Things aren’t always what they appear to be. Look deep inside yourself. Uncover the truth. All that glitters is not gold…But to thine own-self be true.
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
— Astronomer Carl Sagan
Dreams do come through but only if we try. Only if we act. Only if we stay positive, have faith and walk in confidence knowing that something incredible is about to happen! That’s what this quote softly encourages.
If we were having coffee right now I’d tell you how much I still love my delicious black tea. It seems I am never able to quiet my desire for that soothing hot taste. The drive and energy it gives reinvigorates my day. Sometimes I sneak away for fear of those questioning eyes saying…”what’s up with her and her constant commute to the coffee machine”? Forget them I say! I work more assiduously when I’m fully dosed up!
If we were having coffee right now, I’d tell you that I’ve started this …well not really started but revamped my blog. That said, WordPress has this amazing Blogging University which is available for those who are interested in pushing their personal writing careers up a notch. So I decided to enroll and have been doing so for the past six months. The thought came to me after I published my book on Success Strategies and considered it an advantage to share insights on success, inspiration and motivation to those who need a lil push to get things underway. Through enrollment in different courses, I have learned how to fix my blog just the way I like it. Mistakes do occur, but I stealthily correct and am now able to put thoughts and ideas into my nonacademic writing.
If we were having coffee right now I’d tell you that I’m even into taking pictures! I love candid shots! Never been a fan of ‘posing’ (I’ll save that for when I am on the runway)! Pictures bring life to my writing! Hence my childlike interest.
If we were having coffee right now I’d tell you that my love for travelling, and taking in the breathtaking view of the sun, sand, and sea has been reminiscent of my past memories of my youthful years. I now make haste to use those weekend scurried days …being a workaholic and all (confession – smile). It’s no secret that pulling away forces our thinking skills to greater heights. So I have decided to reconnect with nature’s streams, rivers, and sea.
If we were having coffee right now,I’d tell you that we need to do this more. Meeting with you my friend provides that insatiable desire to bare my heart, my soul to someone who understands life’s simple things void of embarrassment. So cheers to you my coffee mate! Soon we shall surely meet.
The world can make us ponder the relevance of life…, of things that should be so straight forward, yet they defy the odds. We look out and there seems to be only dark woods.
Years ago, in my graduate Health Administration class at the University of Florida, I was the only person of color. Then later at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, again I was the only person of color in my class in the field. Maybe naive but it seemed rather strange to me. But I persisted, and graduated. After spending years in medical practice management I look around and find myself in a strange situation. Though I’m qualified with experience the same situation haunts…a person of color who must work harder to prove that hey…, I can do the job.
The world can make us ponder the relevance of life…, of things that should be so straight forward, yet they defy the odds. We look out and there seems to be only dark woods. For those who are not strong enough, they give up. Some find rescue in the ditches. For those who are stronger, they hold onto a clutch until they can stand again.
Today be encouraged. Stand tall for the light will shine again. It is just around the corner. So keep your eyes open so you won’t miss it. Stay on purpose…, be strong. Don’t Give Up. Keep Going.
Some days I just sit quietly and reflect. Life evolves, but the more I stare blankly into the distance, I become certain that the more things change, the more they remain the same. So the conclusion is to do what we can to help another person survive, thrive and succeed life’s evolving chain. To bask in the memories of those who sacrificed for us and more.
While so engaged, let the words of Dionne Warwick’s song ring….
Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That’s what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I’ll be on your side forever more
That’s what friends are for…
Keep smiling.One Love
…… Life is a learning process and you have to try to learn what’s best for you…. life is not fun when you are banging your head against a brick wall all the time”.
Brick means to block. Figuratively speaking, it means to eternally preserve what is inside. It can be good; it can be bad. It all depends on your perspective.
We all have dreams and aspirations we would love to become reality. But life’s challenges such as financial constraints, sickness, job loss, failure, and other agonizing surprises often hit us like a ton of bricks, and we are thrown off balance. These brainy quotes appeal to our senses. Take what you wish from these quotes … again, it all depends on your perspective.
…… Life is a learning process and you have to try to learn what’s best for you…. life is not fun when you are banging your head against a brick wall all the time”. -John McEnroe.
I just go with the flow. I follow the yellow brick road. I don’t know where it’s going to lead me, but I follow it”. -Grace Jones
TO THOSE WHO ASPIRE… ENTREPRENEURS
A closer look at the goals of aspiring entrepreneurs who may experience stumbling blocks along the way. Jeff Haden (INC) shared Ryan Robinson’s interviews with successful entrepreneurs. These individuals revealed their thoughts and ideas on the devise of reinventing the wheel on the road to self-employment.
Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, Canva
Focus on the prototype”. No matter your background, skill set, or passion in life, starting and growing a successful business can be done with the right combination of hard work, determination, and seizing the opportunities that come your way. Having and not allowing your excuses to hold you back are major steps down the road to success.
Sophia Amoruso, Nasty Gal…Online Vintage Clothing Line
Refuse to accept failure.
Chase Jarvis, CEO of CreativeLive
Scratch your own itch.” Go after solving a problem that you have. When things get hard if you’re not going after something near and dear to your heart, you won’t have the fortitude, and passion to stay with it.
John Acuff, New York Times bestselling author
Success takes hustle”. Hustle is an act of focus, not frenzy. Hustle is about subtraction and addition. It’s not about doing more, it’s about focusing on the things you need to do, in order to move your business forward.
Luis Howes Author of the School of Greatness. Professional athlete turned entrepreneur. Suffered injury and was forced overnight to discover a new way to live with purpose.
Follow your heart”.
Nir Eyal, author of Hooked.
Certainty is more dangerous than ignorance”. It’s up to us to see the world as it should be. When you’re sure of the way things are, that’s when you get passed up and you don’t see the opportunities real entrepreneurs envision.
Ones potential is so huge, and so vast,
Yet, why is it, that so many fail, and usually come last?,
So few truly succeed, that when they do, others are jealous and totally aghast,
Let’s all believe in success, and I promise that failure will be part of the past.
The things you think, and the things you believe,
If they are true, then those are the things that you will achieve,
But if your thoughts are false, or they are used to deceive,
You’ll be stabbed in the back, and that is a promise that you had better believe.
Get rid of depression, worry and fear,
Because success is so often so very, very near,
Tell your subconscious , “success is mine”, and tell it to hear,
Remind it often, then success will be yours, that is a promise, my dear.
Just ask the “DIVINE”, for whatever you desire,
For happiness or abundance, or anything else to which you aspire,
It’s now time to succeed, so go ahead, set your goals, and light that fire,
Do it with passion, and I promise you this, you’ll soar higher and higher.
We often fear failures. The struggles in life are real. We have to be strong to survive. The stories of famous leaders provides food for thought. Thomas Edison developed thousands of prototypes of the light bulb before he found the one that worked. Albert Einstein was unemployed for two years after he graduated college. Like Edison and Einstein, modern day luminaries like Mark Cuban and J.K. Rowling were able to use their setbacks to push them forward. Here are several examples of extremely successful leaders who learned from their failures including a few from Aaron Taupe discussion on success and failure.
Steve Jobs had a natural ability to lead. He started his business in his parents’ garage. The company developed and grew. It attracted a board of directors that in the end fired him. Devastated but not to be deterred from his dream, Jobs started another company which focused mainly on software. Today the world enjoys his innovations ranging from Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, iMac and more.
Oprah Winfrey learned that failure is only an illusion after her cable network started off poorly. She said the worst time in her professional life came when the Oprah Winfrey Network’s (OWN) ratings plummeted a year after launch. Later, in a Harvard commencement speech, Winfrey said that she told herself repeatedly that failure is an illusion. She said “there is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. When you’re down in the hole, when that moment comes, it’s really okay to feel bad for a little while. Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost—but then here’s the key; learn from every mistake because every experience, encounter, and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you and force you into being more of who you are. Winfrey was able to get OWN moving in the right direction, and the network gained a profit in 2013.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban prior to starting his first company, worked as a bartender, a short-order cook, and a carpenter. Cuban later told CNN that on multiple occasions, he would come home with a date only to find the electricity had been turned off by the utility company. Cuban decided to have a positive outlook about his failures and made sure to learn something from his mistakes. He told Smart Business “I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter how many times you failed, you only have to be right once”. I was an idiot lots of times, and I learned from them all”.
Jay Z learned that his success needed to come from within after his second album flat-lined. Jay Z’s first album “Reasonable Doubt” is considered by many to be one of the best rap albums of all time. His second album “In My Lifetime”, wound up not being as successful commercially as his first, and he was not happy. He said “I tried to make these records that were bigger and would be more popular, which was a failure. Going for that success really messed up that project and set a bad tone. It was a huge learning lesson for me that if I was going to be successful, I had to be successful with myself. I couldn’t be successful doing what other people were doing. I had to do what I believed in and what felt real to me and true to me”.
Failure gave J.K. Rowling the freedom to pursue her art. In 1993, the Harry Potter author was an unemployed single mother who saw herself as a failure. She later said in a commencement speech at Harvard, that the experience actually helped her by getting rid of her fear of failure—which allowed her to focus on writing the stories that would ultimately become the Harry Potter novels. “Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter, and a big idea”.
So we gather from these examples of success that if you want to be successful, you must follow your heart, your passion. If you strongly believe something in your ability; Go for it! Reach for the stars! More than likely you will achieve with dedication and hard work. To lead yourself, you must believe in your ability.
