In Dr. Ben Carson’s opinion, you create your own luck. The 47-year-old African-American neurosurgeon, who rose to international notoriety when he successfully separated Siamese twins joined at the back of the head, carries the philosophy that if you think big, your dreams will be realized. "Anything is possible," says Carson, who has been the director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore since 1984.

In 1987, Dr. Carson was the primary neurosurgeon among the 70-member medical team that successfully separated seven-month-old German craniopagus twin boys ("Siamese Twins"). They were joined at the back of the head and shared the major cerebral blood drainage system. The 22-hour procedure was believed to be the first time hypothermia, the deliberate lowering of body temperature, was coupled with circulatory bypass and deliberate cardiac arrest to spare brain tissue for such a procedure.

The boys returned to Germany after seven months at Hopkins. In 1997, Dr. Carson led a team of doctors in South Africa in the first completely successful separation of vertical craniopagus twins from Zambia. The procedure lasted 28 hours, but the 11-month-old boys showed no signs of impairment.

Over the last few years, Dr. Carson has developed, with Hopkins' plastic surgery division, a significant craniofacial program in which children with congenital deformities undergo combined neurosurgical and plastic surgical reconstructions. He is also part of a group studying the problems of achondroplastic children and has particular interest in cervico-medullary compression and its treatment. On this particular day, he had taken the time to spend a few moments with this writer for THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine despite his scheduled six surgeries. So another operative word in the Yale University graduate's vocabulary is "focus," an ability he says was nurtured by his mother.

"She would never accept your excuses. When people won’t accept excuses, you stop making them," said the humble medical wonder and University of Michigan Medical School graduate, who insists that he is not an anomaly. His brother is a successful engineer for Allied Signal in South Bend, Indiana. Both men were raised by their single mother, who insisted that her boys do well academically. She required that they read books and write book reports about the information they had gained despite her illiteracy. It was during his teenage years that he "began to understand {the key to success} through reading about the lives of successful people. They were organized and took advantage of situations. The hallmark of an inefficient person is doing the same thing over and over and over again," he said.

Carson suggests finding out what your gifts are by doing some self-examination. "Compile a list, actually do some self-study. You’re talking about your life, so take the time to do this," he says. "Choose from among those things." For example, one of Carson’s self-assessments was that he was always a very careful person. And although he earned through formal study the privilege of practicing medicine as a physician, he also insists that "you don’t have to have an advanced degree. All you need is a love and a desire to move forward and a willingness to achieve." His desire to practice medicine began when he was eight years old, beginning with an interest in psychology due to his fascination with the brain and how it works. His interest intensified when he listened to mission stories in church about doctors, who would travel the world addressing medical needs. "I thought it was the most noble profession in the world." His entree into neurosurgery was assisted by his gift of eye-hand coordination. "The Lord has blessed me, no question about it, in that area," said Carson.

One of the ways he acknowledges his blessings is through the Carson Scholars Fund, which he created after getting tired of seeing athletes get better recognition than academically gifted students. "I would see a tremendous discrepancy in academic and athletic achievements, so the recipients of our scholarships earn a trophy as large or larger than the athletic ones that the school must place amongst the others." The fund is targeted to 4th-12th grade students with superior academic records, who also show humanistic qualities. A monetary award of $1,000 goes into escrow and the money is transferred to the college of the student’s choice when he or she is ready to matriculate there. They also receive a medal, attend a banquet in their honor, and have their names printed in the newspaper and announced on television. Some students’ grade point averages have increased a whole point, said Carson.

"That’s what we’ve got to do in a society where knowledge is power. A strong back is no longer enough. If you rely on the media, all you’ll see is the glorification of that multimillion contract for athletes and all that hullabaloo about entertainers. Our youth follow that stuff like the Pied Piper, which is as effective as putting a shackle on their ankles and driving a stake in the ground. It’s still slavery and it’s frustrating to me," said Carson. "The opportunities here are absolutely enormous for people who want them."

Carson recalls a lunchtime conversation he had with the late A.G. Gaston, who financed much of the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama. Gaston was a self-made multi-millionaire in the 1930s and 1940s. "I asked him, how did you become a millionaire in the 30s and 40s?" And he said, "It was simple, I opened my eyes and I looked around and I said what do people need? And that’s what I did." Carson admonishes that you should ask yourself, "What is it that people worry about today?’ For young entrepreneurs, this is the perfect environment to do that."

He adds that the word "young" does not refer to age, just your starting point. "It’s never too late. When I retire, my goal is to become a world-class organist, and I don’t even know how to play the organ. I don’t think it’s going to be too late." He shares that belief with children when he visits schools and neighborhoods, including his own three boys, ages 12, 14, and 16. Just like his mother, "I do not accept excuses. I demand a lot from them, but I worry about them because they don’t have the hardships I had. Hardship was a tremendous force in driving me to succeed. I want my boys to understand responsibility and accept accountability for their lives."

Dr. Carson and his wife, Candy, who were college sweethearts, are role models for their children. With a bachelor's degree in music, she has earned her master's degree in business and assists her husband with the Scholars Fund program. Carson said his life can be summed up with the acronym he shared in his book, "Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence."

T-Talents/time: Recognize them as gifts.

H-Hope for good things and be honest.

I-Insight for people and good books.

N-Be nice to all people.

K-Knowledge: Recognize it as the key to living.

B-Books: Read them actively.

I-In-depth learning skills: Develop them.

G-God: Never get too big for Him.

 Crystal Kimpson Roberts is a contributing writer based in Durham, N.C.