writing your own success story part 2

1. Module 4 – Lesson 2
Writing Your Own Success Story – Part 2

2. Write a Vision of Your Future With YOU as the
Main Character
• You have a good idea of what a success story looks like. It’s dependent on how you view yourself,
your past, your failures, and your plans for the future. It’s easy to view yourself as a successful
person or as a failure. Which do you choose?
• Let’s get back to how to write your own success story. You’ve taken the time to look around you
and think about your past. You’ve thought about how you’ve done things before and determined
that doing the same thing again isn’t going to get you the success you desire. It’s time to begin
writing your story.
• Get out some paper and a pen and start crafting your story. There’s something therapeutic about
putting pen to paper and seeing the words flow onto the paper. If you really hate to physically
write, of course you can type your story if you prefer.
• Instead of writing an autobiography, you want to write a story of your future, as you would like it
to be.
• Your goal is to write your story from a detached point of view rather than a personal one. Writing
in the third person (using a name rather than saying “I did something”) enables you to create the
story any way you like.

3. Include Experiences From Your Past
• Write about the character using familiar elements of your own life:
• What’s the character’s background?
• What has happened in their life to make them the person they are?
• Were they a child of divorced parents or were their parents happily
married?
• How many sisters and brothers did they have?
• Where did they attend school?
• Did they have stability in their life or did their family move around a lot?
• Did they have many close friends or were they more of a loner?

4. • Each of these aspects of the character’s life made an impact on the person
they’ve become.
• Talk about the character’s successes and failures. Explain how they handled any
failures they had and how they refused to accept defeat. Tell how the character
picked himself up, dusted himself off, and then forged a new path rather than
following the same path that had led to the failure.
• Describe their journey to the successes they’ve experienced. For instance, list the
steps the character took to become the youngest manager in the company’s
history. Portray in detail the many awards they’ve received for saving the
company money.
• Whatever it is you want to accomplish, write it down as if it has already
happened.
• It’s important to be as specific as you can when you tell your story. See the
successes you want to experience. Remember, you’re writing your success story.
This will help you actually become the successful person you want to be.

5. Where do You See Yourself at the End of Your Story?
• What’s your ultimate goal, the place that will indicate to you that you’ve achieved success? Again,
be as specific as you can as to what your final destination will be. This is your view for your own
future!
• Along the way to your character’s final destination, be sure to include the following:
• A road map of smaller, specific, and attainable goals leading to the destination
• Measurable goals to gauge progress
• Did your character know when they had reached a particular goal?
• Did they have a subsequent goal to work toward when that one was reached?
• The reason for writing out your success story in precise ways, and with as much detail as you can
manage, is to see the success that you want for your own life. You want to be able to visualize the
story in such a way that it’s nearly tangible.
• Seeing your story with such clarity helps you recreate the details in your own life. You should be
able to see what your character sees, think what they think, and feel what they feel!

6. A Sample Success Story
There was a young woman named Marie. As an only child, her parents encouraged her to try new things. She
played a musical instrument, but she always wanted to dance. Even though she did well in school, she didn’t do
as well as her parents had hoped. Still, they loved her.
They doted on her until she was nearly twelve. At that point, even though they tried to hide it from her, she
heard her parents argue more and more as time went on. On her thirteenth birthday, her parents’ divorce was
finalized. She was devastated and her faith in her parents, and who she thought she was, was shaken.
As the girl grew up, she wondered if she was the reason her parents divorced. She made it a point to excel in
school, thinking that her parents might get back together if her grades were better. As hard as she tried, her
parents never reconciled.
Marie threw herself into her education, but hesitated to become involved in a personal relationship. She
graduated at the top of her class in law school. Prior to graduation she was hired by a large law firm in Virginia.
Within 12 years she had become a partner in the firm.
Right before becoming a partner in the law firm, Marie took a chance on love. She began dating Dan, a college
professor. They dated for a year and then became engaged. Although there are still times when she recalls her
parent’s fights from her childhood, she has stepped beyond those doubts. She and Dan will be married by the
end of the year.

7. Conclusion
• Remember to use concrete words when writing your success story. Write in
the past tense so your mind can begin to see the story as a reality. It’s already
happened to one person and can happen for you, too!

8. Learning how to write your own success story
can be therapeutic
• Not only can it help you to see the potential you have for being a success, it can help you put
down on paper things from your past that may be holding you back.
• You can have the success you desire in every area of your life!
• If you need to, you can go back to school to learn a new skill or refresh your knowledge.
• Perhaps you’ve been a stay-at-home mom and now the children are in school. You have more
time away from the children, so you can reach for the things you’ve put off.
• Regardless of whatever stopped you from achieving your goals in the past, refuse to allow them
to stop you now. Write a new plan to get past your limitations, and make that success story yours!
Read it often and follow your plan until it becomes your reality.
• And why shouldn’t you have the success you’ve wanted? You deserve it!

9. Here’s what you need to do today:
• It’s time to write your own story of your future self. Describe the type of life you’ll
be living. Describe the person you’ll have to become to make that life a reality.
Continue modifying it until it feels perfect for you.
• Check your Additional Resources box! You’ll find a few surprises to help you with
your story and going on to achieve your goals!
• And that finishes up the course! May you overcome all obstacles, achieve your
goals, and create the life you desire!