Academic Success – The Six Secrets to Extraordinary Success, Secret #6

Step Six: Know You Are Capable of Success

This step is the sixth secret to academic success, if you haven’t already, please read secrets one through five, so you become familiar with all the components that will help you succeed.

It is so important to know that you are capable of accomplishing great things. Yes, sometimes the accomplishment of big goals require hard work, but if you apply the six secrets to academic success, you can accomplish more than most people would think possible. Let’s review a few people in history who, despite being “burdened” with seemingly insurmountable limitations, went on to achieve more than individuals without limitations would be expected to achieve.

Helen Keller

When Helen Keller was two years old, she was struck with an illness that left her deaf and blind. Her ability to communicate with the outside world came to a sudden standstill. The following few years proved almost impossible for Helen and her family. Helen’s violent outbursts and continual tantrums caused relatives to encourage Helen’s parents to place her in an institution. Rather than further isolate her, they sought the help of Anne Sullivan who was able to establish a bond with Helen and teach her to communicate. Helen went on to graduate from Radcliff College, cum laude. After college, she began giving impassioned public speeches, speaking out for the rights of African Americans, females, and other oppressed populations. She went on to publish dozens of books and was the author of scores of essays, articles, and speeches. She continued for the majority of her life to tour widely, delivering her speeches in favor of various groups and causes.

Wilma Rudolph

The twentieth of 22 children, Wilma was born with polio and suffered from serious bouts of scarlet fever and pneumonia as a young child. These ailments resulted in a “bad leg” that some said would prevent her from ever walking. Her family refused to accept this depressing diagnosis and sought out physical therapy. Wilma was fitted with a leg brace that she wore from the time she was five until she was 11 years old. Then, one Sunday, she removed it and walked down the aisle of her church. She went on to become a remarkable track and field athlete and in 1959 became the first American women to win three gold medals in a single Olympics. In 1960, she set the world record for 2000 meters and earned the title of the “World’s Fastest Woman.” That same year, she was named by the Associated Press as the U.S. Female Athlete of the Year, and won United Press Athlete of the Year honors.

James Earl Jones

Most people know James Earl Jones. Although James Earl Jones is an accomplished actor who has appeared in dozens of movies, what he is most often appreciated for is his deep, rich and confident voice. His commanding presence and his resonant and rich voice made him a perfect choice for the voice of Darth Vader in the long-running Star Wars film series, as well as the face and voice of the Verizon Wireless commercials. Most people would be shocked to know that when James was five, he suffered an emotional trauma that left him with an incapacitating stutter. On National Public Radio (NPR), it was said that when James was a boy, he “had such a severe stutter that, for eight years, he refused to talk and was functionally mute.” Obviously, the story doesn’t end there. James overcame this disability, and in 1963, at a time where serious jobs for black actors were scarce, he made his screen debut and has since gone on to appear in over 50 films. He has won two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Oscar in 1970.

The list of people who, despite limitations and handicaps, achieved extraordinary levels of success goes on and on. Here are a number of famous people who overcame some form of learning difference, or a physical or environmental limitation: Albert Einstein, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, Nelson Rockefeller, Galileo, Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Thomas Edison, John F. Kennedy, Mozart, Whoppi Goldberg, Charles Schwab, Walt Disney, Leonardo da Vinci, Henry Winkler, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Lennon, Robin Williams, Greg Louganis, Louis Pasteur, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robert Kennedy, George Bernard Shaw, Alexander Graham Bell, Magic Johnson, and Beethoven.

We give these encouraging personal accounts of amazing individuals, and have listed other individuals into whose history you can do further research, because we want you to understand that human potential is practically limitless. If you search through the journals of history, you will find an individual who has accomplished nearly every impossibility that existed until that individual made it a possibility. Know that you are capable of great things! Know if you increase your own self-knowledge and fortify yourself with positive self statements, align with the correct knowledge, perspective and action plan, use the powerful tools of goal setting, focusing and success celebration, you will surprise not only yourself but those around you.

This article was written by Michele LoBosco, and Jacqueline LoBosco, Ph.D, founders of Academics Plus Tutoring Center. You can find out more information about Academics Plus and can find all six secrets in one free e-book, The Six Secrets to Extraordinary Academic Success, on our website: http://www.academics-plus.com