Do You Celebrate Your Accomplishments?
Do you celebrate your accomplishments? The year 2011 is about to wrap itself up and bring us into 2012. As the New Year approaches, everyone is thinking about setting their New Year resolutions and goals, however how many people are acknowledging what went well in 2011? Furthermore, how many people are going to celebrate their accomplishments from the year?
The truth is, celebrating one’s accomplishments or achievements is something that should be done regularly, not just at the end of a year.
Some people don’t like the word and connotation of the word “celebrate”. They’ll tell me that they don’t need to celebrate their goals and milestones they’ve reached. It feels to them as if their accomplishments should be a ‘given’, meaning that everyone is achieving or doing what they are doing.
The Meaning of Celebrations
Celebration means many different things including:
- Recognition
- Acknowledgement
- Rewards
- Receiving others’ congratulations
- Integration
- Symbolism
- Pausing to reflect
- Giving yourself a pat on the back
- Meaning making
Benefits of Celebrating, Acknowledging and Rewarding Your Accomplishments
Celebrating what we have achieved is a great way to integrate our accomplishment into our psyche, life, and/or career to derive and construct new meanings on how our life could now be different as a result of this milestone that we have achieved. What have you learned from this accomplishment about yourself and your life? What will be different now?
As an example, I once had a client who had recently completed her Master’s degree. I was ecstatic for her, and even more so because I can relate to her accomplishment since I too have completed a Master’s degree. I asked her if she planned to celebrate this accomplishment in any way. She proceeded to tell me that she didn’t need to reward herself, because getting a Master’s degree was so common these days.
I was actually more interested in how the achievement of her master’s degree could change her career. I asked her what she wanted to be different in her life as a result of having earned her Master’s degree. I wanted to know also how others’ perceptions of her and her abilities might be different. Also, would her own expectations for her career now change? What would now be different in her life? What new meaning would she create in her life as a result of this achievement? This really got her thinking. She had never really thought that much about it.
Celebrating your accomplishments, or acknowledging them, or rewarding yourself for what you’ve achieved helps you to pause, reflect, and take time to relish what you’ve accomplished, and how your life might be different as a result. What does your achievement say about you? What is it symbolic of in your life and representing for you?
Others find it very important to reward themselves for their accomplishments. After all, if it was so important to achieve, why wouldn’t we acknowledge and reward the fact that we were able to follow through with our goal? By rewarding yourself, you will learn to associate joy, fun and positivity with your accomplishments, and this will make it that much more enjoyable in the long run to achieve your big goals.
On the other hand, when you keep racing onto your next accomplishment you risk burnout, and your creativity and energy will lag behind. You will notice yourself enjoying the process of working towards your goals, less and less. There is a well known quote by Arthur Ashe, “Success is a journey, not a destination”. The message is that we need to enjoy our lives as we work toward the achievement of our goals and success. Enjoying ourselves during the process and at the conclusion of our achievements is important.
Ask yourself, what is your own unique way of celebrating, acknowledging and/or rewarding your own accomplishments? For some it might be to go out and party, and for others it might be go on a trip. Yet for others it might be giving themselves an entire evening to read a fiction book. It’s different for everyone, and it also depends for some on the size or significance of their accomplishments.
Symbolic Ways to Celebrate Our Goals
- Framing a degree, diploma or certificate and posting it somewhere in sight
- Taking pictures of our celebrations
- Making an announcement such as when people announce an engagement for example
- Buying a memorable gift that reflects an achievement, e.g., a clock or bracelet engraved with a message
- Giving yourself a gift as a reward, e.g., that new pair of designer shoes that you’ve have your eyes on for awhile now
Experiential Ways to Celebrate
- Going on a trip and travelling somewhere
- Getting a massage, manicure or new hairstyle
- Have a party
- Going out for a nice dinner with friends and family
- Taking a day off from all your chores and busy work so that you can do ‘nothing’
These of course are just a few ways that you can celebrate or acknowledge the accomplishment of your goals. So, do you celebrate your accomplishments? What do you do for yourself when you have completed a major milestone or goal? How do you acknowledge it? I’d love to hear from you!
Why New Years Resolutions are Difficult
If you’re an ambitious individual always striving to improve your life, then it’s likely that you’ve set New Year’s resolutions and used this time of the year as a good opportunity to change aspects of your life, or to set new goals.
This is no surprise because the New Year is symbolic of new beginnings as the calendar year changes. However, you have to ask yourself – what is really different other than the year number moving forward by one? Very little is different. So, why is this such a good time to make changes? I would argue that it’s not always the best time, and that there may be more factors against us than there are supporting us.
The Holidays are a Busy and Stressful Time of The Year
First of all, the holidays are a very busy and overwhelming time for everyone. We are shopping, attending social functions and running many errands. We are travelling to visit family and finishing projects at work.
Seldom does the transition to the New Year leave us much time to focus on ourselves and our personal change efforts or goals. In fact, the New Year may leave many people feeling exhausted, especially if one has over-indulged in rich foods!
By the time everyone rolls back to work in the New Year, our corporations and supervisors have a new set of goals that they want everyone to attend to. This can be stressful in and of itself given that our energy levels may not be at their peak.
New Year’s Resolutions Are Often Too Big
With the New Year, most people’s resolutions are usually something ‘big’, daunting or overwhelming in nature. For instance, so many people (usually women) talk about losing 50 pounds, quitting smoking, switching jobs, or going back to school for further training.
These types of large goals can create a lot of pressure on ourselves to achieve and perform in a certain way, and the expectation is that we begin January 1st and that we hope to be successful. These types of goals and changes however are very scary to our brains.
New Year’s Resolutions Scare Our Brain and Create Fear
Sometimes our New Years resolutions activate the fear/threat system in our brains. This is in part referred to as the fight-flight syndrome, where all the blood in our bodies moves away from our cerebral cortex and into our muscles so that we are poised to run away from our predators. What happens is that we end up avoiding taking our goals seriously because they feel too daunting, or they create too much pressure for us.
Small Steps Can Be Implemented At Any Time Of The Year!
What’s the solution then? Start breaking these New Year’s resolutions into smaller goals and concrete steps that you can begin taking today instead of waiting for the arbitrary New Year. Small steps are something that you can work into your schedule at any time and they are much less intimidating.
Statistically, New Years Resolutions Have Been Shown to Not Be Very Successful
After all, if your goal is so important, then whey would you wait until the New Year to begin it? Another interesting point is that studies indicate that if a person is trying to change a habit, they will set a New Year’s resolution 10 times before they actually succeed! What does this mean? Start your change efforts today, because you are likely going to need some practice at making this change.
With small changes and new habits that we carry out daily, we train and shape the neural pathways in our brains to grow with our new habits and changes that our goals require. Neural pathways begin to support our new behaviours and attitudes and we are more likely to succeed in the long run
Bring in The New Year with New Appreciation for What You Have Accomplished
You might find it helpful to conduct a personal improvement review on yourself, something that you might want to do every quarter of the year, or as often as you desire. In addition, be sure to start and evolving achievements binder where you can capture all the goals that you think about as the New Year approaches. An evolving achievements binder is easy to manage, and it’s an inspiring way to keep yourself on track as the New Year progresses.
Start Setting Your Goals Now for 2012!
If you haven’t tried my goal setting and motivation program yet, be sure to book mark this page and come back to get started
Goal Setting Lessons from America’s Got Talent
How bad do you want your goal? Are you willing to take a risk with your talents like the gymnast from the Sandou Trio Russion Bar? Watching her last performance gave me chills all over my body – doing flips over nails and fire and her ability to stay composed were absolutely amazing! Now just to clarify I’m not saying anyone should risk their life to achieve their goals, but the point is, what risks are you willing to take in order to achieve your goals? Clearly, her performance had her outside of her comfort zone!
Also, can you take the heat? Achieving big goals means being fearless of others’ opinions. Think about the Squonk Opera group and the feedback they received from Pier. Do you think one man’s opinion shook them up? You have to develop rock solid confidence in order to pursue your big goals. If you don’t believe in yourself than who else will?
Thirdly, you’ve got to develop the skills behind your goals even if you’re already great. Don’t get too comfortable. Do you think the other great performers such as Anna Graceman, Snap Boogie and Dezmond Meeks rested on their natural gifts without constantly trying to improve them? I guarantee you they spend as many hours a day as possible perfecting their act. The same is true for us – why not spend as much time as possible honing our own life performance with respect to our big goals and talents?
Finally, and most obviously, you’ve got to have talent and passion combined! If you’re trying to decide which big goals to pursue, choose ones in which you have a gift already. The more skill there is behind your chosen goal the better. Also, choose to focus on those activities and goals that make you want to get up at five in the morning with passion! Without passion even the most skilled people don’t get that far. Passion is what ignites the spark, and keeps the your momentum going.
So, after watching America’s Got Talent tonight, ask yourself if you’re taking the appropriate risks, successfully withstanding others’ judgments, developing your skills continuously and pursuing those goals in which you have talent and passion behind them.
Workout Journal
Don’t be afraid to weigh yourself even if you know you’ve gained or lost too much weight. People who have lost weight, and kept it off admit to weighing in either daily, several times per week, or on a weekly basis, and recording this information in their workout journal.
What you write down becomes more real, and increases your awareness of your current state or conditioning. The act of writing information down forces you to pay attention to those details. Keeping an exercise notebook demands that you become accountable, and act on the information you record.
Use your notebook to track any of your fitness and dieting goals! It’s a great place to brainstorm any of your ideas. Whether you need motivation for working out every day! or even if you are in need of early morning exercise motivation, your workout journal can help you!
The Workout Journal Demands Your Accountability!
Writing things down in your notebook prevents you from becoming ignorant. Ignorance is of no use. Imagine if you did this with your bank accounts? Ok, ok, – we’ve all done this with our bank accounts too. But what happens if you avoid checking your bank account balance for too long? You lose control of how you are spending your money, and before you know it, it’s gone!
When you live in ignorance, you lack control of that which you are ignorant of!
The same thing applies to knowing our weight, or tracking our progress with our workout routines.
If you are not tracking, you are probably slacking!
Use your notebook to pay attention to those variables (e.g., weight, body fat, muscle, food eaten, amount of water drank, etc) that are important to you. People who achieve their muscle gain or fat loss goals, track the frequency of their workouts, weight lifting repetitions, sets and weight lifted. Remember, those goals which you focus on, and track your progress with, will manifest themselves much easier.
Use A Fitness Template to Keep Track of Your Exercises
Your workout journal can take many different forms. You might create a 3 ring binder, and create your own sheets, or download a fitness tracking template, – many of which can easily be found by doing a search on Google.
You could also use a pocket-size notebook that you can easily bring with you to the gym when you go to workout. Or, you might even want to record information on a large calendar. Whatever works for you. The key is to find some system that you can put in place and rely on.
A Workout Journal as Your Fitness Coach / Mentor
When you ‘fall off the boat’, your notebook is something that you can go back to, to remind yourself of what worked in the past. Having said this, use your notebook as a place to jot down what you prefer, what is working versus not working, and so on.
The more you capture about your evolving fitness journey, the more you can learn from your workout experiences. Use your notebook to work through your fitness goals, which will help you with all the barriers you encounter as you achieveg and maintain your fitness and dieting goals.
Recording your progress and experiences in your notebook is very motivating, as you can return to it, over and over again, and rely on your own personal, insights that have worked for you.
By having a workout journal, you will have a concrete record with detailed documents of your workout history. When you return to this workout journal, it can be quite comforting having a tangible piece of your previous experiences with you.
This is especially reassuring when you have dropped the ball on your workouts, or if it’s been a long time since you worked out. Having a notebook to remind yourself of what worked, is motivation, BIG TIME!
It’s a great place to keep track of powerful perspectives on fitness motivation, and a great place to create your own perspectives that develop over time.
Think of your workout journal as a personal map. It is a map that you can return to, time after time again, that will show you the way toward your fitness goals.
You’ve ‘been there’ in the past perhaps, or close, and you darn well better keep a record of how you got there, in the event that you need to get there again, or should you want to improve your methods or routines.
Your workout journal is similar to a repeatable system of instructions for how to achieve your fitness goals. It is a journal that offers hope, workout inspiration, and comfort. Our workout journal instills in us the confidence and courage to continue on with our goals.
Keeping a notebook with our ideas is like having a mentor or coach who knows us well, and can provide us with a nudge as we need it. I used my journal to create several different motivational perspectives that have enhanced my weekend workout inspiration! And now, I can return to this part of my journal over and over again to stay motivated with my weekend workouts!
A Workout Journal Captures Your Ideas
Your workout journal is a great place to capture your ideas for how you want to improve your workouts or exercise routines. By writing down your ideas, you are telling your subconscious mind that those ideas are important, and you are more likely to act on those ideas / plans.
Capturing your ideas will only give you even more workout inspiration, as you begin to solidify a program or routines that work for you.
Goal Setting Examples
Goal Setting Examples – What 95% of People Don’t Do!
I am going to show you a few goal setting examples and then I will highlight one of the most important elements of goal setting that so many people neglect!
Do you know where 95% of most people trip when setting their goals? What do most unsuccessful people forget to do when they set their goals? They forget to write down their goals!
Not only do they forget to write down their goals, but they forget to chunk or break down their goals into a ‘doable’ action plan. Here is an example to get you started!
A Goal Setting Example
I am in the process of waking up with unstoppable energy every morning at 6am, and moving my body with passion for 1 hour a day, 5 days per week! (Deadline: May 1st)
Now it’s your turn to write down your goal! Choose the goal that you’ll focus on for the rest of our goal setting steps together!
Write Down Your Top Goal Now
If some of the points in my example don’t make complete sense to you, or you don’t agree with them, that is fine!
Here’s my motto – if it turns you on, keep it – if it turns you off –chuck it!
Here’s an important note to make however. Do you know why so many people never achieve their goals? What is it that 95% of people are forgetting to do?
Most people never achieve their deadline, because they fail to schedule a time line of the necessary action steps needed! Follow these goal setting examples closely.
You see, goal setting is so much more than just writing down a goal. People forget this. They write down goals thinking that they will magically start attracting success into their lives.
Wishful thinking won’t get you far. What makes a person’s wishes and dreams a reality, is being able to take action! Having said that, here are the steps to creating a time line:
1. Write a list of all the tasks or mini-steps that need to be taken to achieve your goal. What you are doing is breaking your goal down into manageable chunks.
2. Review each of these steps and decide upon the most effective order in which to complete these steps.
3. Write a deadline or date beside each step and commit yourself to completing that action by that date.
Important Tip!
Do you know what the whole point of doing this exercise is for? Do you really get it?
The point or purpose of scheduling, time lines, and deadlines is for 1 reason only – and that is to get you to take consistent action!
So, having said that, if there are some parts or steps you don’t like, leave them out – just make sure your strategy is getting you into action!
Timeline for Goal Setting Example
Step 1. Brainstorm and break the goal down into mini tasks.
Using my goal setting example above, make a list of every single task you will need to complete in order to achieve your goal. Don’t worry about the order of it just yet! Write down any necessary steps that comes to your mind!
Step 2. Now, go back to your list, and rank or organize your tasks in the order of how you would like to complete the tasks. Simply put your numbers along the left hand side of the margin.
Ok, did you complete step 2 above? If you didn’t, then why are you reading this? Go back and do it now!
Step 3. Re-write your list in sequential order based on how you ranked your steps. Next, write down a deadline beside each step, for when you would like to complete the action by. Go for it!
And there you have your execution plan!
Now, here’s the funny thing about these sorts of timelines, deadlines and action plans…
You will almost never follow your scheduled timeline or action plan the way you originally envisioned it to be.
Why is this you ask? Well, each time you take an action, you learn new things, and receive feedback on the course of your path. You gain new insights along the way to achieving your goals, and therefore you discover new action plans!
So, you will always be adjusting your timelines and action plans. They are never meant to be set in stone, but rather to act as guidelines that keep you clear on where you are heading next.
After having read through my goal setting examples, are you going to choose to be like the masses, – the 95% of people who will never reach their goals, or, are you going to choose something different for yourself, such as success?
Hmmm…it’s a touch decision. Very few people can be different than the rest. Will you?
Also, very few people ever take their goal setting steps further than where we have just left off. That is a very bad mistake! All of the goal steps we have covered so far, are the easiest parts of the whole process (except the action plan of course!).
Aside from this action plan, all of my goal setting examples and principles I’ve shown you so far, are what most people do without a problem. Are you ready to discover the next steps that will literally transform your level of motivation?
How Do We Change our Limiting Beliefs?
How do we change our limiting beliefs?
1. Examine the state of your life right now. Where do you feel blocked with respect to your goals? What is stagnant? What isn’t working for you? Which results and goals are you having the most difficulty achieving? Here is one example, “My goal is to go on a warm tropical vacation, but I can’t seem to allow myself to do it.
2. In order to change our limiting beliefs, we must define our problem and what the block is in one or two sentences. Be as specific as possible. For example, “I can’t go on a tropical vacation every year because I simply don’t feel that I have the money in my budget!”
3. Write down how this limiting belief or problematic way of thinking is helping you in your life. How does it support and protect you? To continue the above example, “This belief protects me from spending money foolishly, and it prevents me from going broke” Examine this statement further though. Is going on one vacation really foolish spending? Is it really going to make you broke? Your goal is to question your limiting belief, its validity, and how supportive it really is.
4. Next, how is this limiting belief preventing you from achieving your goal? How is this limiting belief actually holding you back? In order to change our limiting beliefs, we must notice that while our form of thinking is an attempt to protect ourselves, it is also a form of thinking that is blocking us from achieving our goals. Here’s an example: “By holding onto the belief that spending money on a vacation is foolish, I’m excusing myself from being able to have what I want. Despite the reality that it might break my budget a bit, thinking this way blocks me from taking any action or examining any potential solutions that could help me achieve my goal.”
5. To change our limiting beliefs we must brainstorm solutions to overcoming our limiting ways of thinking. Learn to ask yourself more empowering questions. “How can I find a way to go on my vacation without breaking my budget?” Then, create a list of ways that you might do this. For example:
- Stop buying daily coffees and cut back on groceries by $20 every week for 6 months, to save enough money for my vacation. Put the remaining bill on my line of credit, and create a budget to pay it back with.
- Shop around for deals for vacations. Maybe they don’t cost as much as I thought they would.
- Can I go for a 4 day vacation instead of a full week? What difference will this make?
- Can I borrow money from a relative?
- Can I pick up a few extra shifts at work to make up for the difference of what money I need?
- What other creative ways could I temporarily earn more money to cover the cost of this trip?
When you learn to ask yourself good questions about how you can actually reach your goal, you’ll start to see the possibilities for how you can break out of your limiting belief. By simply repeating your limiting belief through self-talk, it doesn’t help you get past your reality that you are on a tight budget.
Just because something is your reality, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a limiting belief. Limiting beliefs are what create the realities that we are trying to escape from. Thus, we must monitor our beliefs closely in those areas of our lives in which we are experiencing results that are less than satisfactory.
Also, ask yourself why you want your goal? For example, “Why do I want this vacation so badly?” When you can create a strong enough “why” behind your goal, you will be more motivated to identify and change your limiting belief systems.
What are some of your habits that need to be changed in order to support this new way of thinking? Be sure to focus on changing habits to support your goal as well.
Finally, if you’re unsure of whether or not your belief is limiting you, ask yourself how well your belief supports your life vision?
These are just a few ideas of how we can recognize and change our limiting beliefs. I would suggest going back to the basics if you haven’t already, and completing the goal setting and motivation program which helps you align what you want with the right beliefs and behaviours.
Good luck!
How to Instantly Motivate Yourself
How to instantly motivate yourself is a concern that many of us goal seeking women have on our minds. Here are some quick tips that always help me when I’m in need of instant motivation.
Instant Motivation Requires Starting with the End in Mind
1. Start with the end in mind. What is your ultimate vision that is guiding you and your decisions? What is the end result and long term goal that you are trying to achieve? I highly recommend that you sit down for a few hours and reflect on this. Gaining clarity on your ultimate vision will help to instantly motivate yourself when you need it.
What is the Instant Gratification to Pursuing Your Goal?
2. Do you know why you want your goal in this moment? Why do you want what you want now? How will you benefit in the next few days, week or month? What are your short-term rewards and satisfactions? In order to instantly motivate yourself you’ll want to make your reasons for wanting your goal as tangible as possible. What are your sources of positive motivation and negative motivation for the short-term?
Know Your Short Term and Long Term Motivations
3. Review both your short term and long term motivations behind your goal. When you combine both of these together, you will have a big enough “why” or “purpose” behind your goal and you will be unstoppable. Be sure to also review these reasons regularly, because your sources of motivation will change every few months or so.
Instantly Motivate Yourself by Having a Plan
4. Do you have a plan on how to achieve your goal? Having a plan will account for almost 75% of your success. Knowing the many different options on how you could achieve your goal is another great way to instantly motivate yourself. Star planning now by brainstorming what all your options are.
Try the Goal Setting and Motivation Program now to Instantly Motivate Yourself!
Barriers to Women’s Goal Setting
There are three important goal setting barriers that women must overcome if they want to be a goal setting star! Here they are:
1. Women’s Goal Setting and Perfectionism Don’t Mix
Women’s goal setting requires that women overcome their need for perfectionism. Being a perfectionist and achieving big goals do not go hand in hand. In order to achieve big goals, women must let go of their need to be perfect. There are many pressures put on women today, – to have a great career, a family, to look sexy, and to please other people. I know I’m being stereotypical, but these are just a few of the pressures that women face and need to overcome in order to focus full heartedly on their goals.
For women’s goal setting to be successful, it is important to become aware of how perfectionistic attitudes might be holding us back. Remember, your action steps and results need not be perfect! Just as our families, relationships, careers and bodies are not perfect, neither will the results of our goals or action steps be perfect. Get rid of the belief that things need to be perfect. There is no such thing. The key is to get your goals started, continue moving forward and don’t allow your less than favourable results to hold you back from taking further actions.
2. Don’t Allow Juggling to Distract You From Your Goals
Secondly, women are known to juggle many balls in the air – children, relationships, husbands, careers, care-giving, etc. Women’s goal setting requires that you drop the Super Star mentality because you can’t have everything all at once. The key is aim for some balance, and to take small steps with your goals consistently over time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your dreams be achieved that way either. Start small. Can you find 5 minutes, 10 minutes or even a half hour to get started or to keep going? Your actions need not be significant, but they must be consistent. Take small steps and trust that you can move forward. In no time, you’ll build momentum. Just wait and see!
3. Women’s Goal Setting Requires Time for You!
Thirdly, women naturally face the barrier of taking time for themselves and their goals because they feel guilty. They focus so much on playing the martyr and looking after everyone else instead of themselves. Don’t feel guilty about giving yourself time to pursue your own goals. Historically, women’s identities have been constructed based on who they are in relation to others, and sometimes albeit on an unconscious level, we tend to still base our identity on external expectations and role/relational obligations.
Even as an independent women, I still find myself getting sucked into this mindset as well at times. I too have felt guilty for pursuing my own dreams, but in the end it is worth the effort. Everyone else around you will be happier in the end when you are happy as well, accomplishing your own big goals.
Those are just three of the barriers to women’s goal setting. Stay tuned for more, and I also invite you to leave your own comments as well!
Journalling for Women
If someone were to ask me when my life began to change, here is what I would answer – my life began to change the day I bought a journal. It sounds so simple, and in fact it is. I had no idea that the day I bought my journal, would be the day my life really began to change. The day I bought my journal was the first day of a massive roller-coaster ride of personal growth. And once you get on, you don’t want to get off. It’s like an addiction I might say. There really is no telling what your future could hold for you. I guess that’s the exciting part of it all. You’ve probably heard the thought that we choose our own destiny. Well – writing in a journal only speeds up the whole process.
If you ask me, I don’t know what could be more therapeutic at times than writing in a journal!
When I refer to journalling, I don’t mean you just write out what you did that day, or what he or she said. It’s not that you can’t do that – it’s just that that’s not the purpose.
When I speak about journalling or writing I am speaking of major personal transformation and total transcendence on some level. It’s a transcendence that takes you to a whole new level in this so called game of life. The kind of writing I’m speaking about isn’t something you learn in writing 101. In fact, it’s not really something you learn – it’s something you do.
The writing is an overflow from within, and becomes an extension from the heart – the place that knows total truth. Writing does not lie. Writing brings out the truth, and nothing but the truth, as scary as it might be. To write is to listen. And to listen is to find. Is this not what we all want? To find ourselves? Getting to know one’s self is a lifelong journey, a journey full of life-long complexities.
Journalling aids us in sorting through these complexities and mass confusions. Once you get all this stuff down on paper, life becomes a whole lot easier. In some respects at least, – believe me.
Writing opens up new realms of possibility, and new ways of thinking. There’s no one judging when you write. Only you.
As you begin the journey of self-exploration on paper, you feel total nakedness. You feel total vulnerability. Writing isn’t always easy. No one said it was easy. It takes nerve to be able to explore the unknown realms of yourself.
As you begin to understand yourself, you begin to understand the world around you, and ultimately where you fit in.
Sometimes when we feel we need guidance and help – we feel we should turn to the outer world. We believe in this notion or misconception that the answers are somewhere out there. One of the breakthroughs in writing comes when you realize that all the answers are inside yourself. It’s up to you though to go inside and find them. Unleash your answers. Find the truth and as they say – the truth shall set you free.
One of the first things you will learn as you write, is that you have choices in life. We’ve all heard before that we have choices. It’s as if we’ve heard it so many times before, that we no longer understand the phrase for what it truly means.
As you write, your focus is channelled into that which you are writing. You are totally tuned in to what’s being explored on paper. Your inner essence. As we write, the business of our own lives is lost. We are totally present to the moment, and we are now fully able to live in the moment.
Writing allows us to focus our energies on what is going on inside our crazy, busy brains. Sometimes it’s not really a manner of understanding something – but it’s a manner of expressing something. Writing allows you to do this very well.
In a nutshell, I think writing allows us to get our thoughts out of our heads, and on to paper, so that we can move onto the next thought. It allows us to deal with this lesson, and to then move onto the next. Perhaps what one person may take a year to explore or find, you can discover in one evening of writing.
Writing allows you to connect with your dreams and follow your heart. Writing is not only a means to an end, but is a lifelong journey.
The expression of writing into a journal is like conversing with your best friend. It listens forever, and does not judge your remarks. It simply reflects back to you what’s going on inside of you. Some of the best therapists simply reflect back to the client, what the client has already been expressing. And when we write – that’s what we do. We reflect on our feelings and our thoughts.
Myths about Women’s Success and Leadership
There are many myths about what make women happy, successful and great leaders. Read this fantastic article by Marcus Buckingham, posted in Bloomsberg Business! Click here to read the Ten Myths about Women’s Success
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