Change is critical to your success and happiness. I cringe to think what might happen in our lives if we don't allow ourselves the opportunity to make the appropriate changes. Sure, we can pretend that we don't need to change, that there is nothing wrong with our lives. Then, however, we soon forget the consequences of not taking action and making the changes we know we need to make.

One story that illustrates this point well is from Samuel Whitman. The ice storm wasn't generally destructive. True, a few wires came down, and there was a sudden jump in accidents along the highway.... Normally, the big walnut tree could easily have borne the weight that formed on its spreading limbs. It was the iron wedge in its heart that caused the damage. The story of the iron wedge began many years ago when the lad of a white-haired farmer toiled on his father's homestead. The sawmill had then only recently been moved from the valley, and the settlers were still finding tools and odd pieces of equipment scattered about.... On this particular day, it was a faller's wedge-wide, flat and heavy, a foot or more long, and splayed from mighty poundings, which he found in the south pasture.... (The wedge is put in a cut made by an axe and then struck with a large hammer to enlarge the cut.) Because he was already late for dinner, the lad laid the wedge...between the limbs of the young walnut tree his father had planted near the front gate. He would take the wedge to the shed right after dinner, or sometime when he was going that way. He truly meant to, but he never did. The wedge was there between the limbs, a little tight, when he attained his manhood. It was there, now firmly gripped, when he married and took over his father's farm. It was half grown over on the day the threshing crew ate dinner under the tree.... Grown in and healed over, the wedge was still in the tree the winter the ice storm came. In the chill silence of that wintry night...one of the three major limbs split away from the trunk and crashed to the ground. This so unbalanced the remainder of the top that it, too, split apart and went down. When the storm was over, not a twig of the once-proud tree remained.

Early the next morning, the farmer went out to mourn his loss.... Then, his eyes caught sight of something in the splintered ruin. "The wedge," he muttered reproachfully. "The wedge I found in the south pasture." A glance told him why the tree had fallen. Growing edge-up in the trunk, the wedge had prevented the limb fibers from knitting together as they should.

If we neglect change, if we try to bury our problems in our life, the wedge of not changing will be more destructive than the hammer of change. Open yourself up to see what you really want to become. Set the course and then make the changes. You and you alone can navigate your life. See the horizon of success and never let anything take you off course.

Kurt Mortensen

Kurt W. Mortensen is one of America's leading authorities on persuasion, motivation and influence. Kurt spent 15 years researching personal development and motivational psychology and is currently a professor on the university level. He offers his speaking, training, and consulting programs nationwide, helping thousands achieve unprecedented success in business and personal endeavors. Kurt is author of Maximum Influence, an Amazon.com bestseller and is endorsed by Stephen R. Covey, Brian Tracy, Robert Allen, and Mark Victor Hansen.

“This is truly remarkable information,” said Dr. Stephen R. Covey, Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. “It is based on solid scientific research and extensive field experience. It contains unbelievably comprehensive and fresh new angles and insights to persuasion, using immensely practical examples.”

"This is a great,” said Brian Tracy, Author of Advanced Selling Techniques. “Magnetic Persuasion shows you how to immediately influence and persuade other people in every area of your life."

Mortensen received a bachelor’s degree in Communications/Advertising from Brigham Young University in 1992 and an MBA in Marketing and Consumer Behavior from the University of Pittsburg in 1993. He presented on the speaking circuit with Brian Tracy, Dennis Waitley, and Les Brown.

He teaches that success in every aspect of life depends on the ability to persuade, motivate, and influence others. He combines scientific research with real-world studies to provide the most authoritative and effective arsenal of proven techniques for persuading, influencing, and motivating others.

“Kurt has provided the most complete work on persuasion and influence I have ever read,” said Robert G. Allen, Author of Nothing Down, Multiple Streams of Income, and The One Minute Millionaire. “Nowhere in persuasion literature have I ever seen the art and science broken down into such thorough and easy-to-understand concepts, covering every aspect of persuasion imaginable.”