Everyday, we pick up the newspaper and it's seems that the world is simply full of disaster and turmoil. There is war and senseless violence in the Middle East. Hurricanes and tropical storms continue to ravage the Caribbean and parts of the southern U.S. With all of the trouble in our world today, we can't help but to have questions like "What's next?" and "Who's next?"

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but to answer your question, you're next. The simple truth of the matter is that we all will face our share of disasters during the course of our dashes. We will have marital problems, financial difficulties, legal troubles, family squabbles, you name it. As Longfellow once wrote, "Into each life a little rain must fall."

For this reason, the most important factor in the success of your dash is not whether you face adversity (you will) but rather how well you deal with it. For some people, when trouble strikes, the focus becomes on simply surviving on the situation. However, the real winners in the life not only look for a way to survive tragedy but to thrive in the face of it. Thomas Edison was a great example of a person with just this kind of mentality.

In The Electric Thomas Edison, Edison's son tells the following story about his father: "I especially recall a freezing December night in 1914 at a time when still unfruitful experiments on the alkaline storage battery to which my father had devoted 10 years had put him on a financial tightrope. On that cold December evening the cry of 'fire!' echoed through the plant- When I could not find my father, I became concerned. Was he safe? And with all of the assets going up in smoke, even if he was safe, would his spirit be completely broken? He was 67 years old, and it seemed to me as though it was no age for dad to start over again.

At 5:30 a.m. the next morning, the fire barely under control, dad called all of his employees together and announced, 'We're rebuilding!' - Later on he explained to me, 'You can always make capital out of disaster. We just cleared out a bunch of old rubbish. We'll build bigger and better on these ruins.' And we did; we built bigger and we built better."

We would all do well to learn to build bigger and better on the ruins in our lives instead of simply trying to recapture what was lost. Therefore, the next time you face a challenge, ask yourself, "How can I not only survive but thrive in this situation?" That's exactly the question I asked when I was sent to prison. I knew I had three years to spend there and I could either serve the time or let the time serve me. I chose the latter. I made it my mission to walk out of prison a much better person than when I walked in. That's why I read every book I could get my hands on. That's why I quit smoking, gambling and lost 60 pounds. That's why I started focusing my effort on finding a way to help others achieve the success they wanted out of life.

And while I certainly hope that you never have to experience the troubles I've faced in life, I want to encourage you to take the same approach when challenges come your way. As someone once said, "When trouble moves in, make it pay the rent." You make trouble pay the rent by improving your circumstances with every setback. If you get fired or laid off from your job, then you take the opportunity to look for an even better job, go back to school or start your own business. If your landlord throws you out of your apartment, you take the opportunity to purchase your own home. If your boyfriend, girlfriend or significant other dumps you, then you take the opportunity to find an even better looking, smarter, funnier and more loving companion.

Remember, it's not how hard you fall in life; it's how high you bounce.