4.         Successful people are not superstitious.

If something happens, it is not necessarily an omen. It is a waste of mental energy to believe that superstition has a connection to your performance. I played with many hockey players who believed that if they tied their left skate before their right skate and had a successful game, they had to use the same routine the next game in order to be successful again. Developing a mental routine can be helpful, but attributing your performance to superstitious habits is totally detrimental. The main reason that relying on superstition is unproductive is because it takes our focus off making the changes needed to succeed and sometimes keeps our focus on certain actions that have little or no connection to creating the outcomes that we desire.

5.         Successful people refuse to equate failure with self-worth-when they do make mistakes, they will easily rebound and put the mistakes behind them.

Pat Quinn was our coach during my two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. Pat has a great way of mixing the wonderful world of sports with real life. He made an impact on my hockey career and on my life.

On the wall of his office was a plaque with these words: "A failed project is not a failed person." Successful people have learned not to personalize failure.