Like Martin Luther King, whose legacy we celebrate today, successful people think big. They ground themselves in a mighty purpose. Tweet 4 in Success Tweets says, “The mightier your purpose, the more likely you are to succeed. It will give you a strong foundation when the winds of change shift.” Be like Dr. King. Take this advice to heart. Ground yourself with a mighty purpose. It’s better to aim too high and fall a little short than it is to aim too low and reach your goal. Dare to have a dream – and make it a big, powerful dream. What is your dream for your life and career success? Please share it with us in a comment.

Mentors can help you create the life and career success you want and deserve. You can create acknowledged mentoring relationships by asking people you respect and admire to mentor you. You can also gain the benefits of a mentoring relationship just by observing people who embody the skills and characteristics you admire and acting like they do. The important point is that you don’t want to go it alone. Working with a mentor can accelerate your progress towards the life and career success you want and deserve.

As Dan Robey, author of The Power of Positive Habits points out, your attitude will determine your response to difficult situations. If you have a positive attitude, you’ll be more likely to respond positively to tough times. Trigger phrases are the best way to build a positive attitude. Here are some trigger phrases that can help you create positive attitude: “I know I can do it.” “I can overcome any obstacle.” “I am reaching my success goals every day.” “I am getting stronger and stronger every day.” “Every day I am getting closer and closer to my life and career success goals.” “Every day, my mental attitude is becoming more positive.” Pick one of these trigger phrases – or make one up yourself. Repeat it 25 to 30 times a day, and you’ll find that you’ll have a positive attitude when you need it most – when things are tough.

Successful, self confident people – whether field goal kickers, professional tennis players or you and me — realize that mistakes are part of life. Learn from your mistakes. Build on this knowledge. Commit to Point 7 of The Optimist Creed, “Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievement of the future.” If you do this, you’ll be on your way to creating the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on lessons learned the hard way and The Optimist Creed. What do you think? Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment. As always thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you. I have created a .pdf of The Optimist Creed that you can frame and hang in your workspace. If you want a copy, send me an email with the words “Optimist Creed” in the subject line.

Build your personal brand by paying attention to your internet presence. Focus on the “three C’s” – Clarity, Consistency, and Constancy when building your brand on line. Besides that, use your common sense. Be judicious in what you post on line. Don’t make social network posts that you wouldn’t want a prospective employer to see. Get active on LinkedIn – it’s the best social network for professionals. There are over 100 million LinkedIn users. These folks can help you create the life and career success you want and deserve; but only if you demonstrate your willingness to help them first. 42 Rules for 24 Hour Success on LinkedIn is the best book I know for leveraging the power of LinkedIn.

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat it helped her create the life and career success she deserves. Successful people are curious. They want to learn everything they can about the important things that affect their life and career success. Be curious. Learn something new as often as you can. Put these learnings to work in your life and career and you’ll succeed. I guarantee it – after all it’s only common sense.

Successful build strong relationships with the important people in their work lives. They adopt an interaction style that facilitates, rather than hinders their relationships. They follow the career advice in Tweet 123 in Success Tweets. “Use every social interaction to build and strengthen relationships. Strong relationships are your ticket to success.” Build and strengthen relationships by sweating the small stuff. Focus sending positive micro messages – the small things that show another person that you value him or her. Avoid “micro-inequities” – behaviors that demean people in small ways. Instead, focus on “micro-affirmations” – behaviors that encourage others and build their self-esteem.