible story of recovery, resilience and perseverance.
Not sure where/when I jotted this down, but this is probably from some seminar or book I read a decade or more ago. It jumped out at me because I graduated Highschool at the bottom of my class and couldn't get into college. My positive personality and work ethic has always differentiated me from my peers ...
90% of your long-term happiness is predicted not by your external world but by the way your brain processes the world. If you change your formula for happiness and success, you can change the way it affects reality. Only 25% of job success is predicted by IQ .... research shows that 75% of job success is defined by (1) optimism level, (2) social support level, and (3) ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat.