In fact, I can promise you that if you'll start this journey, and take it seriously, within a short amount of time you'll begin to see just what I mean.

I've gotten ahead of myself. Let me tell you my story.

I was raised in a home without much money. And when I say "without much money" I mean well below poverty level. My parents taught me what they thought I needed to know and by the time I was in my mid-twenties I had married, started a family, and followed in my dad's footsteps as a preacher.

Aside from being a preacher, I took on several other jobs to make ends meet while trying to provide for a family.

Before I started in ministry, I had begun driving trucks. Truck driving continued to be my primary source of provision for over 2 decades and over 2 million miles through the United States and Canada.

It's been said that ministry is hard for a preachers wife. Truck driving is another occupation that takes its toll on the spouse. While my ex-wife and I worked hard to build our life together and achieve the advances in life that we had gained, by our early 30's it became clear to us that we needed to go our own separate ways.

In the end, I slipped into severe depression and began living a life far removed from the life I had become accustomed to. In fact, in my depression and anger I began living a life that destroyed me.

In my early thirties, having built a life that I thought I was going to live forever, I lost everything. Family, home, and job. And worse, I had no idea how to rebuild my life. So, I did what most people do in this position. I gave up on life!

I spent several years wallowing in self-pity and despair. Anger, sadness, depression and self-doubt lead into a life of alcoholism and risky living.

Then one day I heard a recording of a man on YouTube that cut through my fog. He said, "You can have anything you want in life….(blah, blah, blah)." Ok. The blah, blah blah are my words, but it was the first part of the sentence that I heard. I didn't really hear the last part for some time after that. I couldn't get past that first part. "You can have anything you want in life."

I didn't believe him.

I had spent over a decade building a family and a life that I loved. I had lost it all and knew I could never have that life back. That life was ALL I EVER WANTED and it was gone. Period. Nothing I could do would bring that life back.

I thought I had dismissed that man's words. I thought he was wrong and just a crazy man spewing false hope to the masses. Years later I would realize that many people saw me in that same way when I was a preacher.

It's crazy how we get stuck in our own mindsets and close our minds to the thoughts of others, isn't it?

I would never have considered myself "closed minded". I believed that I was open to anything. Only years into my current journey did I realize that I was very close minded back then. But, I digress.

That man's words haunted me for weeks. They actually angered me to an extent. Why did they anger me? Because if they were true, it meant that I had spent the last several years WASTING TIME! I should have tried harder to get my life back!

And then something else happened. I read the words of someone else.

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." - G.B. Shaw

Wait, I thought, I'm already created! How can I RE-CREATE myself?!

Well, that thought turned into a lifestyle. A lifestyle of learning. A lifestyle of personal development. A lifestyle of discovery.

I discovered that I could be whoever I wanted to be. I could develop a new life that was everything I wanted it to be. And that’s what I've done. I've developed a new life with a woman I never would have known existed if I hadn't started on this journey of self-discovery and growth. A new life where all my dreams are coming true!

As you may know, the man that I heard say "You can have anything you want in life" was Zig Ziglar.

I had heard his words on YouTube because he had recently passed away and someone was doing a show about him. For those who don't know, Zig Ziglar was a Personal Development and Sales Training speaker and author.

Before you get the wrong idea, there was more to Zig than being able to get everything you want. Let me complete his words.

"You can have everything you want in life IF you'll help enough other people get what they want in life." -Z.Z.

It's really not all about YOU! It's about OTHER PEOPLE!

Since starting my journey I've read nearly everything Ziglar wrote and watched nearly all of his recorded seminars multiple times. He truly was a great man. It saddens me and gives me hope that this great man became a mentor to me only after his death.

It saddens me because I would have loved to have met him in person and thanked him for his part in my journey. It gives me hope because I know that there are so many others like me that have been empowered to make positive changes in their lives because of him and men like him.

Aside from Ziglar, I have accumulated other mentors over the past several years. Men who believe in people. Men who believe in the hope of mankind. Men who are strong and encouraging. Some are still alive, some have passed on.

The thing about having a mentor is that the mentors words live on forever. Mentors don't even have to know who you are. You don't have to agree with every word they say. You just listen, learn and where it fits your life, emulate.

Over the past several years that is exactly what I've done. Listen. Learn. Emulate.

Zig Ziglar, Earl Nightingale, Jim Rohn, Bob Proctor, Tony Robbins, and Dean Graziosi are some who have taught me the most.

It's through the knowledge that I've gained from my mentors that I have been able to create a life of Happy Success. And it's because of these mentors that I want to give back to the world and help as many people as I can, for the rest of my life, to find their Happy Success. In fact, I've made it my mission to help 1 million people find their Happy Success and I would be overjoyed if even one thing you read here today would help you on your journey of Happy Success.

If you would like to follow along on my Journey of Happy Success you can subscribe to my newsletter below. I promise to do my best to give you value and inspiration each month.

May your journey bring you to YOUR life of Happy Success!

Your Friend in the Journey,

Allen Crowe