by My Blooming Biz | Apr 9, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Wholistic Empowerment, Women Empowerment
Yes!!! Confidence is that “must have” every woman needs – if they are to succeed at anything.
As women, we are constantly bombarded with requirements on how we should look, act, feel and express ourselves, and because we are all different and the one-size-fits-all pedagogy does not work, some of us fall victim – attempting to conform to unattainable standards. This is a confidence killer! Looking externally for approval which will never come; for always there will be someone who is displeased with something about you.
Another very deep-rooted confidence killer is growing up in a household that is run by hurt people. It is true what they say, “Hurt people do hurt people!”. A lot of women grew up in households where the parents or guardians were victims of verbal and physical abuse, that were possibly passed down from one generation to the next, and the hurt they experience in a place where they should be able to take solace and be shielded, is the thing that damage them in so many ways – for many years and sometimes for life. Yes, some women were constantly told from an early age that they are: not good enough, will never amount to anything, no man will want to marry you, you’re doomed. There is absolutely no doubt that these women will have the hardest time loving, embracing, and empowering themselves. But it is not impossible! And it is necessary for your success! Of course, some women who experienced these things by their loved-ones will possibly need therapy, but with the right help, healing can take place, and will if they commit to the process.
Regardless of what is hindering your self confidence, you need it! And so you must ascertain what the root cause is, and work at eliminating it. In addition to seeking out therapy for those of you who experienced this psychological trauma in your homes growing up that has led to your self degradation, here are a few tips to ward off this pervasive evil of projected conformity and secure your space of confidence:
1) Empower yourself. Know that YOU have the power to reshape your life, then give yourself permission to do so. This includes clearing out past hurts and hindrances from your life, examining YOU to see how you want to be, and redefining yourself. Fix the things you do not like about yourself! Clothes not fitting the way you want? Eat healthier, work out. Not digging your limited vocabulary? Learn new words. Have a friend who makes you feel bad about yourself? Let that friend go! Goodbye! Adios! Bon Voyage! The key is to ensure you are doing it for you.
Empowering yourself also includes setting yourself up to win. Too many women are discouraged about their abilities because they set themselves goals that are too difficult to achieve. Start by setting yourself small goals that you can win easily. Once you have built a stream of successes that make you feel good about yourself, you can then move on to harder goals. Make sure that you also keep a list of all your achievements, both large and small, to remind yourself of the times that you have done well – and celebrate ALL your accomplishments.
“To establish true self-confidence, we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.” – Denis Waitley
2) Affirm yourself – always. “Affirmations are a powerful tool to deliberately install desired beliefs about yourself.” – Nikki Carnevale
Affirmations are positive and uplifting statements that we say to ourselves. These are normally more effective if said out loud so that you can hear yourself say it. We tend to believe whatever we tell ourselves constantly. For example, if you hate your own physical appearance, practice saying something that you appreciate or like about yourself when you next look in the mirror. To get your brain to accept your positive statements more quickly, phrase your affirmations as “I am” as in “I am beautiful and smart” “I am a confident woman”. Say it loud with power and conviction! Then act like it!
“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” – Louise L. Hay
3) Build yourself a safe space and decide who you let into your space. Yes, stay clear of people who does nothing for your self esteem. There are some people we let into our space that are detrimental to our very well-being. They’re always cynical, rarely supportive of anything we do, and never compliments us on anything. Yet, these same people are the ones we not only allow to be a part of our close circle, but we also look to them for approval. No more!
The king is a ruler and so is cash! The Queen is the activator and so is confidence! Can’t do very much without cash, and you won’t get very far without confidence. Confidence is that thing that you embody that allows the magic of the universe to conspire in your favor. You see without confidence you will not be able to effectively share your talents and gifts, and garner the support and attention you need for your efforts. Without confidence you will be overlooked – plain and simple! You need confidence to get to that cash. Work that confidence!
Grace Killelea, in her book The Confidence Effect: Every Woman’s Guide to the Attitude That Attracts success
, delve into the attributes that help to build self confidence that women find hard to embody while men embrace with ease. She also reminds us that we need to dress up, show up, and “own” our competence. Get this book, read it, and implement her strategies to help boost your confidence.
So there you have it, Confidence: The “Must Have” Every Woman Needs – If Cash is King Confidence is Queen
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
by My Blooming Biz | Feb 13, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Transformational Books, Wholistic Empowerment, Women Empowerment
Last month marked the start of a new MBB series to highlight transformational books for women called Transformational Book Series – Our Picks. This month we’re excited to continue the series by sharing with you our next transformational book in the series – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.
We have adopted his principle-centered, holistic approach to efficiency in our programs, and it is highly attributive to our culture and operations here at MBB.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People outlines seven habits everyone must have in order to navigate life effectively. We all know that there is an order to things in this life, but what the author has done in this book is to orchestrate the order and clarify its components. He has established timeless principles that have proven effective to millions of people around the world, and women have used them to transform their lives enormously.
So what are these 7 habits of highly effective people?
Habit.1) Be Proactive
Habit.2) Begin with the end in mind
Habit.3) Put first things first
Habit.4) Think win win
Habit.5) Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Habit.6) Synergize
Habit.7) Sharpen the Saw
Be Proactive
As we continue to emphasize in all our programs here at MBB, you must remain proactive in all your endeavors. People who are proactive accomplish more with less time, and are proven to be happier than people who are reactive – accomplishing less with more time. In reactive living one focuses on the things he or she cannot control and continuously complain about it – uselessly, while the proactive lifestyler focus on what he or she can control and influence, and using those things to improve their situation.
Begin With The End in Mind
This approach serves us well when applied to everything we set out to do. And that is why it is so deeply engraved in everything we do here at MBB. When you visualize your end goal, you end up having a strategic vision for yourself or your business. You will then set and implement SMART goals with each task aligning and moving you closer to that vision being accomplished. That vision of your end goal will keep you anchored, and the strategic steps you’ve laid out in your goal book will simplify the process encouraging you to keep going as you move forward and the end becomes closer and clearer in view. If you don’t know what you want, you will not know how to get it, and if you don’t know where you’re going, you will not know how to get there.
Put First Things First
In our modern day super busy lifestyle, if we’re not careful we can run ourselves into the ground “busy doing everything” but accomplishing very little in the process. And so this habit is designed to help us prioritize. Prioritizing how we use our most important resource – time, is paramount if we are to live efficiently – using less time to get more. This habit is divided into four quadrants where you will layout all your dealings or things to do in order of priority. They are: Quadrant 1 – important and urgent, Quadrant 2 – important but not urgent, Quadrant 3 – urgent but not important, and Quadrant 4 – not urgent and not important. This setup allows us to live our lives according to the values we choose for ourselves, and enable us to consciously use our time to focus on those things that are taking us closer to our goals in quadrant 1, with the rest of our time spent in quadrant 2 improving ourselves.
Think Win Win
For the most part, we all want to win when we compete. And for a lot of things such as sports competition, someone has to lose in order for the other to win. In many things however, such as in business, a person or company does not have to lose in order for another to win. We can entertain what Stephen Covey calls the Win Win approach – which means finding ways to build interdependent relationships and make business deals that are mutually beneficial to all involved. Thinking win win can only happen when parties involved are approaching the relationship from an abundance mentality rather than a scarcity mentality. The abundance mentality as the name suggests, is having the world view that that there is plenty of “success” out there for everyone to have, while the scarcity mentality will put you in a “zero-sum” mind-frame which says, “If you get it, I don’t.”
Seek First to Understand Then to Be Understood
This is huge! Your important relationships could benefit from this. Many times in relationships we end up escalating discourse that could have been simply resolved, into big “OOC” arguments that many times causes hurtful words to be introduced that are relationship-killing. We each so deftly want to be understood, that no effort is made to understand the other party. Imagine, if we listen to understand, instead of listening only to respond. This principle can also be applied to religion, race, countries. Can you imagine what would happen if we all seek first to understand, then to be understood?
Synergize
We love synergy here at MBB! What this habit means is to engage in teamwork so openly and so well that even disagreements and differences of opinion can somehow lead to finding new ways of approaching a problem or even solving them. When members in a team are thinking win win and seeking first to understand each other, it will have no alternative but to lead to synergy, aligning on the same side with the same goals, and finding creative solutions despite the earlier disagreement in managing the project. This habit if adopted by everyone, could change our world for the better. No more wars, killings, fightings – just synergizing and basically finding common ground.
Sharpen the Saw
Yes, we cannot become so complacent that we stop learning, improving, and growing. Sharpening our Saw means taking the time to ensure our minds, bodies, and spirits are ready to take on the challenge of constant improvement. However, this cannot happen unless we take a step back from our hectic, ever demanding schedules in order to rest, reflect, read and fill our spirits, and spend quality time with our loved ones doing the things we all enjoy doing – at regular intervals. To remain highly effective, we must constantly recharge and restore our body, mind and spirit.
We have adopted these principles here at MBB, in addition to many others that we have harnessed over the years, and if you are a client of ours we have already passed them on to you through one or more of our many programs and workshops here. But for those of youwho are reading this and it’s new to you, go ahead and get this book, read it, and apply these habits and principles to your life. We have just narrowly touched the surface of this book in this blog post, and there is so much more for you to experience and grasp from Stephen R Covey himself in his book.
Stephen R. Covey is a mastermind, and this book is a masterpiece. Get this book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People By Stephen R. Covey, read it, implement the strategies in your life, and we promise you – you will NEVER be the same again! In a good way!
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
by Katherine Goldman | Feb 2, 2018 | Empowerment Tools, Personal Growth & Development, Wholistic Empowerment, Women Empowerment
“Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.” ~ Dale Carnegie
There is nothing like living your passion! I cannot think of anything that can compare to doing what you love, loving what you do, and seeing the results of your labor. I remember my passion for helping people igniting in me and I took it and ran with it. As a young girl, I was always giving advice to my peers from what to say in situations to how to behave. And I have to say, it felt great when they came back and told me how well it all worked out. Today, I’m a Cognitive Psychologist and Behavioral Mentor and I couldn’t be happier in my life. Listen, when you are doing what you love in the form of a profession, it makes you happy, and when you are happy, it makes it easier to deal with all the other aspects of your life. Your family life, your friendships, your community engagements – every area of your life benefit from you being happy and fulfilled – and that’s what Dale Carnegie’s “throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart” will do for you.
“To be all we can be we must dream of being more. To do all that is possible, we must attempt the impossible.” ~ John C. Maxwell
There are so many things we don’t know about ourselves, about life, about what is possible and what is not possible, about what we can and cannot do, and most of us choose to believe everything other people tell us to believe without questioning a single word.
I remember when I was a little girl, I had a very strong belief that grown-ups – especially the elders, had the answers to all of my questions and I believed everything they told me as being true – not questioning a single word. Well, as I grew up, things changed, I changed, and I started using more of my own brain power, questioning all the things that no longer made sense for me. If we have a brain, we might as well use it, right? Unfortunately, not all of us are willing to do it and that is why we don’t think and just allow others do most of the thinking for us. Well, if you want to start living your dreams, you have to start thinking and doing for yourself. If you haven’t found your passion as yet, now would be a good time to start seeking out what it is. There is no way around it! In order for you to live your dreams you must do what you love, love what you do, and embrace life with all you’ve got. As we say here at My Blooming Biz, Design and Live Your Dream Lifestyle.
“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” ~ Buddha
We need dreams! They keep us alive. Without dreams we are like birds with broken wings. And in order for dreams to come true, we must actualize and materialize them. And the best way to do that is to create a plan, set SMART goals, and work consistently at it – with discipline.
You don’t have dreams? Did I hear you right?
Well then, get you a pen and a piece of paper and let your imagination run wild. Start visualizing then actualizing your vision. Write down everything you imagine becoming, everything you want to have and everything you want to be. Don’t be afraid, if you haven’t done this in a while, or maybe never done, you might think you have little or nothing to write, but that’s not true. You know it and I know it, so just get to writing.
Remember when you were a little girl and you knew exactly what you wanted to do with your life? Remember how you used to dream all day long about the great things you would one day accomplish? What happened to those dreams? I will tell you what happened. Everyone around you started telling you how things aren’t the way you think they are, and that life is hard, life is tough and you need to be more realistic…and you gave up. You became one of them and you decided to leave your dreams behind you. That was how you forgot about your dreams.
Such a sad story, isn’t it? Not really. If you can find the courage to bring them back to life and work towards making them come true, it won’t be a sad but a wonderful life story – the story of your life.
So start writing.
Ask yourself:
What do I really want?
Write down all that comes to your mind, whether you think is crazy or not, whether you think is possible or impossible. It does not matter. Forget about your limits and dare to dream, big dreams, for they are the ones that move the hearts of men as Goethe once said.
After making your list, wait an hour or two to pass, read the list and ask yourself these questions:
Why do I want this?
If you can’t seem to get an answer, then it’s not really a dream, and it won’t become a goal for you. We don’t want to waste any time on something we don’t really want. Cross it off your list. We only want those things that keep us focused, enthusiastic, excited, and passionate. Your “why” should do all this.
We don’t want to be living somebody else’s dream, right? We’re done with doing that! We only want to do those things that bring us joy, peace, and happiness. We only want to do those things that are morally right for us and for those around us.
If you have doubts about any of them, you will have to cross them off the list. We have to make sure that we set our goals properly for a goal properly set is halfway reached as Abraham Lincoln once said.
With those dreams that are left, ask yourself:
Will each and every one of them make me feel better about myself?
Will they will bring inner peace and joy into my life and the lives of those I love?
Will my dreams help me live a healthier and more abundant life?
Will they help me make new and wonderful friends?
Will they help me meet new people, people who can help me grow and learn new and interesting things?
We don’t want any “No’s”. If you have one, two or more of them, you will want to cut those dreams off your list also. You might think it is nonsense but it’s not. We have to go through this process in order for you to eliminate all those things you thought you want but don’t really need.
Now that you only have what’s really worth having and what’s really important to you, try to separate them into three (3) categories:
1. Short term goals (1 month or less),
2. Intermediate goals (3 months to a year for achieving your goal)
3. Long term goals (between 1 and 3 years to achieve your goals).
We need small goals and also BIG goals. The small ones to teach us how to be more patient, more disciplined and to make us aware of the fact that the future comes one day at a time and to help reduce the possibility of feeling stuck and frustrated. We also need small goals so we can see results more frequently, and be able to celebrate our wins. Trust me! This is major. Ensure you celebrate all your wins.
We also need BIG goals for they are the ones that can help us grow, they help us reach our full potential. They help us to stretch and reach further.
We all want to live an amazing life and enjoy a high quality of life, and if we are intentional about it, we can live that life.
So now, after doing all this “hard work” that some of you thought as being impossible, rewrite all of them on your notebook or place them somewhere you can see and read them often – a visual board. You can also make them into a vision board at a later time using pictures to represent each.
Let’s not forget, what’s out of sight is also out of our mind. At first, see if you can read your goals and intentions every day if possible, it should only take you five to ten minutes.
And make sure you commit yourself to making your dreams come true.
Take action, have fun and remember to enjoy life – one step at a time.
Also remember,
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~ Lao-Tzu
Now, do tell! What are some of the amazing things you intend to make happen?
Share with us in the comment section.
Love & Light,
Katherine Goldman is a Cognitive Psychologist and Behavioral Mentor attaining her doctoral credentials from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has used her psychological training over the years to impact thousands of women and young adults, and have since added coaching to her repertoire of skills. Katherine recently joined our team as a Life Coach here at My Blooming Biz International where she is helping women overcome obstacles and reclaim their lives. When Katherine is not busy changing women’s lives, you can find her trekking to one of her favorite places around the globe, spending quality time with her family and friends, or in her kitchen cooking up a storm.
by My Blooming Biz | Jan 30, 2018 | Empowerment Events, Empowerment Tools, Financial Empowerment, Personal Growth & Development, Vision to Fruition, Wholistic Empowerment, Women Empowerment
MBB DYDL LA Event 2018
MBB hosted our 3rd biannual Design Your Dream Lifestyle event on Saturday, this time in the beautiful aesthetically pleasing Los Angeles. Over 100 women attended of whom 68 are active participants in our Design Your Dream Lifestyle Workshop, and 22 women signed up to start our Lifestyle Designing program.
We are happy to say that MBB DYDL participants are delighted with our program as they are seeing results and “feeling fantastic and optimistic” in the words of Jada McIntosh and Isabella Reid, about their new lifestyle and where they are headed – respectively. See more of what My Blooming Biz family are saying on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages, and don’t forget to like, follow, and interact with us while you’re there.
We handed out over 100 bags of goodies that include mbb gift cards, discounts to our WERK Your Money Making Genie Workshop and our UPPPP Your Genius system of programs, and copies of our popular signature book written by our CEO Eugénie Nugent titled – Unleash: Activate Your Power, Manifest Your Greatness & Become The Empowered Woman You Were Born to Be. Lots of goodies! But if you were not at our event, do not despair! Sign up to our newsletter and get notified of our next event, and also of new launches and promotions.
In addition to being created because we understand the brilliance, beauty, and boldness of women and the role that being balanced and purpose-driven can play in improving women’s lives, My Blooming Biz International was created to help women harness their skills and talents and use them to propel a ton of money to flow in. In order to live life on our own terms we need money – and lots of it, and in recognition of that, our CEO and founder Eugénie Nugent – in collaboration with her team, have designed programs that are specific to building wealth and becoming financially independent such as our MASTER Your Finances workshop.
As she often says and strongly believes, “Having our finances in order is the highest form of self-love, a love that cannot help but to command respect.“
Money is a subject many people are still hesitant to speak freely about, but money expands who we are, and what we are able to access. And so, as we teach here at My Blooming Biz; being open about money – changing the way we view, treat, and interact with money will be the difference in whether we snatch, snatch and let go, or snatch and hold on to it, as she wrote in her book, The Elusive Money: How to Snatch & Hold On To It.
Bottom line: Money commands respect! And for those of us who were taught to hate money and negatively treat money, we need a new mindset in order to accept and act on this new reality.
Design Your Dream Lifestyle programs and events are designed to bring out the best in you and challenge you to empower yourself. In our CEO’s own words, “We are here to pull things out of you that you didn’t know were there, and assist you in making them work for you, to the enhancement and betterment of your overall life.” She has selectively created four (4) programs to help women become empowered and she is relentless in making “the empowered woman lifestyle” a reality for thousands of women.
Download your FREE copy of our Lifestyle Designing Workbook and complete the worksheets. It is packed with thought-provoking questions to get you thinking about your current life situation, where you would rather be, and how you can equip yourself (with our help) to get there.
Our next DYDL event will be in July, so sign up to our newsletter and be informed when our venue is solidified.
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
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 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,
We have adopted his principle-centered, holistic approach to efficiency in our programs, and it is highly attributive to our culture and operations here at MBB.
