Who is the most influential person in your life? This is message 423 and day 77 in the 8-C Challenge and this message is dedicated to Mady Smith.

Do you have a favorite influencer? These are the highest paid social media influencers: Cristiano Ronaldo, who makes $3,2 million per sponsored post. Lionel Messi, who earns nearly $2,5 million per sponsored post. Selena Gomez, who makes nearly $2,5 million per sponsored post. Kylie Jenner, who makes $2,3 million per sponsored post.

I don’t know if you are on Instagram or if you follow any of those influencers, but do you know who is the most influential person in your life? It’s you. Zig Ziglar said, “You are the most influential person you will talk with all day.” You are influencing yourself all day with the stories you tell yourself. As we’ve talked about before, you are either telling yourself silly stories or smart stories. You are either saying stupid stories or success stories.

There is a fine line between lying to yourself and affirming success stories. Too often we repeat stupid stories that are only true because we choose not to work.

The most important story we ever hear is the one we tell ourselves. Affirming success stories is vital. That is why I have written a gratitude list for the past 4,022 days. Thankfulness engrains the success story that there are always good things happening in my life.

Saying stupid stories usually begins “I can’t…” or “I could never…” No. You have the ability. You may need to find the right strategy. If someone else has or is doing it, you can too. It is a matter of your effort.

Stop saying stupid stories. START saying success stories.