Be Yourself.

Today's Marketing Cookie is about understanding how powerful you are.

I was drawn to today's fortune because it poses an important question. It simply asks, "Do you want to be a power in the world?" and then quite unexpectedly, provides the secret formula you'll need to achieve your desire. It simply says, "Then be yourself." The fact is, everyone around you already recognizes how powerful you are, yet you still look forward to "some day" when you will have reached some arbitrary milestone. Others already see you as exceptional, yet you continue to view yourself as ordinary, waiting for that special "one day" when you will have read enough books, earned another degree, or paid enough dues. I am here to tell you that you are already powerful, you have already arrived, and today is your day!

Today is September 11th. Today commemorates a dreadful moment when thousands of lives were suddenly taken by indescribable and unfathomable evil. The vivid pictures still play in my mind of passenger jets exploding into buildings and the towers falling. Such a senseless, cowardly attack still fills my mind with disbelief and overwhelms my heart with anger. I lost a friend that day, and America was thrust into a war against terror that would prove to test our moral center—a test that stood to question our principles, our values, and our beliefs.

On that dreadful September 11th, something remarkable happened. Although we had been knocked down, people of every nation, every color, and yes, every religion chose to stand up—and they did so together. Ordinary individuals became incredibly powerful in their unity that day. Neighborhoods helped hurting families grieve, they gathered to mourn great losses, and they came committed to rebuild broken lives. On that day, no one said, "one day" or "some day." No. On that day, Americans chose to be a power in the world, and they did so by being themselves.