Pete Rose，the famous baseball player，whom I have never met，taught me something so valuable that it changed my life.Pete was being interviewed in spring training the year he was about to break Ty Cobb's all－time hits record.One reporter asked, “Pete，you only need 78 hits to break the record.How many at－bats(轮到击球) do you think you'll need to get the 78 hits？” Without hesitation，Pete said，“78.” The reporter yelled back，“Ah，come on Pete.You don't expect to get 78 hits in 78 at－bats，do you？”

Mr.Rose calmly shared his rule in life with all the reporters who were anxiously awaiting his reply.“Every time I step up to the plate，I expect to get a hit！If I don't expect to get a hit，I have no right to step in the batter's box in the first place！If I go up hoping to get a hit，then I probably don't have a prayer of getting a hit.It is the positive expectation that has gotten me all of the hits in the first place.”

When I thought about Pete Rose's rule and how it was applied to everyday life，I felt a little embarrassed.As a business person，I was hoping to make my sales meet the quotas(定额)．As a father，I was hoping to be a good dad.As a married man，I was hoping to be a good husband.The truth was that I was an adequate salesperson，I was not so bad as a father，and I was an okay husband.I immediately decided that being okay was not enough! I wanted to be a great salesperson，a great father and a great husband.I changed my attitude to one of positive expectations，and the results were amazing.I was fortunate enough to win a few sales trips，I won Coach of the Year in my son's baseball league，and I shared a loving relationship with my wife！Thanks，Mr.Rose!

For years, I played around with writing. I wrote when I felt like it. Then one day, a friend asked what my dream was. When I said it was to be a writer, he said these words that changed my life, “You don’t have to want to be a writer. You are a writer; you just need to write.” So I started calling myself a writer. Everywhere I went, I introduced myself as “Jeff Goins, Writer,” and even put it in email signatures and on my Facebook page. And you know what? I started acting like it. Eventually, I even began to believe it. It turns out that sometimes you do have to fake it before you make it.

The lesson here is simple: If you wait for someone to give you permission to start pursuing your dream, you’ll be waiting for a long time. You have to begin before you think you’re ready.

After I decided to pursue my dream, I still had to find the time to do it. Working a full-time job and having a wife and other things to do, I didn’t have unlimited free time. I had to find time to write. For me, that meant getting up early. Like, 5:00 a. m. early. Every morning, I would wake up, get my coffee, and write for two hours. At first, this was difficult;I had to force myself out of bed and downstairs before the sun rose. But eventually, it became habitual. I did it without even thinking about it. And soon, what started as a discipline became a daily joy.

By doing this, I learned the excuse I had given myself — “I don’t have enough time” — wasn’t true. I did have enough time; it was just hiding in “inconvenient” places.

These days, most people I meet are talking about their dreams. For example, they want to bravely pursue a successful career. However, they’re doing it all wrong. They think they need to take a huge leap out into the unknown when, in fact, the opposite is true. So if you have a dream, just take action. And don’t say you don’t have time for it.

Oh, how I wish you could see what I see now. I’m older, and life has made me wiser. Nothing is the way I thought it would be, it’s so much better.

When I look back, I see you as one person but I know there were two of you:one that the world saw and the secret one that only you knew. I remember the nights and days filled with worry, sadness, and confusion(困惑). I remember being both of you. I remember the smile I would show to my friends and then I remember the tears no one knew that I cried behind my closed bedroom door.

Oh, how I wish I knew that everything would be okay someday. But I probably wouldn’t have believed it at the time.

Oh, how I remember those teenager years as the most painful years of my life. Living under a microscope（显微镜），everything was enlarged ,you think that whatever happens will stay that way forever. In fact , Nothing is farther from the truth.

Ever heard of Marcel Proust? He had a particularly painful life, but when he came to the end of it, looking back, he felt that the most painful things in his life were the best things in his life, because they made him who he was.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Your teenage years were the best suffering of your life. Those painful breakups, lonely nights, and tears cried are the times that will make you stronger, smarter and shape you become a determined adult in the future.