History of GO FOR IT!

Over the last 30 years, hundreds of thousands of adults and children have attained their goals, created happiness and mastered their emotions using Judy Zerafa’s Seven Keys to Success Programs.

Judy Zerafa is a modern-day Horatio Alger. Her story began in 1980, when Zerafa was a single mom, raising her three children and working as a travel agent. Her employer gave her an opportunity to attend a seminar presented by The Pacific Institute for Excellence where she learned experiential visualization and how positive statements can change neural networks and conditioning in the brain. “I was stunned,” she recalls. “I realized there are very effective ways to improve our lives no matter what our age or circumstances!”

Judy tested her theory with her own young children and was amazed at the results. After working with their mom for several months, all three of her children projected more confidence, enthusiasm, and  positive behavior.  Soon other parents began asking Zerafa for help with their children. At the urging of these parents, Zerafa wrote a small booklet on setting and reaching goals for adolescents. It sold 120,000 copies through a popular teen magazine.

Inspired by the interest, Zerafa wrote Go For It!, the first book on self-help for young people. It was published by Workman Publishing in 1982. To her delight, it was listed as a best-seller by Publisher’s Weekly from 1983 through 1990. Since then, Judy has motivated hundreds of thousands to jumpstart their lives in her corporate seminars, professional trainings, and school programs.

Judy Zerafa’s Seven Keys to Success Life Program™ was developed after extensive interviews with recipients of the Horatio Alger Award. Recipients are Americans who have succeeded entirely through their own efforts; many of them despite adversity. Zerafa’s research revealed seven specific attributes identified as essential to human success.

“The most startling discovery is that thirty of these men and women only knew a combination of three of these seven attributes…which I chose to call ‘keys’,” said Zerafa. “Oprah Winfrey was the only interview subject who knew and used all seven keys. I was intrigued with the idea of what would happen IF we found a way to teach young people ALL SEVEN!! I decided to make this my life’s work.”

Since it was founded in 2004, the GO FOR IT! Institute has trained over 8,000 students, educators and youth leaders in the Seven Keys to Success. In 2007, to increase the number of students skilled in achieving success, the Institute developed a course to train teachers in the GO FOR IT! Program, as well as a system for implementing it within GO FOR IT! Immersion Schools. The response has been overwhelmingly positive regarding the effectiveness of this unique program, the reach of which expanded again in 2010 when we began implementing our program within Boys and Girls Clubs in Colorado and Wyoming.  As an Institute, we are committed to making a difference for the students, educators and families that are positively impacted by the continual development of our programs and resources.

Ms. Zerafa’s new book – GO FOR IT! Family Program — is the culmination of all she has learned in the past 30 years. “The family has always been—and always will be—the cornerstone of any society,” she says. “For that reason, I have written this book for families, knowing we may have different definitions for family in our lives today. It is my fervent hope that readers will come to realize that the opportunity to experience extraordinary success and achievement is fully available to them and their families through their own effort and determination.”

Judy Zerafa lives in Denver, Colorado and has been a guest on more than 400 television and radio news and talk shows, including NBC’s “The TODAY Show”.