The Balancing Act

Have you ever heard people say, “You are doing too much”? I hear it all of the time. I am a victim of knowing how to do many things fairly well. Basically, I was the “Jane of All Trades, Master of Nothing”. If you are like I was, you get plagued with paralysis, meaning you want to do so many things you do NOTHING. I began thinking to myself, “Am I doing too much?” Through detailed reflection, I discovered that I needed to OMIT all of the things that were not bringing value to my life. This could mean monetary, spiritual, and/or healthy living contributions. This was difficult for me to do , but I realized that I spent too much time meeting about things that were never going to happen. I began to value OTHER people’s visions and dreams more than I did my own. Because of this, my goals and aspirations were being pushed off of MY To Do List. If you were like me I am going to give you one piece of advice and STOP!!! Oprah is one of my mentors from afar and she has her hands in EVERYTHING! How does she do it?

“Success comes when you surrender to that dream—and let it lead you to the next best place.”

 

Read more: Here

When you surrender to your dreams, balance is key….

Everyone wants to be a mogul, but people forget that all moguls started at the bottom. They decided that they wanted to do something and then they mastered it. Once the first venture is mastered and put on autopilot, they decide to challenge themselves and master something else. Rinse and Repeat.

Here is my strategy for wanting to do it all:

1. Breathe-relax. Take your time and assess everything that you are doing.
2. Meditate-Some people call it prayer, others call it “quieting the mind”. Whatever you call it do it, for at least 15 minutes when you wake up and 15 minutes before you go to bed. You need to remind yourself of your purpose and of your greatness. You have to think positively about everything that you do and meditation is the best way to do this.
3. Pick ONE thing-Focus on it, be passionate about it, and MASTER IT!!! Forget everything else. You cannot be great at multiple things at once unless they are mastered. This requires discipline because by nature we want to try the “next best thing”, but we shouldn’t do that until we know that without a doubt we gave the first venture our best. You’ll neve know how great you are if you keep starting something then moving to something else.
4. Stick to a Theme: If you are interested in sports, have a blog and want to expand, look into having a sports internet radio station, incorporate sports videos into your blog, come out with a sports apparel line, and/or develop a sports drink. Notice, all of the aforementioned ventures are escalating in magnitude BUT the follow the same theme. It is confusing to people if one day you are talking about sports then the next day you are talking about self development., UNLESS you can strategically tie them into one another.

I have failed a lot in these areas, so I know a lot about what not to do. Once you have your balancing act in place you will see nothing but success. It took tons of discipline and self evaluation to follow these strategies but my life took a complete turn for the better once I did.

Do you think you can do it all?? If so share below!!!!

Storms Will Come

Water √

Snacks √

Blankets √

Candles √

I must admit, I took part in the frenzy brought on by Hurricane Sandy. I made sure that I had all of the essentials necessary to maintain my sanity and prevent perpetual boredom. As I am preparing for this storm, I began to think about life. When we think about it, storms come in and out of our lives all of  the time. Storms such as: debt, failed relationships, heartaches, loss, unemployment, etc., affect us or someone that, we know each and every day. These storms just like the current one are unpredictable, so why is it that we put so much effort into getting prepared for one type of storm and not the other. It is so important that we have enough books, inspirational material, mentors, coaches, advice, support, friendship, etc., that will help us  get through life’s storms. Just think about it, what if we knew that we were at risk of going into debt. And then due to that panic we were motivated to seek credit counseling, earn part-time income, and start budgeting our money. That would make the “storm” of debt easier to digest. Or if we thought our relationship was in jeopardy, we would immediately seek counseling, ask for advice, and or consult the bible. That would make the “storm” of a break-up more tolerable and possibly avoid it all together.

I say all of that to say, in life “Storms will come”, but it is how we prepare for them that determines our survival. It is who we surround ourself around, our disposition, and attitude that prepare us for the worst.

How do you prepare for life’s “storms”?

Are You Dedicated?

If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.
Paul Bryant

One of the definitions in the dictionary  for dedication reads: self sacrificing devotion. I believe that in order to gain success in life you must be dedicated. Some people are dedicated to being mediocre and not taking risks. I know because I was one of them. I would often pre-occupy myself with other people’s agendas and dreams. I didn’t think that my dreams were attainable. I didn’t think that I was worthy of accomplishing my goals. I have list after list, binder after binder of unfinished projects. It was easy for me to blame other people or lack of compensation but the true culprit was me. I was at complete fault. Why, you may ask? Because I was not dedicated.

Here are 3 Helpful Strategies that will allow you to become more dedicated.

1. Identify Your Mission: You must know what it is that requires your dedication. What moves you? What are you passionate about? Pick one thing, and FOCUS.
2. Become a Student: Think back to when we children in school, we were dedicated to excelling in school. We studied, listened, asked questions, took exams, asked more questions. If you want to become dedicated to a cause, business, relationship, etc., you have to be willing to learn, study, and master what ever your mission is.
3. Focus Your Energy: Everything must be in alignement with your mission so that you can accomplish it. You must establish a clear path and sacrifice yourself in order to be devoted to your goal. This is so crucial! Do not let anyone or anything distract you from what you are focusing on.

We need to be dedicated to something meaningful in life. I believe that through dedication your purpose will be revealed.

Let’s work on becoming dedicated to something! Share with me what you are dedicated to in the comments section below.

The Importance of a Plan

“When you establish a destination by defining what you want, then take physical action by making choices that move you towards that destination, the possibility for success is limitless and arrival at the destination is inevitable.”    ~Steve Mariboli~

Throughout my life I failed to have a clear, concise plan to achieve my goal. I start out with a vision and then I lose focus and pretty soon I am off doing something that has nothing to do with my initial vision. What a rat race! Am I the only one that has experienced this? Then before you know it weeks turn into months and months turn into years and we look back at our life and say, “What did I accomplish?”. The above quote is so profound. It is so important to promote our goals and wishes into accomplished missions.

Just think about the infamous “To Do List”, isn’t it great when we make one for the day and we get to cross of tasks as we complete them? So imagine if we wrote your goals and dreams down the same way we do for a to do list, and month by  month and year by year we get to cross the off as complete. There would be more dream cars in the driveways of dream houses that we share with our dream partners. It may sound lofty but, is it really?

It starts with a plan…

We must take that list and devise a clear and concise plan or strategy that will allow us to achieve all that we set out to do. This takes discipline but it’s worth it. 95% of the work is the strategy, implementing is the easy part. You know how we get anxiety when we have to drive a far distance that we’ve never been to before? But if we are provided with clear, precise, and accurate direction, the trip is less threatening and we are more confident that we will get there with out getting lost. Life is the same way!

Let’s start today! Plan your day, week, and month. 2013 is going to be great as a result!

The Unseen Growth

Last night I was on a transformational conference call. I was reluctant to get on the call because for the past 45 days I have just felt defeated. I have been trying to stuff myself into a box that appeals to everyone. In addition to that I have been dealing with loss of the upteenth magnitude. I’ve been working hard but I am hardly seeing any results. Giving up or quitting and succumbing to being average was so tempting! I have all of this going on in my head as I am slowly dialing in the numbers to get on this conference call that I DON’T WANT TO GET ON! Even as I am dialing, I have my laptop open and I am on Facebook doing 101 distracting things. I even got on 8 minutes late. As I am listening to the guest speaker share his story about perseverance, he begins talking about a bamboo tree. I am thinking, “Here we go! Another metaphor that I can neither relate to or appreciate. Great!”. But eventually I begin to listen to the story. All of a sudden, I start tearing up. Here is the story that the speaker shared:

The Story of the Bamboo Tree…

Got this email from a friend of mine:
Don’t give up….

One day I decided to quit…
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality… I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
“God”, I asked, “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”

 

His answer surprised me…
“Look around”, He said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”
“Yes”, I replied.
“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light.
I gave them water.
The fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor.
Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.
“In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit.
In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would
not quit.” He said.
“Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared
to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant…But just 6
months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.
It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.
I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”
He asked me. “Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots”.
“I would not quit on the bamboo.
I will never quit on you.”
“Don’t compare yourself to others.”
He said.
“The bamboo had a different Purpose than the fern.
Yet they both make the forest beautiful.”
“Your time will come”, God said to me.
“You will rise high”
“How high should I rise?”
I asked.
“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.
“As high as it can?” I questioned.
“Yes.” He said, “Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”

Unseen Growth!

I am not quite sure what chord that the story of the bamboo tree struck with you, but the one it struck with me was loud and clear. It was a chord of hope and motivation. Often times, we feel that we are alone when we are going through tough times. Through this story we realize that struggle and growth are things that are necessary to promote EXPONENTIAL GROWTH! People may not see it, but through are hard work a system of strong roots are anchoring us so that when we do grow we stay grounded. I hope this story was as inspiring for you as it was for me.

Manage Your Time, Manage Your Life

How many times have you looked at the clock and say, “where did the time go”? This happens to all of us!  In this blog post I just want to show you the importance of how if you manage your time, you manage your life.

Motivation: You have to be motivated to manage your time. It takes effort and determination to want to change the way that you think about time. Motivation is key!

Prioritize: Often times we are so busy doing things that are not a priority and that have nothing to do with our goals. This “busy-ness” gives the illusion that we are being productive. Whether you are a parent, entrepreneur, and/or corporate executive, you should always prioritize the tasks that are most important. By doing this you will find that you are maximizing your time and getting more important things done.

Schedule: Plan EVERYTHING. There are plenty of apps, widgets, and functions that will help us create and adhere to a schedule. Schedule a time for everything-even leisurely things such as reading, eating, and/or meditating. By doing this you will eliminate all of those “lost hours” that you could have used doing something more productive.

Focus: Concentrate on completing your tasks. If that means that you have to go into a quiet room, the library, computer lab, etc., than do it!!! You will be amazed at what you can do in an hour if you just focus and concentrate.

Set Goals: This is so important!!! You have to set goals in order to make an effective schedule. Your goals will give you the structure for your schedule. Once you clearly define what your goals are, you can then outline what it is that you need to do during the day, week, month, year, in order to achieve them.

As you can see all of these things work together! Motivation–>Set Goals–>Prioritize–>Schedule–>Focus! If you do these things every day, you will be amazed at the results! Time management is the key to ultimate success!

Let’s Win Together!