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There isn't a set of rules or a way to just make things happen for yourself. You have to persevere through a lot of murky water and create your own destiny. However, here is a list I have compiled of things I've found really helpful to get me where I am today. BTDubbs they didn't come easily!
1.Put Family Ahead of Work
Your family is more important than the world. Family is the only stabilizing force that helps you to navigate through uncertain time, especially financial hardships. Now I'm not saying to be the punching bag of all your extended families BS, I'm just saying to put your children and yourself ahead of work. Remember that little air plane speech? Please place the oxygen mask on yourself before placing it on others. This is super important to achieving your goals!
2. Set Huge Goals
To follow on that last sentence of achieving your goals, you better bet high structured goals for yourself! What are your boldest goals in life? Whether you realize it or not, you have the ability to choose your own perspective and destiny based on the decisions you make and the actions you take. No one else decides this for you. You control your own ship. I know if you are struggling with how life is going for you right now, reading this isn't the easiest thing...but KEEP READING! YOU have the ability to pre-determine your destination. So dust off that journal or go buy one and start writing down your goals on how you foresee your life to be (you know the one you want).
3. Visualize Your Dreams
From goal setting to visualizing and journal keeping you can find yourself really seeing those dreams come true! Believe in me for just this moment, I promise great things are coming!
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."
If you do not believe in yourself and your vision then no one else will. You are in control of achieving the impossible and creating your own destiny. To do this, you must touch, feel and emotionalize your vision before you can OWN it! once you have it in sight, the rest will slowly show itself. Trust and believe in manifesting your future!
4. Transform Your Passions into a Career
helllleeerrrr! Why is this one so hard for people to understand? I always lead with this particular question when I'm talking with my high school students about career exploration, it goes something like this: What brings you joy? If you begin answering that question, you will without a doubt find your answers. So I ask you to write out a list of your top three to five passions in life. What do you most like to do during your evenings, weekends, and vacations? my list looks a little like this:
--- Creating a cultured life for my daughter
--- Impacting my community and creating change (change agent)
--- Traveling A LOT
--- Being able to create art in some way
--- A life of adventures and early retirement
Now, I've spent a ton of time studying this list to determine how I may find a career that brings me joy and allows me get get what I need out of this world! I'm not actually sure how I manifested my career and was able to then transform my specific passions into my own creative center for students (but I sure did within three years). This is the key to creating your own destiny.
5. Lead and Leverage Your Network
Share your goals with other like-minded individuals in your network. If you don't have a large network, go explore your town a bit more. Take up a new hobby, go learn a new dance, check out the artisan brewery in town. I promise if you get out of your comfort zone and meet new people you will captivate a new audience and grow your network. Having like-minded people is a great start, but make sure your people are diverse. Different view points are important to creating your destiny! You never know who can help you achieve those dreams of yours and you never know who you may motivate along the way!
“If you want something bad enough, tell enough others what it is that you want and sooner or later someone or something will show up in your life and help you get it.”
W. Clement Stone
6. Focus on Your Health and Nutrition
If I shared with you I was pushing 300 lbs at one point in my life, would you believe me? Just over five years ago I took my heath back into my hands. It's what catapulted me into being a grand dreamer and helped open doors for me. I'm not sure people took me as serious. Was that because society is cruel (I'm sure that has something to do with it) or is it because I didn't make myself a priority? I was suffocating my pride and spirit within myself! You see, wealth without health is not worth its weight in gold. If you are truly going to achieve your destiny, you need to focus as equally on your health, dreams and what you're destine to be/do.
7. Become an Entrepreneur
(The Employer, Not the Employee)
Sooner or later, all jobs come to an end, wether it's loss of job or retirement. Keep working your day job while you simultaneously build your business. This is the seed money to support your business.
8. Overcome Your Fears
Can we say that together and out loud? Overcome your freakin' FEARS! There are two things in life that can hold you back from your dreams: your fears and your self-limiting beliefs (you know the voice in your head that plays on repeat that tells you that you can't do something). This step is probably the hardest one for me to overcome, and the next one! Because they are my two biggest obstacles with my negative feedback loop playing in my brain! But if you don't push through your fear, then you will not defeat it!
9. Be a Nayslayer
And by that, I mean ignore the naysayers. We all know them, some of them are family, some may be close friends and others may just be social media vultures watching your every move so they can talk about you behind your back! I live for constructive criticism. But outside perspective and dissatisfied family or friends is really not warranted in my energy space (so grab the sage and smidge that right out)! Put these kind of people in a box, because they are destructive in the over achieving ambitious persons life! If you clear your mind and your space of these kind of people they can't distract you from achieving your dreams. this brings me back to your network, find people who get it, put them in your corner and engage them in your future. See them through their achievements too!
10. Don't Settle for Mediocrity
Although being the next Mark Zuckerberg or U.S. president is likely not happening for me (although I can't promise I won't run for city Mayor of my town) I still want to be pushed to the limits of my potential. Why settle for what is easy? Be creative and involve yourself in high energy and meaningful work and people! Choose to have an amazing experience in all that you do and never wonder why your work has no significance.
11. Execute Your Plan Daily
The best way to pursue your dreams and create your own prospective is to work on it every single day for the rest of your life! Your actions equal your results. I'll end my post with telling you all to start setting an alarm, to wake up to it on the first ring, so not hit snooze! When you hit snooze, you are allowing yourself to put your dreams on hold and sending yourself mixed messages. Please, please, please... make your bed as well! Start off your day being proactive and ready to tackle any messy job life throws your way.
That's a beautiful example of your JOY! Keep it coming!!!
what brings me joy? I guess creativity. Nature, I'd like to preserve it for the future generations. Travel, lots of traveling. Decoration, give me a twig and I can make something interesting with it.
Stores in NYC or Albany hire professionals to decorate their windows and it's beautiful. When I worked in Macy's few years back in Albany and saw those mannequins.....they were hideous, dressed in everything they could be dressed in.....my sense of style gave me a nervous tick after seeing that monstrosity. I like to see well dressed people, even in pajama set you can look fantastic if you wear it with pride. For me, well dressed doesn't mean expensive, doesn't mean style either, if a piece of…