As a coach to individuals and corporations, one of the areas I train on is emotional and intellectual competence. It is self imposed limiting beliefs which trip up our ability to excel. The trick is to identify these limiting thought processes and replace with empowering strategies.

I interact with large numbers of people in my travels around the country. What I’ve learned from observing and working with both average and world class performers is there are two belief systems/languages spoken.

Are you time-starved, and always on the run?

During my Secret Service Days, I was also time-starved and always on the go, too….

So, I can relate to being crazy busy yet still needing to look and feel great every single day…. and today I’m going to share some of my favorite tips with you.

The first order of business in becoming an entrepreneur is to gain control over your thought process. Our thoughts are truly the only thing we own. Thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to results. Where you’re at today is a direct result of the thoughts and actions of the past. Are you pleased with the outcome? If not, don’t beat yourself up. We all make mistakes. It’s encouraging to know a new story can start right now! Allow the past to be just that. Be present and aware today.

Do you happen to remember the Enjoli Perfume commercial from the 70′s? It shows a woman singing “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never, ever let you forget your a man because I’m a woman!” This was “Superwoman” for sure! She had it all. Ability, success, beauty. Now that I’m grown I look at this commercial and think, “That woman is going to be exhausted!”

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. – Josh Billings

We are born into this world without the advantage of choosing our environment. Our parents, our gender, our skin color, our financial status are all out of our control. Once we become adults however, the table turns–we chose, either consciously or perhaps by avoiding making a decision. Either way we are playing our cards. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.

I’ve gone through a number of personal challenges over the past 18 months that have taught me a great deal about myself, my family, my friends and business associates.  My eyes have been opened. It has been a difficult time where I’ve been hurt and I’ve hurt others. Yet somehow, in the end I would change little of it.

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, Cleveland , Ohio *

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.”

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here goes:

Today is Memorial Day which seems appropriate given my thoughts this morning. My father and my brothers were in the armed forces.  My older brother, Joe, served in the Army as a Linguist. They taught him Russian and German because he was so smart. In the first Gulf War he acted as an interrogator. I always found this ironic since he was the kind of guy who would capture a fly in the house and let it go outside instead of squishing it.

Joe died a year ago at the age of 41 from lung cancer.

How many of these entrepreneurs do you recognize? Might be a fun activity to research the ones you don’t recognize. It always pays to study the truly great!

Do you agree with Success Magazines assessment? Did they forget someone?

50 Greatest Entrepreneurs of All Time According to Success Magazine:

Who as a parent can’t relate to this?

Can you think of any other’s he missed? Get ready to laugh.