Hamilton Wright Mabie once wrote, "The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; the question is what he will do with the things he has. The moment a young man ceases to dream or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and resolutely looks his conditions in the face, and resolves to change them, he lays the corner-stone of a solid and honorable success."

What does this mean for us? It means that you right here, right now have the means to succeed in whatever you want to do in life.

Do you believe you need more education to succeed? How many great people in history made history even thought they were high school dropouts?

Do you believe you need a better job to succeed? Some of the most successful people you read about online or in magazines came from humble occupations, even office staffers and retail clerks.

Do you believe you need to undergo plastic surgery to get a new face or bigger breasts to successfully attract the best marriage partner? Anyone who would require you to do so is hardly worth marrying.

Do you believe that you need that new Porsche or Lamborghini to be successful in life? While a nice car might be fun to drive, there are millionaires who drive Fords and Dodges.

Do you believe that you can become successful in life if you only didn't have kids? Being a responsible parent is probably the greatest legacy you can leave this planet and there are dozens of stories of family men and women who raised a good family and still achieved success.

Do you believe that you would be successful in life if you only had a better childhood or if you had lived in the good part of town? There are lots of people who became raging successes in life in spite of and not because of their surroundings.

Where all of this is going is that for every negative excuse you have that is "preventing" you from succeeding, there are at least a dozen other people with worse situations than you have right now that have gone ahead and succeeded in life.

All that you need to succeed is a dream broken down into small achievable goals as a success ladder, a belief in yourself that you can achieve the small goals each time, a willingness to forgive yourself when you fall short of those goals, and a burning desire to see yourself at the top of your dream ladder.

Forgiving and having grace for your mistakes is crucial. Remember this: we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. When you do make a mistake, admit that you could have done it differently, forgive yourself for making it, then examine what you could have done differently. Apply that lesson and don't make that same mistake again.

You don't need millions of dollars, the best childhood, a cool job with cool friends and a cool car, dozens of framed degrees and diplomas, or even the approval of other people to succeed in this life.

Where you are right now is perfect.