Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop The Focus and Strategy To Uncover the Life You Want

I.1. Two Parents and True Commitment

When I started out, I probably wasn't much different from you. I wasn't a dummy, but trust me, I was no Einstein, either. In high school I averaged a 2.9 GPA. Even though my family wasn't well- to-do, I did have the advantage of growing up in a loving and supportive two-parent household. I had loving parents who raised me to believe in myself, and in my own abilities to accomplish whatever I set out to do. If you also had this advantage but you don't appreciate the value of it, this next section is for you. If you feel you were handicapped because you didn't have a positive childhood or uplifting parenting, or you came from a broken home, there's a good lesson for you as well.

We all have certain strengths and weaknesses, but coming from a single-parent home almost always creates a more difficult path through life. You don't have to believe this if you don't want to, but the facts are so overwhelming they can't be ignored. In this section, you'll see clearly, perhaps for the first time, what you need to do to overcome the parental decisions that created that broken home, and how to break the cycle for your children as well. Your legacy is the thing that really matters, and after achieving your own success, it becomes almost all that matters.

I was born in Port Gibson, Mississippi, the son of Ephren Taylor Sr. and Diane Taylor. I was the oldest of three brothers. When I was born, we lived in my grandmother's house in Carlisle, Mississippi. It ...