The Seasons of Life.

• Author: Pressley, DeLores
• Position: LIFE IN AMERICA - Tips on how to be confident and courageous

Life is best described metaphorically as continuously transitioning from season to season. Successful people do not try to avoid certain times of the year; instead, they embrace the flow through winter, spring, summer, and fall. They do not just overcome, for instance, the difficult season of winter, but actually thrive during the harsh cold; blossom throughout the spring; ripen in summer; then reap a lush harvest for fall, thus preparing for winter. Such cyclical expectations and preparations are mindsets that are key to sustained and against-the-odds success.

Here are tips on how to be confident and courageous through every season of your life:

* Fuel future successes with past achievements. It is easy to feel like a failure after a particularly harsh setback and, even the most empowered of us can, at times, doubt ourselves. However, no matter where you are in your career or life, you unquestionably have done something that has made an impact. Not every past achievement needs to be as profound as, say, saving a life, but find those times you made a difference in the world and know that you can do it again. * Invest regularly in the power of you. Do you ever get to the end of the day, week, month, or even year and feel like you have not accomplished anything? Chances are you have accomplished much more than you realize but, without any tangible, physical evidence, it can be difficult to bring those accomplishments to mind. Every time you accomplish something or do something good, write it down on a slip of paper and put it in a jar. Watching that jar fill up is empowering--and whenever you are feeling bad or doubting yourself, just reach into the jar to get a reminder of what you already have accomplished.

* Channel your inner prize...