"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Churchill is one of my great heroes, along with former South African President, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. What all these people have in common is that each one of them was or is a very positive person, looking to overcome adversity rather than succumbing to it.
When I was very young my mother died of cancer and my father worked long hours in a mine. It taught me that in order to succeed in life, one needs to work hard and to make a choice to look at things positively.
Every morning when I wake up, I make a conscious decision to have a good day, to find the good in people and to have a positive impact on everyone that I come into contact with. This attitude has helped me throughout my golfing career, where I was perhaps not the most talented, or the biggest or the strongest, but I certainly had the determination to succeed.
Now that I am 70, there is no reason to change this way of thinking. Perhaps my days of winning major championships are over, but making a difference in people's lives is not. If more world leaders could find a way to lead their people this way, perhaps we would have fewer conflicts around the globe. Now wouldn't that be wonderful?
