Whatever your political affiliation, last week every citizen of the United States (and every citizen of the world) saw the American Dream and the American ideal demonstrated firsthand. Americans proved we actually act and deliver on our declarations. We have claimed that America is the land where anyone, from any background, any race, creed or color can achieve anything they set their mind to. President-Elect Barack Obama is confirmation that these promises are indeed true.

It is my belief that it doesn’t matter who is president in regards to how your life works out. The only person responsible for your present reality and your future opportunities is you. Hope, change and the betterment of your future are not dependent upon who lays their head on the pillow in the White House. You have to take responsibility for your own hope. You have to be the creator of your own change. You have to design and act on your own better future. Nobody is going to do it for you, not even the president.

The only person responsible for your present reality and your future opportunities is you.

Does this sound obvious to you? You would think so, but I continually hear how things are going to get better when…. When there is a new president, when the economy gets better, when gas prices come down, etc. National policies, changing interest rates, the world financial market — none of these factors determine how your life works out. Those are variables given to all of us. It is how you decide to view those variables and how you respond to those variables that ultimately matter. Indeed, only you have control of your future. Jim Rohn has a fitting quote:

“It is not what happens to you that makes the difference in how your life works out — what happens to you happens to all of us; it’s how you respond to what happens to you that determines the major outcome of your life.”

Here is how President-Elect Barack Obama can change your life: The greatest direct impact he can have on your life and your potential future, he has already completed. His victory last Tuesday eliminated any possible excuse any of us were holding onto, and he showed us that, truly, all things are possible. He has proven to each of us that we CAN achieve the seemingly impossible. No matter how improbable or how unlikely the goal, regardless of where we come from or how we start out, any of us can achieve anything.

Let his testimony and this historical moment inspire and awaken your own “improbable” and seemingly “impossible” dreams and ambitions. By this measure, he has already been one of the greatest presidents of our lifetime.