by Lauren Haslett

Created on: June 07, 2010   Last Updated: June 11, 2010

What makes a person good? Exceptional, even?

Over centuries, culture shifts, changes in politics, mood and values, the answers to these questions have varied greatly. Lives have been lost in battles over religious and political ideals, over thoughts and debates about how a society or a country should be run, how its citizens should behave.

And yet after all this time, all these fights, all these discussions, we are still unsure.

Many of us think that being a good person means being kind, forgiving, generous and loyal. Others may think the key to goodness lies in being outspoken, independent, moral and brave. These are all excellent qualities, and if combined with serious dedication, they are found in the best of successful people.

We live now in a society that promotes the power of the individual. The power to do, to accomplish, to believe, and to inspire. Some think this a terrible thing, that we have lost our sense of community, of sacrifice toward the common good. But if you balance your individual desires with your love and care of others, this individual power can, in fact, become your greatest asset.

Simply put, you are worth investing in if you believe that you are worth investing in.

Sometimes, creating this belief and faith within ourselves can be the most difficult step in the process of changing ourselves and our lives for the better.

We cannot live what we cannot imagine. This is a phrase one of the most brilliant and inspiring educators I have ever been blessed to know used to repeat to us (his beloved students) time and time again. Without vision, without belief in ourselves as individuals – whether to accomplish for ourselves, our communities or our entire world – we are lost. Lost to complacency, mediocrity and apathy. But simple imagination and good, old-fashioned perseverance can keep these demons at bay.

There are probably, at a minimum, a thousand different things you have wanted to do and have never gotten around to. Perhaps you have wished you could go back to school, find a better job with higher pay or higher levels or responsibility, or that you had explored new hobbies in your spare time. The fact is, though, that, no matter what you wanted to achieve, you put it aside, and you put it aside because you were not making yourself your first priority in your own life.

Make yourself a priority now. We all have numerous responsibilities – family, friends, careers, community and volunteer work. But if you do not

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