This is a guest post by my 16-year-old daughter, Zion, who I am super proud of. She wrote the following article for a school assignment (without my help at all, in fact, I didn’t even know she did it until it was completed). I wanted to share her great wisdom with my readers. Enjoy…

The Three S’s

The three essential concepts that are necessary to prosper in life are: self-improvement, surroundings, and success. All of these concepts begin within your thought process and self- image. Training your brain into motivating yourself and others around you will help play a part in living a happy, influential, and successful life. Another key essential in living this joy-filled life is understanding the environment you need to be placing yourself in, along with the people you surround yourself with. And the last step is figuring out the purposes, accomplishments, and goals you want to set in place to complete in the present and in the future as well.

Self-Improvement

To begin improving your self-image, it’s important to focus on the positive things being fed into your life and canceling out the negative things. “Man is made or unmade by himself…” – Joel Osteen. No matter what you believe to be true about yourself it only becomes a reality if you dwell on it and make an effort for it to be the truth. “Nothing that was spoken over you has to define you.” – Joel Osteen. People around you will always speak about you, whether it be positive or negative. Your responsibility is to block out the bad things said about you and only dwell on the truth – that you’re made in God’s perfect image and nothing anyone says can change that. “A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” – James Allen. We may not be able to control the situations we are placed in, however, we can take control of how our thought process works in the circumstance and how we respond to it. Practicing keeping a positive and sound mind throughout life helps you battle through hard situations and overcome them.

Surroundings

The second step in gaining positive mental health is working on what environment and people you surround yourself with. “Man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow.” – James Allen. Your surroundings can have a major effect on how you go about everyday life. It’s important you know who you are spending your time with and fully understand what kind of influence they are making on you. Surround yourself with people who have been through the situations you’re currently going through; so you can learn from them and help refrain yourself from making the same mistakes as they did, or to simply get a new outlook on the current situation. However, in doing this do not forget to spend time with the people who are going through situations you have already been through; so you can help them overcome their current problems just as the people above you are doing for you. Grow a desire to help people around you and help them to take a step further than they are in the present.

Success

The last, but far from the least important step, is building up your self-confidence and setting goals to accomplish in your life. “Aimlessness is a vice.” – James Allen. If you try to go about life without a sense of where you want to go or who you are, then the thrill of life will become tedious. “You were never created to live an average life. You have seeds of greatness on the inside.” – Joel Osteen. In order to succeed in your career goals, family goals, and spiritual goals you have to make sure you are confident in your mentality. “The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it.” – James Allen. Do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. When you push the boundaries you’re used to staying in and branch out you’ll find that opportunities will open up around you. 

The main thing to gain from the previous points is that in order to grow and prosper in life you have to gain control of your thinking process. “Thought and character are one.” – James Allen. When you start training your mind into believing that you deserve excellence you will begin living as if you do. So grow! Branch out, step out of your comfort zone, surround yourself with influential people, and start believing the truth that God set into you! These essential concepts will help you grow and prosper in life.