Achieving What You Want: A Practical Approach to Maximizing Your Potential and Unleashing the Power of Personal Growth

By Carlton Young

Have you ever questioned the difference between the person living a life of mediocrity versus a person living a life of abundance and happiness? Attitude is the difference. It’s the driving force to achieving what you want. By changing your attitude you can change everything and achieve anything. This book shows you how. It does not promise unrealistic overnight success, but rather, it will work to unravel deep-rooted notions of fear and doubt and realign your vision away from failure and toward achieving practical, attainable goals. Ultimately, it will give you wisdom, purpose, and renewed hope. You will learn how to change your way of thinking and focus on attaining the life you dreamed of and want.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allwrite Publishing
• Release date: Dec 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9780988733244

Carlton Young

Named one of America’s most influential motivational speakers and authors, Dr. Carlton N. Young has committed his life to public service, beginning with serving 20 years in the United States Marine Corps. He served courageously in not only the Vietnam War, where he was awarded the “Soldiers Medal for Heroism,” but in the first Gulf war as well. Dr. Young survived combat abroad only to battle homelessness as an out-of-work veteran. Today, he remains a fervent advocate of the homeless as Founder and COO of (GNACCH) The Georgia National Alliance Community Coalition for the Homeless, a community-service organization based in Atlanta, Georgia that targets the needs of the homeless. He is also the author of the book “From Home to Homeless to Success.” The author is living proof that you can survive the odds and achieve the success you desire.

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Achieving What You Want

A Practical Approach to Maximizing Your Potential and Unleashing the Power of Personal Growth

Dr. Carlton N. Young

Achieving What You Want: A Practical Approach to Maximizing Your Potential and Unleashing the Power of Personal Growth

Copyright Carlton N. Young 2013

Published by Allwrite Publishing at Smashwords

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to:

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Atlanta, Georgia 30301 USA

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Learn more about the book and author at

www.carltonyoung.com/

ISBN: 978-0-9887332-5-1 (print)

ISBN: 978-0-9887332-4-4 (ebook)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to you because you have greatness within you. It’s your God-given power. It’s about the way you think, the way you speak, and how much you believe in yourself. Success comes through what you believe, how you believe and how strong you believe it. God created the world starting with the ending, and then he created you. Discover your destiny by starting something God already finished. God gave you a purpose, but you must be willing to have the vision to see the purpose for your life. This book is meant to be a guide and a road map for you: you who have committed your life to your passion and who is determined to become unstoppable. Take the journey and begin to achieve what you want.

This book is also dedicated to my friend, colleague and mentor, Kevin Bracy, a powerful, professional speaker and America’s best at connecting with Generation Next (America’s Youth). Thanks for all of your help! You have no idea what you have done for me. This is also dedicated to my friend and colleague, Mark Johnson, a phenomenal speaker and author who has been a presence of passion as well as a voice of clarity and wisdom in my life.

"Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established"

-Proverbs 16:3 (NASB)

Preface

Achievement is a spectacular gift that mankind must embrace. Achievement is a source of life that brings hope to people’s dreams. It reminds you that, wherever you are in life, you can go to the next level. Whether your dream is to land a new career, succeed in your own business, make more money or accomplish new personal goals, you can achieve it! It was the vision of advanced communication that inspired Alexander Graham Bell to invent the telephone, and the vision of flight that fueled the Wright brothers to invent the airplane. It’s the vision of achievement that moves the nation toward advancement and new technology.

Once you discover your own talent, skill, and ability, you are able to envision the limitless possibilities you possess. Dreams and desires become crystal clear. A life of achievement is available to each and every one of us. But the question is this: if it is possible for everyone to achieve his or her dreams, why don’t they? The first reason is fear of failure. This fear is only a thin line between ordinary and the extraordinary. To overcome failure, you have to keep pushing and moving forward, no matter what.

People with low self-esteem have corresponding low levels of achievement. They typically blame it on life’s difficulties, so they have an excuse when they fail. Yet, in reality, all they have to do to succeed is work on themselves from the inside out. I have gone through tough times, as life has handed me more than my fair share of setbacks. A huge reason that I am successful today is because I turned my setbacks into comebacks, and I continued to take things to the next level.

This book was written for the people who want to make a difference in their lives and inspire others. My journey starts back when I was just a young boy, growing up in northern California. Leaving home after high school graduation was not my first choice, but my home environment was emotionally and physically turbulent, and I had to set out on my own path. Some of us go into the world seeking our destiny while others travel without aim; we all start at different places. Our family wasn’t poor, but my beginnings were humble.

Families have the ability to provide enough love for each other to get through the good times and the bad. Unfortunately, I was born into a family in which my mother’s love was dealt out like a game of cards. We were not raised the way siblings should have been raised, with love and understanding; instead, our mother would compare us to each other, causing divides that still exist today.

Positive words can make such a difference in the life of a child; unfortunately, my mother was unable to spew anything other than venom, words that cut me and tore me down. For the life of me, I cannot remember an encouraging word that my mother ever said to me. I can vividly remember being called horrible names such as: stupid, no account, and liar. I was repeatedly told that I would never amount to a hill of beans. Mother was the master when it came to destroying the innocence and the spirit of a child. Daily feelings of frustration and discouragement haunted me.

As a child, I did get into a lot of mischief; I wonder now if it’s because I was an active boy or because my mother expected me to misbehave. I’ve made peace with my mother and forgiven her, and I know that my upbringing has helped to shape the man that I am today. I, like millions of other people with an abusive past, could have used that history to make excuses for failure. But I didn’t; I didn’t have too. After much reflection and inner work on myself, I’m aware that my past was a necessary path to the present. Our tests in life offer our testimony to propel us forward to success.

I hated my mother so much that I stayed away from home for years. After my father and my brother died, I told myself there was no reason for me to return home. The shift came when God revealed my purpose in life, and I knew what I had to do to receive his grace and forgiveness. I was able to make peace with my mother the day before she died. I share that experience with you in this book. Most people accept the limitations that have been placed upon them by others, which can result in the loss of hope and confidence.

Long before I began writing this book, I was speaking to people around the country, but not at the level I wanted. I would often call my friend and mentor, Kevin Bracy, in California and ask question about the way he was doing things. One day when we were talking, he said something to me that I had been saying to myself in my subconscious for years, Find someone doing what you want to do, how you want to do it, at the level you want to do it and study their success.

I began to read books and listen to CDs every day. I began to read Joyce Meyer, Les Brown, George Fraser, Myles Munroe, T.D. Jakes, Billy Graham and others. After joining the group Toastmasters, I went to an event where Les Brown and some other well know speakers were working in Atlanta. I had great seats that placed me no more than 40 feet from the stage. I studied each speaker and took notes. I watched videos of the grandfather of the speaking industry, Bill Gove, to examine his techniques and delivery. In order to improve in the field of public speaking, I made an effort to schedule an event at least twice a month.

Opportunity yields growth. People today are tired of their careers and the lives they lead. That’s where I was myself, but through reading and studying the success of others, I was able to build my confidence and improve. Dr. Myles Munroe said, Most people think the richest place on the planet is in the Middle East, where the oil is in the ground. But the richest place on the planet is in the cemetery; that’s where books have never been written, songs never sang, stories never told. I say to you, the reader: you have greatness within you. You get one life to live, so go after your dreams and build a legacy of your own.

Foreword by George C. Fraser

In June of 2001, I met Carlton Young who, at that time, was working and struggling to get his life back on track from bankruptcy, divorce, foreclosure, homelessness and a lifetime battle fighting cancer. He, after saving money in a large glass jar, traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to attend the FraserNet conference two years in a row. Carlton acutely took notes in every session he attended and soon became a four-year volunteer with the PowerNetworking conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Whenever he took a break, he would find a quiet place to sit and read my book, "Success Runs in Our Race." He was clearly taking the first step toward making his dreams a reality.

Carlton was able to attain a job, write in his spare time, and raise his son as a single parent, all out of the back seat of his car. He went back to school and got his doctoral degree. This is truly knowing how to connect the dots for effective networking. "Achieving What You Want" is a book on how to achieve in hard times and how to create success when you are facing the odds. Here is a man who achieved success by pulling himself up by the bootstraps, a man who made no excuse for his health or personal life’s setbacks. Dr. Young reached beyond the expectations of others by maximizing his true capacity.

Achieving What You Want is a remarkable book that is intended to help you find your stumbling blocks and go where you thought you could not go before. It teaches you how to take charge of your finances and take charge of your life. It teaches how to get to the next level and recognize those talents, skills, and abilities you already have. "Achieving What You Want" is a practical approach to the limitless possibilities that await you; this book will help you to insure that you are equipped for success!

You should want to purchase this book for yourself, family, friends and people you know who are going through or overcoming a crisis. This book is written in perfect timing to help with family planning in today’s economy. Sometimes, we find ourselves forced to do more, achieve more, and balance more with much less. Now you can get a clear vision of your life, your future, and your place in the world of successful people. Dr. Young is a dynamic motivational speaker whose experiences touch and educate his audiences, trained by only the best world renowned motivational speaker, Les Brown. With this book, "Achieving What You Want," you are able to dive into Dr. Young’s unique wisdom, strategies and ideas that will show you how to unleash the winner within yourself! Dr. Young lives by his own motto: I’ll never quit! I’ll never give up! Because through all adversity, success finds a way!

This book will help you unleash the power of personal growth and maximize your potential. Dr. Young has been branded as America’s Grandfather and is the author of America’s Grandfather Talks about Family Values. Volume one was released on December 22, 2012. He is also the author of Powerful Life Quotes for Success, also released on December 22, 2012. all writings are Dr. Young’s originals work and every reader is sure to be empowered to succeed. Dr. Young is the founder and COO of The Georgia National Alliance Community Coalition for the Homeless (GNACCH) in Atlanta, which provides ongoing support, care and prevention for at risk veterans and homeless individuals. Dr. Young is known as one of the foremost experts on homelessness in America.

George C. Fraser

Author of:

Success Runs In Our Race: The Complete Guide to Effective Networking

Race for Success: The 10 Best Business Opportunities For Blacks In America

Click: 10 Truths for Building Extraordinary Relationships

Who Would Have Thunk It!: The First Adventure of the Fraser Foster Kids

Acknowledgements

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

-Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

The first person I would like to thank for giving me the wisdom and knowledge to make this book a reality is my Lord, God EI-Shaddai the Almighty, who kept me and covered me with his grace and gave me the peace I needed to write this book.