A goal-setting guide to top achievement from an award-winning engineer, champion paratriathlete, and IRONMAN world record holder Diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor, Patricia Walsh became blind at the age of five. As a teenager, she lost what little vision remained due to surgical complications, and the straight-A student began a downward spiral into depression and hopelessness. But Walsh eventually had an epiphany: if she didn't do something--and fast--she would doom herself to a life devoid of meaning. Today, Walsh is an award-winning computer engineer and champion paratriathlete. She has raced in more than a dozen marathons and ultra-marathons and competed in two IRONMAN triathlons. In 2011, she set the world record for blind triathletes, shattering both male and female records by over 50 minutes. How did she do it? Patricia Walsh refused to be defined by any limits. In Blind Ambition, Walsh both inspires and educates by relating her unforgettable personal story while detailing her proven Fuel / Fire / Blaze approach to achieving any goal: Fuel: Set your base goals--those small, day-to-day tasks designed to collectively build toward your final goal Fire: Map important milestones on your journey to keep yourself on track and motivated Blaze: Your highest goals, your most burning desire made real--this is what happens when you add fuel to fire . . . Drawing on her experience of great adversity--and even greater success--she shows you how to set realistic milestones and describes a simple and effective process for mapping these milestones to daily tasks that will help you achieve what you previously thought unachievable. Every path has obstacles, but you can overcome them. Apply a champion's hard-earned lessons to achieve your goals and live a personally enriching and professionally rewarding life. All it takes is Blind Ambition. Go for the Gold! A Proven Model for Success from a World-Class Athlete "Patricia Walsh lays out an extremely effective framework for achieving your highest goals--in business and in life. I have personally seen Patricia apply this approach to great success at Microsoft. Anyone who reads this book will be that much closer to achieving their goals." -- Steven Sinofsky, former president of the Windows division at Microsoft Corporation "In a book filled with practical, actionable advice for true goal setting, framed by her experience with the toughest of real-world challenges, Patricia Walsh provides a no-nonsense framework for actualizing your goals and becoming resilient. Whether you are looking to excel in business, in sports, or in life, Blind Ambition will serve as your go-to guidebook for achieving breakthroughs, managing challenges, and fulfilling your own marvelous potential." -- Meg Hare, president of the board of Austin Women in Technology "Whether it is running your first 5K, competing in an IRONMAN, or completing an important work project, the steps and lessons shared in this book will help you get there. Patricia Walsh is an expert in overcoming challenges that stand in the way of reaching one's goal. This is an outstanding read!" -- Barry Siff, president of USA Triathlon and 10-time IRONMAN competitor "Patricia Walsh is a beacon, an inspiration, and a reminder of what is achievable. Blind Ambition is a must-read for those who want to maximize their amazing untapped potential by applying the lessons, concepts, and can-do attitude that Patricia embodies and shares so eloquently in this book. Highly recommended." -- Paul M. Craig, cofounder and president of Rudy Project North America and XX2i Optics

For anyone seeking to live life to its fullest potential, Blind Ambition is an eye-opening account of a tech industry executive who overcame fear and hopelessness to turn his blindness disability into a powerful, competitive strength. While most people were preparing for the adventure of adult life, Chad E. Foster was watching the world he grew up with fade to black but that didn’t stop him from becoming the first blind person to graduate from the Harvard Business School leadership program and climbing the corporate ladder as a successful finance/sales executive. With determination, ambition, and drive, Chad created what Oracle said would be impossible. He gave millions of people the ability to earn a living by becoming the first to create customer relationship software for the visually impaired. Even if you've been robbed of your self-identity and dreams for the future, you can change your story and achieve your goals. In Blind Ambition, readers and listeners will: Be inspired by Chad’s story of how he transformed the loss of his vision into a gift with unique strengths and abilities he did not have before. See how we choose the stories we tell ourselves about our circumstances and how this either limits us or propels us toward our goals. Gain new perspective on what is possible when you shift your mindset, give up making excuses, and decide that you oversee who you want to be. Learn the mental model that Chad uses to quickly overcome frustrations and stressors. Overcoming the challenges of blindness improved Chad’s perspective, making him more resilient and grateful for the life that he has. Ultimately, Chad's unforgettable lessons and outlook will inspire listeners to overcome their perceived limitations and explore new possibilities where they once may have only seen obstacles. Blind Ambition will teach you how to take advantage of your disadvantages.

Blind Faith, Blind Ambition is more than just the compelling story of a common man with uncommon faith creating extraordinary results. It's a recipe for how anyone can achieve this for themselves. Eric Schaffert was modestly born and raised in steel country, in Mahoning County - and has lived most of his life in that region. Yet he has become one of the most decorated sales professionals in the history of the world's largest pharmaceutical company. His secret to success is so simple, it's available to anyone. In the author's words: "Everything we see, experience or create in our life, our world, starts with a dream. The ability to dream big dreams is what has historically made America and Americans especially unique. There seems to be, however, a mentality in many areas that the American dream of finding success, however you wish to define it, is dead. More than a few have intimated that dreaming big dreams is a romantic endeavor without much utility in the real world. If someone had told me in 1976 that I would achieve both financial independence and fulfillment in my chosen profession, I would have said that's a wonderful vision. If that same person said I would also be associated with one of the world's pharmaceutical giants, be inducted into their sales Hall of Fame, and to then accept this award during a ceremony at Mar-a-Lago, the home of Donald Trump, I would have said this person's ability to dream big dreams exceeded even mine. Every one of us has a 'Mahoning County' in our personal history - where we were born, where we grew up, where we started our careers. I also believe each and every one of us has a 'Mar-a-Lago' in our personal dreams - that special destination we hope our life's journey will lead us to both professionally and personally. My story is not only about finding success and fulfillment in sales or business, but more importantly the business of life. Follow my journey to Mar-a-Lago. It is my sincere wish that I inspire you in at least some small way to not only dream but to also find the faith I have found, one that will sustain you in the pursuit of your dreams."

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

The secret behind The Secret delivers a completely revised guidebook to success. Before Rhonda Byrnes delivered the blockbuster bestseller The Secret, Dr. Robert Anthony was delivering the principles of The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence. Here Dr. Anthony, bestselling author of Think Big, reveals the secrets he has taught in seminars and workshops that have changed thousands of lives. Executives, star athletes, and celebrities know how total self-confidence can make one soar, and anyone can learn how to achieve it in their daily lives. The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence features advice on: Tapping into creative imagination Clearing the mind of fear, worry, and guilt The best ways to communicate, and the art of small talk The simplest ways to get a perspective and set goals The joys and benefits of being different Now revised by the author, this is the book for advancement in career, family, love life, finances, and mental and physical health.

The authoritative account of the rise of Amazon and its intensely driven founder, Jeff Bezos, praised by the Seattle Times as "the definitive account of how a tech icon came to life." Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators -- Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg -- Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing. The Everything Store is the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.