At St. Francis High School I needed to survival float for seven minutes in the pool to pass P.E. I have always had an aversion to getting my face wet, so swimming is not my favorite pastime.

Yes, I was born and raised on an island. I love the water. But I'm more of a back floater and dreamer. Let me look up at the clouds instead of getting water in my nose.

But I digress. Back to the St. Francis pool...

To get through the survival float, after doubt and trepidation and vicious debates with my Negative Internal Voices, I finally told myself I could do it. How? Sheer determination. I removed my contact lenses, took a deep breath, and silently sang Don McLean’s American Pie in its entirety—all eight minutes of it.

“Bye, bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry...”

It worked. Fear vanished and I got lost in the music in my head. I passed. And was really pleased with myself for doing something I was afraid I could never do.

As the eloquent philosopher Henry David Thoreau once said, “The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in mind.”

Hold your picture of success. You can do it. It's up to you.