By: Sasha Graffagna / Source: Super Hero You

We like imagining that today’s glitterati were born in clouds of ritzy perfection that let them sail through life.

But most superheroes work to achieve their full potential, and celebrities are no exception. Here are some lessons you can learn from today’s most successful people.

1. Steve Buscemi.

When you picture a Hollywood actor as a 9/11 hero, Steve Buscemi is probably the last person on your list. But before Buscemi hit the silver screen, he fought fires in New York City.

After 9/11, he returned to FDNY Engine 55 and spent a week working 12-hour shifts to help save lives. Surprised you didn’t hear about it? Buscemi refuses to discuss his firefighting in interviews.

An actor, director AND a humble lifesaver? Talk about a real-life superhero.

Moral of the Story: The people around you now are the shiny, more important people. Never forget your roots.

2. Vera Wang.

Bridalwear wasn’t Vera Wang’s first-choice career. Wang skated professionally until failing to make the U.S. Olympic team at 19. Turning to writing, she became a Senior Editor at Vogue, but couldn’t become Editor-In-Chief.

So she took a design position at Ralph Lauren, which finally led to a billion-dollar retail empire Wang didn’t even start until age 40.

Moral of the Story: Don’t panic if you haven’t found success by a certain age. If you keep trying, your time will come.

3. Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg is a film legend who’s won multiple Academy Awards. But once upon a time, Spielberg couldn’t get into film school.

Spielberg was rejected not once but twice from the prestigious University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television.

Defeated, he attended California State University in Long Beach – but dropped out, achieved fame, and complete his B.A. in 2002. As for USC?

They named Spielberg an honorary alumnus in 1994, dedicated a building to him, and appointed him a trustee in 1996.

Moral of the Story: Never burn your bridges – you just might get the last laugh.

4. Sidney Poitier.

When this Bahamian-American man first auditioned for the American Negro Theater, the director said, “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?”

Most people might have left in a huff, but not this man. He worked as a janitor at the theater in exchange for acting lessons, listening to the radio to minimize his accent.

The hard work paid off – Sidney Poitier eventually became the first black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Moral of the Story: Most criticism contains at least a grain of truth. Learn from it. Improve it.

5. Colonel Sanders.

Today, Kentucky Fried Chicken is one of the world’s best-known fast-food restaurants, and we owe its existence to one persistent man.

Colonel Harland David Sanders had been fired from dozens of jobs throughout his life, and at 65 was disappointed with his $105 Social Security check.

So he drove around the country, sleeping in his car and asking restaurants to sell his fried chicken. 1009 rejections and one “Yes” later, Kentucky Fried Chicken was born.

Moral of the Story: Persistence pays off.

6. Stephen King.

In 1973, Stephen King started writing a story about a girl with telekinetic powers. Three pages in, he threw it away. But his wife Tabby fished it out and encouraged him to finish it, and kept doing so after 30 publishers rejected the manuscript.

That book was Carrie, which launched King’s career – his books have sold over 350 million copies.

Moral of the Story: Have faith in your loved ones, and let them have faith in you.

7. Bill Gates.

The world’s richest man wasn’t an immediate success. Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen’s first company, Traf-O-Data, sold a device which purportedly read and processed the data from traffic tapes – except it didn’t work.

Gates and Allen learned their lessons, and used them to make Microsoft a massive success.

Moral of the Story: Every failure has a lesson. Learn it well.

8. Walt Disney.

You might know a newspaper once fired Walt Disney for “lacking imagination.” But did you know he also started several failed businesses before developing the Disney empire?

Even after he found some success creating Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney had to restart practically from scratch after a monetary dispute with a studio.

Luckily, that loss prompted Disney to create another iconic character – Mickey Mouse.

Moral of the Story: Finding success once feels great, but it’s not permanent. Don’t get lazy.

9. Jay-Z.

Jay-Z is arguably hip-hop’s biggest star, making the Time 100 in 2013.

But he didn’t start out that way. Jay-Z grew up in the Marcy Avenue housing projects in Brooklyn, around famous artists such as the Notorious B.I.G. A talented rapper, he released some videos through singles-only deals.

But no label would sign him – he was either too old or not ‘hard’ enough since he didn’t rap solely about drugs and murder. So Jay-Z and his friends create their own record label, Roc-A-Fella Records.

The decision paid off. Today, Jay-Z is worth an estimated $500 million.

Moral of the Story: If the place you want to go won’t accept you, make your own success.

10. Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah Winfrey’s talk show garnered millions of fans for her empathetic approach to interviewees from all walks of life. News executives weren’t such fans, though, firing Winfrey from her first TV job for being too “emotionally involved” with her stories.

But this was just one small setback for Winfrey, who grew up in rural poverty and was abused throughout her childhood. Winfrey became a millionaire at 32 and today is worth $2.9 billion.

Moral of the Story: Turn your weakness into your strength.

By: Jennie Lee / Source: Mind Body Green

Simplicity is often underrated and misunderstood. Just because something is simple does not mean it is easy, in fact, it’s far from it.

When something is simple it is quite clear, focused and accomplishable. And when it comes to affirmations — clear, focused and accomplishable are essential qualities to strive for.

In order to create just one affirmation that pinpoints the change or goal you are trying to manifest in your life, begin by exploring at least a few layers of intention and clarification.

For instance, if your goal is to magnetize more financial abundance, you first need to understand why you do not have it now. What are the underlying beliefs that have kept you in a state of limitation or lack?

Are you seeking fulfillment from the right source? What do you need to claim in order to have what you desire?

Another example could be to bring new a relationship into your life. Define clearly the type of relationship you most need, even if it is not the obvious first desire.

Although you may want committed intimacy, maybe what you need most at the moment is supportive friendship. Assess any limiting beliefs you hold about that type of relationship.

Finally, decide what you need to clear out of your mind or heart to allow this is to manifest for you now.

It may be that you want both of these and more. If so, rather than crafting multiple affirmations, reflect upon the common element among them and what within you would need to shift in order to have what you desire.

After this bit of self-reflection, you can begin crafting a simple present tense affirmation.

Here are a few examples:

“I have full financial freedom.”

“I have true friends who know and encourage the real me.”

Since both of these hold the element of wanting support, one affirmation to encapsulate the baseline would be:

“I am supported by the limitless Universe in all that I need.”

Stating affirmations in the present tense as though they were already a reality is essential. Anything stated in the future tense such as, “I will have” or “I am going to receive,” puts that goal forever out of reach.

Manifestation comes as we claim what is ours now. The Universe does not respond to begging.

You will also want to keep your affirmations as short as possible. We talk too much as it is, and when it comes to affirmations we need as few words as possible. Potent words.

Soulful words. Words that we can repeat with as much force of our wills as we can generate to stream a current of power into the belief we are creating. That way the Universe has to take notice and respond ASAP.

Another essential component to effective affirmations is the elimination of all doubt. We must simply refuse to doubt. Doubt kills affirmations.

Do not look for results and do not waver from your vision. Proceed with confidence and concentrate completely as you repeat your affirmation with intensity and frequency.

Remember to keep it simple for strength and repeat with fervor to create the habit of the idea in the subconscious mind. Eventually it will make its way to the conscious mind and then into the superconsciousness, where it can be made manifest in outer form.

Watch out for sabotaging thoughts that linger in the subconscious. This is the playground of fear, worry and doubt.

Keep a spotlight shining and eradicate them when they arise, replacing them immediately with an even firmer proclamation of your affirmation.

Lastly, to concentrate fully and intently, it is helpful to close the eyes and gently turn the internal gaze up to the point between the eyebrows, considered the intuitional center.

No need to cross the eyes or strain, but this inner focal point helps anchor our concentration.

Keep your affirmation short, clear and to the point. Pour your effort into the intent belief in its truth now, and you will experience the simple power of just one affirmation.

By: Andrea Schulman / Source: Spirit Science and Metaphysics

To have a great life, we must be mindful of the language that we choose to use. The Law of Attraction states that you will receive what you are thinking about.

Because your speech is a reflection of your thoughts, what you say can heavily influence what the Law of Attraction brings to you.

And of course, continuously complaining also obstructs our ability to be happy and productive. It keeps us trapped in the same energy we are complaining about.

Complaints are result of thinking about the unwanted. As we complain, we send a message that we are focused strongly on what we don’t want.

Because of this strong focus, the Law of Attraction brings more things to complain about into our realities.

In other words, complaints take an already low vibration and push it even lower; they “up the ante” of the negative thought because now you aren’t just thinking about the problem once, but you are harping on it by bringing it up again and again in conversation.

Though all complaints affect your vibration negatively, there are some complaints that are so commonplace that for many of us they have become a sort of negative daily mantra.

Unfortunately, repeatedly complaining about the same thing results in having to experience it time and again! It becomes a never-ending cycle: we complain, the universe gives us more to complain about, and then we complain again.

Fortunately, if we stop complaining, then the cycle can be broken.

Here are a few of these common complaints in society today. These complaints are so common that we can be easily seduced into repeating them over and over again, so they are especially important to avoid saying (even if they are true!):

1) I have a headache/migraine
2) My stomach hurts
3) I’m hungry
4) I hate my job
5) This weather sucks
6) Traffic was awful/I was stuck in traffic
7) I’m stressed
8) People have no manners today
9) Chivalry is dead
10) All the good men are taken
11) I’m sick/I don’t feel good
12) She is such a b****
13) My boss is a jerk
14) I’m so fat/bloated
15) Men are jerks
16) I hate him/her
17) Kids these days are so ______
18) I’m tired/exhausted/I didn’t get enough sleep
19) It’s too hot/too cold/I’m freezing
20) I’m bored

Again, while all complaints lower your vibration, common complaints can be especially dangerous. Since we hear these complaints often from others, they can easily roll off the tongue and become statements that we repeatedly use.

Sometimes, we will even use them to start conversations simply because we are bored. The more that we think about and complain about something, the more that the Law of Attraction will bring us that problem that we are complaining about.

Therefore, to raise your vibration and use the Law of Attraction effectively, it is wise to avoid these complaints.

Just because we are sick, or hungry or stressed does not mean that we need to tell it to everyone we encounter. Nor does it help to continuously repeat these phrases in our head all day. We’re better off to see a doctor, eat something or take a day off and keep moving.

There is the problem, and that which needs to be done to resolve the problem. There is no need to complain. Either accept it, or act.

By choosing not to complain about our problems we send a message to the universe that we expect them to be resolved.

With expectation comes manifestation, so by demonstrating to the universe that we expect our problems to be insignificant and easy to resolve, they will become so!

For reality to manifest the way that we want it to, we must tell our story the way we want it to be. If what you are saying isn’t the way you want things to be, you can choose to stop talking about it.

Stick to telling people about the good stuff. When you tell a better story you’ll have a better life!