5 Steps to Accomplishing Your Goals

So this week, I signed up to participate in Rebecca Thorman's Monthly Goals Meet-up. I'm actually late signing up because she's already done a mid-week check-in but I will take this time to get my goals ready for October. I need to think of what I really want and not what people think I should want.

One of the things I've decided is that I want to stop the numbers from going up on the scale. I also don't want to have to take any medication for anything as I get older. In my family almost all of the women have diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol. So I've taken steps, small action steps, to accomplish this goal and so far I've lost a pound and a half.

But let's talk about your goals. Have you set a goal only to push it off ‘til next time when the temptation to quit draws near or your goal starts to look like it won't happen?

I think when people set goals they focus too hard on the big picture. By that I mean, they don't break down their goal into small action steps. They try to do everything at the same time to go for that big goal and if it doesn't transpire fast enough they quit.

So when you are setting your goals:

• Dream BIG! Set a huge but obtainable goal, however you define it. You need to create something big to make sure you are stretching and challenging yourself. Goals that are easily accomplished are just not that fun, in my opinion. But again it is how you define what a huge goal is for you.

• Think of the small action steps you can take to accomplish your big goal. As I mentioned earlier, you don't have to accomplish your big goal in one shot. If you just look at the entire picture continuously you will undoubtedly become discouraged and abandon your goal. And we definitely don't want that to happen so instead break up your goal into bite-sized actions, and as you accomplish the small actions, celebrate. Don't wait until the main objective is accomplished. Of course celebrate when the main mission is completed but be proud of the action steps you are taking along the way.

• Write down your plan. Now that you have a goal, have thought it through, make sure to write it down somewhere. And keep a small notebook and pen on you at all times. You never know when a new idea might come to you that will push you further along your path.

• Tell someone so they can hold you accountable and share in your small and huge successes. When something good happens to you don't you love telling someone and having them be just as excited for you? I know I do.

• Get started. I'm talking RIGHT NOW!

I keep using the phrase small action steps because I want to stress that you can do all the positive thinking in the world but if you are not taking action to accomplish that goal you will not get what you want. It takes action.

I really hope that you will take time over the week to really think about what you want to do with your life, where are you going, and plan how you are going to get there. When you come up with an idea of what you want and you are not sure if you really want it, trust yourself and take note of how you feel about that idea. Does it feel good? Do you get excited about the idea? Then do it! But if it doesn't stir any emotion in you or you feel stressed or panicked about it, then don't do it. Be brave and trust that you are the only one who knows what you should do with your life.

Please share with me your huge goals and how you plan to accomplish them with your small action steps.

Have a stellar week,
ChaChanna

You can find more of ChaChanna's wisdom on her site Twentity.com: What Your Parents and Professors Never Taught You About Life After College.

Motivational Monday!

Contrary to most people, I love Mondays. Every Monday is like a fresh new start, and each one is filled with the unlimited possibilities of the upcoming week. So on this Monday, I'd like to share a bit of my Monday motivation to help you jump start your week with the same excitement that I'm starting mine with.

I'm currently reading Hill Harper's Letters to a Young Sister. In the forward Gabrielle Union writes:

"People too often say that people are a summation of their experiences, but I do not believe that to be true. I believe that it's what we do with our experiences, how we react, how we grow from that makes us who we are."

After briefly sharing her experience with a rape when she was nineteen, she continues:

"According to rape statistics, I was supposed to be incapable of forming healthy relationships afterward, and ultimately to commit suicide. In other words, my life was supposed to have ended because I was raped. What those statistics don't tell you is that you have a choice. You can choose to be a victim and become another statistic or you can make the choice to triumph over whatever adversity you experience."

We have heard this in similar forms time and time again, but it really stood out to me this time because it is so true. So many of our stories start off with a "Once upon a disadvantaged time." I'm sure we could all share a story about some adversity or challenge we faced, but whatever that may be someone else in the world has experienced it as well and has achieved their goals in spite of it. Challenges are inevitable and, to be honest, can be pretty boring because we've seen them in some form before, but it is how you handle it that your story interesting and unique. How do you want your story to unfold?


Happy Monday!

Motivational Monday: "Get Yours" Girls

What better way to start a Monday than with a bit of motivation? This book has been a huge inspiration to me, and I share with you in hopes that it will guide you further along your own journey as well.

In Get Yours! How to Have Everything You Ever Dreamed of and More, Amy DuBois Barnett addresses just that. She creates the quintessential handbook that steers young women through life’s critical transitions. With personal anecdotes and interviews with some of our favorite celebrities, including Sanaa Lathan, Kelly Rowland, India.Arie, and even Hill Harper, Barnett emphasizes discovering the beautiful woman inside of you and allowing her to shine through every aspect of your life.

Barnett addresses every major aspect of a young woman’s life from attracting positive friends to zealously pursuing your career. The text opens with a chapter dedicated to simply finding happiness, which remains the underlying theme. The author emphasizes the importance of finding what makes you truly happy. In sharing her own path to happiness, Barnett discloses her gripping experience of losing her mother but also reveals how her loss forced her to find herself.

This girlfriends’ guide answers many of the questions we have struggled with: how to grab your dream job; how to turn your house (or apartment, or even room) into a space that makes you feel good; how to become financially independent; how to find your personal style. She promotes getting healthy the happy way, without the taboo and stress of abusive diets; She also challenges the reader to reach beyond her comfort zone and to use fear as a motivator rather than an inhibitor. Yes, ladies she even offers advises on relationships. She concludes the book with a chapter on spirituality. Endorsing no religion in particular, she encourages the reader to ground herself with an appreciation of not her existence but also the existence of the life that surrounds her.

Barnett presents her life as an open book as she candidly shares her less than glamorous moments—her dreadful high school style, countless bad boyfriends, divorce, her bummy New York apartment and awful first job, situations that we all experience but which she conquered to become the woman she is today. The reader can trust Barnett’s wisdom because her success serves as a living testament of the advice she shares. A Brown University alumna, member of well-known Black sorority, former Editor at Essence magazine, former Editor -in-Chief of Honey magazine, the first African American as head of a major consumer publication as Editor of Teen People, and happy wife and mother, her achievements speak for themselves. Sharing her own rags to riches story, her perseverance serves as an even greater inspiration than the tips she shares.

Barnett’s approach to the text makes this not just an informative but also an effortless read. She includes quizzes to personalize the message and promise pages at the end of each chapter to help each reader take active steps in applying the wisdom shared. Barnett also enlists the support of well respected celebrities—Kelis shares her bold approach to her personal style and India.Arie conveys her take on spirituality, just to name a few. This book is well worth your while to read, and you will become a better person because of it. Living as an example that we can all admire, Barnett shares information to help us get there ourselves. Grab a pencil because you will want to take notes, take the quizzes and complete the promise pages in each chapter. By the end of it, you’ll trust her as if she really is one of your girlfriends.

The take home message: It’s about you and what you want. Go get it!

I found comfort in knowing that the warm and sharing personality is consistent with the woman behind the book. After hearing her speak and having the wonderful opportunity to meet her, I was even further encouraged by her sincerity and her words of encouragement.

This post also appears on Miss Journey's blog.