Over 34 years ago, when Oprah started as a morning host for A.M. Chicago, the first episode was less than a success, to say the least. In her own words, she said it was a disaster. But she made it through, kept going and…well, look at her now.
This is the same woman who was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. Then she was molested during her childhood and early teens and became pregnant at 14 only to have her son die in infancy. Also the same woman whose sister died of drug abuse and her brother died of AIDS. Yes, this is that same Oprah. But she overcame.
Many of us struggle with where we are now to where we want to be in life, so how do we get there? How do make the American dream come true in real life? Here, Lady O takes a look back down memory lane in order to give her personal tips on how to do it.
1. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” Turn your mess into a message. Don’t let your pain be in vain. Do something positive with it!
2. “You can have it all. Just not all at once.” Be patient. Have an order. Prioritize. Focus on what you want, now. Plan for what you want later.
3.“If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn’t want you, nothing can make him stay.” All you can do is be yourself, that is the only thing you can control. Focus on that.
4. “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” You know you reached a high level of integrity when you don’t even care if people know or not. You just do it.
5. “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” Never become too busy or too preoccupied to celebrate everything you have done, all that you have and all that you are!
6. “One of the hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn.” You can’t keep all of them. You can’t make everyone happy.
7. “You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.” There is nothing more influential than your thoughts.
8. “When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.” Love yourself and all the world to love you too!