When you are a little boy and your father calls you "good for nothing," it has to sting deep in your heart and affect your self-esteem. Giuseppe, the small boy, was from a family of fishermen going back three hundred years in the family's native land of Sicily. When the father came to America, he worked day and night on the railroad until he earned enough money to send for the family and buy his own fishing boat. Eventually, the couple had nine children and all the boys, except one, worked hard at the family fishing business. Little Giuseppe suffered from seasickness complicated by the smell of fish and could not endure the trips out of the San Francisco Bay. Rather than be sympathetic, the father ridiculed the boy. 

To please his father, Giuseppe worked incredibly hard at the fishing business. He sealed the boat, untangled nets and made other repairs, but he would not set foot on the boat! Eager to gain his father's respect, Giuseppe worked as an errand boy to businesses and a newspaper boy, sometimes earning a dollar a day which he quickly turned over to his family to prove his worth. Regardless, the father continued to express his disappointment. Giuseppe turned to sports as a positive outlet for his lack of positive reinforcement at home. He first tried tennis, but that soon faded. Next, he discovered the sport of baseball and his whole world changed! In fact, his passion for the game was so intense that two of his brothers joined him in the sport! 

You probably know Giuseppe by his American name. The boy who was ridiculed by his father and was a failed fisherman and tennis player was none other than Joe DiMaggio, possibly the greatest professional baseball player of all time. The "Yankee Clipper" overcame negative influence, poverty, and uncertainty to reach heights few people even dream of achieving. It is easy for most of us to make excuses about why we are not more successful or have not reached our dreams. We can use the excuse of no positive reinforcement when we were young, no one to guide us in a positive direction, or simply lack of enthusiasm. In reality, we all want to achieve certain things in our lives but make the mistake of leaning on the ever-present crutch of life, excuses. 

The world is filled with "rags to riches" stories and it seems they all have the same things in common: 

2.  A dream- there is no denying the power of dreams! If kept in the heart, watered, and fed with positive thoughts, dreams grow to achievement!

3.  Passion- each day is an opportunity to move one step closer to the dream! It is passion that fuels the soul in times of despair and keeps us moving toward the light of our goals and dreams!

4.  Persistence- success comes in the most unlikely of hours, often when failure is close and passion could turn to despair. The achievers fight on with a persistence and determination unknown by most.

Success consists of a string of small victories won each day on the battlefield of life. We are wounded but not defeated, we stumble but do not fall! Give thanks every day that you have this day to make one more effort, to earn one more victory that will ultimately lead to your dreams and your goals.