by My Blooming Biz | Jan 15, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Women Empowerment
There will always be people out there to tell you that you can’t do something, that you’re not smart enough, that you don’t have enough resources or connections, that you don’t have enough money, and the list continues on and on. But you have to ignore the negativity if you want to achieve your goals – even if the person or persons saying and projecting those negatives to you are your closest family members, you have to block them out, if you’re ever going to succeed at whatever it is you are trying to achieve.
The unfortunate truth is that people, for the most part, do not want to see others close to them succeed. But negativity can also come from within. Your own mind can help to breed and foster that negativity, making you doubt your self-worth, abilities, talent, and capacity for success. We don’t know the future. You don’t know the future. But if you have a dream and a goal in mind that you know wholeheartedly you want to pursue and accomplish, then allow nothing or no-one to get in your way of making it a reality. Not even you!
Remember, your biggest failures can be your greatest blessings! So resist the urge to fear. Everyone in life fails at something. When we fail, it causes a tremendous amount of pain. And, our minds do whatever they can to help avoid pain and gain pleasure – it’s part of a paradigm of innate biological cues and responses that are basic by nature. It’s not easy to fail at something. It’s not easy to be beset with a tremendous amount of pain, but that pain and failure could produce your greatest blessings.
When you’re surrounded by negativity, it can exponentially increase the pain of failure or even the potential pain for failure. Even if you didn’t fail at something, the fear of failing itself tends to hold us back. That fear is bred not only by the mind itself in its quest to avoid pain, but also by external influences such as friends, family members, and peers. But you can change that once and for all! As Henry Ford once said,
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligibly.”
So, how do you achieve your goals in the face of fear and negativity? How do you ignore negativity and breakthrough your self-imposed limitations? Here are 5 Steps:
Step 1. Know and Understand Your Why
It doesn’t matter how much negativity there is out there that may be holding you back. It doesn’t matter how many times you failed at doing something. It doesn’t matter if you’re feeling fearful about pursuing that BIG goal in the face of your critics. What matter is your “why” and how powerful it is. Why do you want that thing? Why do you have a certain goal? How important is reaching that goal to you? If you don’t know why, then you’ve missed the first and most important step in goal setting. But if you do know why, and it is very meaningful to you to accomplish, that why will be strong enough to propel you pass the fear and negativity so you can achieve your goal.
Remember, reasons come first in goal setting. If you don’t have a strong enough reason why, then it’s hard to ignore negativity or overcome past failure and pain. But, when your why is strong enough, you can achieve anything! Figure out why you want something, and if it has a profound and deep enough meaning to you, then it will help to fuel you in your pursuits.
Step 2. Plan and Map Your How
After knowing and understanding your why, nothing can be more compelling than planning and mapping your how. Crafting a plan – a roadmap to show you the A to Z steps to fulfilling your dreams, will wipe away your doubts and solidify that your goal is indeed reachable. That visual will give you a sense of confidence and help to stomp out that fear and negativity.
Step 3. Decide on Your Timeline – When
The third step to achieving your goals, even in the face of great adversity, negativity, or past failures, is to understand when you’ll achieve your goals. You have to associate a specific date to your goal achievement. Don’t just come up with some obscure timeframe in your mind. Be exact and specific!
After you write out what your goals are, why you want to achieve them, and how you’re going to achieve them, next to each of your goals write the date you’ll achieve them by when. Don’t just say you want to lose more weight this year. Write out exactly how much weight you intend to lose, why you’re going to lose it, how you’re going to go about losing it, and specifically when you’ll do that by. Setting up your roadmap and having a clear path with a timeline will make your dreams appear more real and give you that extra boost of bravado and confidence you need to shut out all fear and negativity – both internally as well as externally – and get on with your goals.
Step 4. Create a Visual Reminder & Make it Conspicuous
One of the best ways to stay motivated, in addition to knowing and understanding your why, is to set up a visual reminder. It is highly recommended you create a vision board and place it on a wall where you can see it first thing in the morning, possibly throughout your day – if you work in a home office, and last thing before going to bed. If you’re working at losing weight, you may want to put a photo of you now and one of you when you were just the weight you’re trying to get back to.
Step 5. Be Consistent & Stay the Course
The final step to achieving your goals, even in the face of negativity and failure, is remaining consistent and persistent. Goal achievement can only be accomplished along the path of persistence, not the path of least resistance. If you’re thinking that something is going to be easy, especially if it’s a major goal, then think again. You’re going to feel like quitting. You’re going to feel like sabotaging the course – the routine, you’re going to get frustrated. That’s when you’ll have to reach for your why, and look at your vision board. As the masterful author Stephen R. Covey advise in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.” When you know where you’re heading, it’s highly likely you will get there. When you started out setting your goals, you had an end in mind. And although there is a process to get to that end, your roadmap, execution and dedication will ultimately get you to that end.
Remember that many others have failed countless times before they achieved their goals. Whatever you want out of life – smaller size, more money, better-paying job or anything else – realize that it’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have to persist until you succeed. You might fall down repeatedly and face the wrath of negativity from every direction, but all you have to do is lean on your why and persist. Time will pass by, and you’ll inch closer and closer to your goals as long as you do not give up!
If you are sabotaging your goals and dreams because of fear of failure, remember that “failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligibly” – and take the leap. If you are doubting your ability to pursue and accomplish your goals in the face of your cynical critics, remember what the great Mahatma Gandhi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” – and go ahead and get yours!
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
by My Blooming Biz | Jan 13, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Transformational Books, Women Empowerment
We began 2018 with a new MBB series titled Transformational Book Series – Our Picks, and there were no other books more fitting to start with than Brian Tracy’s Goals: How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible. It is comprehensive in the goal, goal setting, and goal accomplishing arena, and a very useful tool to have in our arsenal.
In continuing the series we are highlighting this handy goal setting book titled, The Goal Setting Handbook: A Step by Step Guide to Realistic Goal Setting, by motivational speaker Shauna-kaye Brown. It is easy to read, yet packed with vital materials on the tactics goal setting demands and the importance of setting realistic goals.
Goal setting is an essential part of anyone accomplishing anything. In fact, if you do not have a goal there is nothing to move towards, and if there is nothing to move towards then all your movements will be aimless. And so as you continue on your journey through this 2018, ensure you assess, reassess, and revamp your strategies towards our goals and align ourselves so you are better able to accomplish them.
If you’ve been with us here at MBB for a while, you already know the importance of setting and implementing SMART goals. But what Shauna-kaye has done in this book is to delve into the intricacies of not only setting those goals but setting up strategies and approaches that will ensure you follow through.
The goal setting process also include identifying the things and tools that will be needed in order for set goals to be accomplished. It is a comprehensive approach designed to ensure you complete your journey from visualization through actualization to materialization.
Get this The Strategic Goal Setting Handbook: A Step by Step Guide to Realistic Goal Setting, read it, and use the strategies to refine your goals as well as your approach to accomplishing them.
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
THE GOAL BOOK COLLECTION
1) 100 page spiral goal book designed for your short and longterm goals. Personalize your goal book, document your goals, and use the calendar to keep track of them. Also include section to input method you will use to accomplish your goals. 2) 400 page sturdy cover refillable planner with customizable wording option (my name and title will be replaced with yours)
Get it Here
by My Blooming Biz | Jan 10, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Women Empowerment
We all have hopes, dreams, and aspirations for our lives. We think about the kind of car we want to drive, the job we want to have, or the home we want to live in, and many of us have accomplished those hopes, dreams, and aspirations; but we’re not happy.
We achieve all the things we set out to, but somehow remain unfulfilled. That’s because in order for us to feel fulfilled we must impact others’ lives. It may be your immediate family, friends, colleagues, or members in your community, but there must be something meaningful you are a part of or championing that affects others’ lives. Whatever that “meaningful something” is, that is your purpose!
“It is only in giving that we receive, and it’s in this reciprocity that we are fulfilled.” Eugénie Nugent – CEO My Blooming Biz International
What Does It Mean To Be Purpose-Driven?
To be purpose-driven means having something so meaningful you are working on that not only affects your life but others as well, and is constantly in your thoughts, and continuously commands your action.
Without purpose, we’re depleted, bankrupt! Like a millionaire looking at his cash stack – after purchasing everything he wants, but none of it giving him the joy he envisioned it would. Living a purpose-driven life isn’t a concept that’s new or cutting-edge, but it’s something that’s most certainly necessary and revolutionary at the same time. When you live a life that’s driven by a clear and undying purpose, things take on a different meaning. Others are dependent on you, and then seeing the transformation your input has on their lives and the appreciation they show, will undoubtedly give your life added meaning.
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” — John F. Kennedy
How Do We Live a Purpose-Driven Life?
We live a purpose-driven life by first finding our purpose – which is in alignment with our core values and beliefs, and subsequently allowing its command to lead the way. We can all live a purpose-driven life, not by just setting some obscure goals in our mind, but by actually drilling down into our core values and beliefs, then setting real goals that are aligned with those values and beliefs.
If you’ve set goals in the past that weren’t in line with your core values and beliefs, you might have found yourself getting frustrated and eventually giving up. When what we say we want and what we truly believe on the inside conflict with each another, we experience frustration, fear, anxiety, and worry. Usually, when there’s a conflict with our core values and beliefs, we tend to give up. We push and push towards something in life that we thought we once wanted, but we hit that proverbial brick wall and throw in the towel. If this has happened to you in the past, then it’s time to align your goals with who you are and what you actually want out of life.
Uncovering Your Core Values
Core values and beliefs have been instilled in us from very early on. However, over time, those core values and beliefs have often shifted – changing with our life experiences. Finding your core values and beliefs isn’t too difficult, but it does require a bit of soul searching. Think of a few single words or short phrases that embody what you most value in life. Grab a sheet of paper and pen, and start writing the first 10 things you value. Some of them could be:
1. Family
2. Friendships
3. Community
4. Personal Growth
5. Children’s Safety
6. Our Elders
7. Honesty, Sincerity, Fairness
8. Financial Security
9. Freedom
10. Certainty & Decisiveness
Uncovering Your Core Beliefs
Aside from your values, your beliefs are helping to drive your life. What do you believe in? These aren’t just the superficial beliefs, but the ones that run deep-down to your core. Think about just how powerful your beliefs are. They help to govern and control the direction and output of your life. If you believe wholeheartedly for, or against something, you will manifest that eventually.
Finding your true beliefs can be difficult. For example, you might say you want to make more money in your life, but if you’ve been taught to believe that “Money is hard to get; it doesn’t grow on trees” or that “Money is the root of all evil”, then those beliefs might be holding you back. Think about some powerful beliefs for a moment. I’m talking about politics, abortion, gun control etc. Think about how strong some peoples’ beliefs might be. It’s hard to change what people believe in or why they believe in it. So, you have to uncover your own beliefs to see how they’re governing your life.
Considering that most goals revolve around either money, people, relationships, or health, you have to uncover what your beliefs are in these areas of life. Here are some belief examples:
Money Beliefs
1. Having too much money is greedy. I only need enough to survive.
2. All rich people are greedy or crooked. If I want to make money, I have to deceive people.
3. More money means having more problems. The more I accumulate, the bigger my problems become.
People Beliefs
1. All people are liars. And if they get a chance, they will take advantage of you.
2. There is no “I” in team, so I have to work well with others in order to achieve my goals.
Relationship Beliefs
1. All men/women cheat. There’s no such thing as an honest relationship.
2. All men/women are trustworthy if you give them a chance. Not everyone cheats.
3. People in business are ruthless. It’s either screw or be screwed.
Health Beliefs
1. Skinny people are unhealthy and unhappy. There’s no way to be skinny and be happy.
2. I’m just big-boned. All big-boned people can’t lose weight. It’s how we’re made.
It’s important to note that although some of these beliefs are not conscious beliefs, they’re unconscious beliefs that have been developed over time and thus are subconsciously present with you. For this reason, they may be uncomfortable or difficult to unearth; you may not want to feel this way, but you do, and deep down inside these beliefs are holding you back from attaining certain goals. Of course, we also have positive beliefs, but for the most part, the beliefs that hold us back from achieving our goals are negative and critical – both of ourselves and of others. However, if you want to live a purpose-driven life and be able to achieve all of your goals, you have to flip the script on your beliefs.
Your positive beliefs will help to empower you, but your negative beliefs will help to hold you back. So you need to flip the script on your negative beliefs. By rewriting your beliefs so that they’re positive, they’ll help to support your goals. Go ahead and write out the exact opposite of your negative beliefs. What do you believe in when it comes to those four areas of your life? If you think that people are greedy and that money is the root of all evil, you have to change that. If you have money goals, then your beliefs have to support you. Rewrite your beliefs so that they’re positive and supportive of your goals!
Example: Old Versus New Belief
Old belief – All rich people are greedy or crooked. If I want to make money, I have to deceive people.
New belief – All rich people are hard working and have good solid habits that help to support them in life. If I want to be rich or succeed, I have to focus on good habit development.
After you rewrite your beliefs, you have to drill them into your mind. Say them in the morning, during the day, and at night, until they are ingrained in you. Repeat them until they are part of your mentality. Habit formation takes an average of 3 to 6 months, so you have to convince yourself of these new beliefs in order to make them real and have them support you.
Now that you have figured out your core values and beliefs, transform them into a mission statement, then tie them into efforts that are meaningful to you. In other words, find people, organization, or a segment of a community that shares the same values and beliefs and champion a cause that involves them. You can live a purpose-driven life, and be fulfilled! Follow the above-mentioned steps and get ready to experience and enjoy a life filled with purpose, passion, and joy.
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
by My Blooming Biz | Jan 3, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Transformational Books, Wholistic Empowerment, Women Empowerment
We are kicking off a new MBB series titled Transformational Book Series – Our Picks. Not only have these books transformed our lives individually but they have helped to transform us professionally here at My Blooming Biz International. As this is the start of the year, we find it very fitting to kickoff our series with a well-written book about goals and goal setting by best selling author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy titled Goals: How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible.
Goal setting is an integral part of anyone accomplishing anything. In fact, if you do not have a goal there is nothing to move towards, and if there is nothing to move towards, you cannot strategize on how to get there and all your movements will be aimless. And so as we begin this new year, many of us look back at the goals that were set and accomplished the past year and the goals that were not accomplished, and move to either accomplish those goals in this new year or set new goals completely. So it is with this in mind that we have chosen to begin our series with this well written book about goals.
If you’ve been with us here at MBB for a while, you already know the importance of setting and implementing SMART goals. But what Brian has done in this book is to delve into the intricacies of not only setting those goals but setting up strategies and approaches that will ensure you follow through.
The goal setting process also include identifying the things and tools that will be needed in order for set goals to be accomplished. It is a comprehensive approach designed to ensure you complete your journey from visualization through actualization to materialization. Brian presents the essential principles you need to know to make your dreams come true.
Using the twenty-one strategies Brian outlines, you’ll be able to accomplish any goals you set for yourself — no matter how big. You’ll discover how to determine your own strengths, what you truly value in life, and what you really want to accomplish in the years ahead. Brian demonstrates how to build your self-esteem and self-confidence, approach every problem or obstacle effectively, overcome difficulties, respond to challenges, and continue forward toward your goals – no matter what happens. Most importantly, you’ll learn a system for achievement that you will use for the rest of your life.
Get this Goals: How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, read it, and use the strategies to refine your goals as well as your approach to accomplishing them.
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
THE GOAL BOOK COLLECTION
1) 100 page spiral goal book designed for your short and longterm goals. Personalize your goal book, document your goals, and use the calendar to keep track of them. Also include section to input method you will use to accomplish your goals. 2) 400 page sturdy cover refillable planner with customizable wording option (my name and title will be replaced with yours)
Get it Here
Related Reads:
How to Stomp Out Fear, Ignore Negativity, and Achieve Your Goals
7 Ways to Stop Procrastination in its Track So You Can Achieve Your Goals
How to Ensure You Achieve Your Goals In Life
How to Harness and Effectively Use the Pareto Principle to Improve Your Life
How to Organize Your Life So it Work for and Not Against You
by My Blooming Biz | Jan 3, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Women Empowerment
We all wish that there was more time in the day, right? When the day is over and we look back at what we have accomplished, oftentimes we wonder “where did all of those hours go?” You go to sleep unfinished with the day because things you needed to get done were not done, and you wake up the next day with the mindset to finish those things but at the end of the day there were still things not done, that needed to be done. If you’re like most people in the world, then time management may be an issue. We’re all just a little bit crunched for time. We say things like “There’s not enough time in the day” or, “I don’t know where I’ll find the time” or “I never have time for myself.” But there is a better way! There is a way to escape the SPINN cycle, and command your time. There is a way to manage your time so you get those important things that are pivotal to the success of your big goal done AND spend quality time with yourself and family. That is what effective time management can and will do if you employ it. Yes, effective time management is a skill that so many desire but so few have, but this skill can be learned, and you can do it.
So, how do you go about instituting effective time management?
Get Organized
Time management begins with organization! It’s not this elusive form of Black Magic that so few understand. In fact, anyone can efficiently manage their time as long as they get organized first. Without organization, it’s difficult to see just what needs to be accomplished, when it needs to be accomplished by, how it will be accomplished – step by step, and how important each of those things are to accomplishing your long-term goal. When you get organized with your time, you not only increase your ability to manage your daily tasks effectively, but you also increase the likelihood of putting time where it really counts: towards those long-term goals that are very meaningful and paramount to you.
Have a Plan
Being aimless is detrimental to getting anywhere! If you are not working at achieving anything, then you do not need to manage your time, do you? There has to be some vision you are working at, that’s worthwhile to you. When you have a plan, and you document it, then and only then can you set a clear path and move forward to realizing the end result of that plan. When you have a goal that is significant to you, you will ensure you direct your time to helping you accomplish those goals. Effective time management will be that skill that ensure you follow through with your important plan.
Set Clear (SMART) Goals
An absolute must – prior to being able to manage your time effectively, is to set clear goals on what you want in life and ensure they are SMART. If you’ve never done any goal setting in the past, now is the time to get started because it’s an absolute must-have prerequisite to effective time management. You might think to yourself that you already know what you want, even if you haven’t written your goals down on paper; if this is the case, then you’re very wrong. Why? Because setting clear goals down on paper is remarkably different than merely having them in your mind. If you engage in passive goal setting, then you’re less likely to have a good handle on your time management. You need to have a literal visual of your goals! Instead of having your goals in your subconscious, you need to make them become visceral and to your consciousness – every day.
Actively set your goals by deciding exactly what you want, when you want it by, and why you want it. You have to be absolutely precise here when doing this. Don’t be afraid to write out exactly what it is, down to the very last detail that you want. Don’t just say you want a lot of money, say the exact amount of money you want, what specific date you want it by, and why you want it. This is the best way to ensure you achieve your goals in life.
Prioritize Your Time
In Stephen R. Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he discussed a system for managing time that was originally introduced by Dwight D. Eisenhower. This system splits up activities into 4 quadrants based on two factors: urgency and importance.
So, in your day, a task can be categorized by these two factors and be placed in one of the four quadrants which are:
Quadrant 1 – Emergencies & Crises: Urgent and Important
Quadrant 2 – Long-Term Goals: Not Urgent but Important
Quadrant 3 – Interruptions: Urgent but Not Important
Quadrant 4 – Distractions: Not Urgent and Not Important
When you look at your list of milestones and daily tasks, you can categorize what area each of them falls under, and the best way to effectively institute this method is to spend a week first tracking everything that you do. Where do you spend your time? Jot it down. If you spent 30 minutes making phone calls to delinquent customers, jot that down. If you spent 2 hours at the grocery store, jot it down. At the end of each day for that first week, write the quadrant down next to each task for what it fell under. How much of your time did you spend watching television (Quadrant 4), or working on your long-term goals (Quadrant 2), or dealing with emergencies or crises in your life (Quadrant 1), and so on.
After the first week, look at how much time you spent in each quadrant. The goal in life is to spend as much time in Quadrant 2 and little to no time in Quadrant 4. How much time did you actually spend in Quadrant 2? After you’ve completed this exercise, take your daily list of tasks and jot down the quadrant each of them falls under. If you watched television for 3 hours, then you lived in the dismal Quadrant 4 that day. You want to spend as little time with Quadrant 4 activities as you can if you want to effectively manage your time. Sometimes we can’t see just how much time we’re wasting unless we look at it in this manner.
Eliminate Procrastination
One of the hardest part of time management is the dreaded procrastination that tends to rear its ugly head all too often. We can set all the goals that we would like, get organized, devise our plan, and prioritize our time, but if we can’t follow through with our list of things to do each day then we’re wasting our time.
Procrastination has been termed the silent killer of success, and it’s one of the biggest deterrents to our goals. We all say that we want to accomplish something, but when it comes down to managing our time with some sense of efficiency, we can’t seem to get things accomplished. Procrastination seems to be lurking on every single corner. So how do we avoid procrastination? We can start by being conscious of our actions and recognizing when procrastination is creeping in, and instituting some discipline. We can then move on to the 7 ways to stop procrastination in its track so you can ensure you accomplish our goals.
Stick to Your Plan
In order to effectively manage your time so you do not get caught in a SPINN cycle, you must stick to your plan. You must follow the path you have carved to get to the goals you have set, and ultimately be successful in your endeavors. A man without a plan is like a ship without sail, and a man with a plan who is not working the plan is like a ship with sail but no captain.
The SPINN Cycle is not innovative, it’s not progressive, it’s not directed. Get your goals, dreams, and aspirations in motion and enlist effective time management to get you through to full materialization.
See how our Founder & CEO Eugénie Nugent is effectively managing her time in her book collaboration, “Unlock Your Unstoppable: Balancing Life, Love, and Longevity”.
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
Goal setting is an essential part of anyone accomplishing anything. In fact, if you do not have a goal there is nothing to move towards, and if there is nothing to move towards then all your movements will be aimless. And so as you continue on your journey through this 2018, ensure you assess, reassess, and revamp your strategies towards our goals and align ourselves so you are better able to accomplish them.
