Perfect ten? What’s in YOUR wallet? Or rather your mind.

“Life is such an amazing, beautiful, joy ride of adventure!”–Bridget Hieronymous

I went to a workshop last weekend, given by my new friend, MK Mueller. She’s a trainer, author and creator of the 8 to Great program that she has shared with everyone from Fortune 500 execs to residents of homeless shelters.

She’s an amazing woman who developed these eight empowering principles after finding herself at a domestic violence shelter—as a resident, not a teacher.

In other words, she took a rock bottom life and turned it into a beautiful message for the world.

I particularly loved one of the stories she shared about Mary Lou Retton. Remember her? The gymnast who won five medals in the 1984 Summer Olympics? She was once on a Wheaties box and Sports Illustrated named her “Sportswoman of the Year” after she brought home the gold in the individual all-around competition.

Here’s how it went down: Retton needed perfect 10’s on her vault—from all three judges—if she was going to beat Romanian gymnast Ecaterina Szabo who had edged ahead by .15 of a point.

Mary Lou didn’t focus on her right knee that required arthroscopic surgery two months before the games. She didn’t focus on the hip dysplasia she was born with. She focused on the same thing she’d been focusing on for the last eight years—getting a perfect ten.

Afterwards, when reporters asked her, “How did it feel to get perfect 10’s from all three judges?,” she said, “It felt like it always does.”

“But,” they stopped her, “You’ve never done it before.”

“Oh yes I have,” she said. “Thousands of times in my mind.”

Loved this reminder that what shows up in our lives is more or less a clone of thoughts we’ve held in our mind.

Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.