A Successful Year Awaits You, Take the Leap!

You may recall me saying in my last post that up until three years ago I was living in survival mode. From teenage pregnancy to single parenting. The misguided decision to marry, to physical abuse, then back to single parenting, this time with two children. Working minimum wage to being unemployed; though only briefly, because with two children I could not afford to be out of a job. Depression and anxiety, to attending school while working full time and raising two school aged children.

I did not have a strong support network and I was doing all I could to survive.  There was no time or even the thought of intentional personal development.

 I am a thinker by nature, so while I would often reflect and introspect there was no concrete tracking of goals or habits or accomplishments or analysis of the year gone by.  I did not always write things down and often at the end of a year I found myself struggling to remember what happened back in January and what were some of the important stuff that happened that year.

A Simple Method for Reviewing your Year

So for this reason, in 2020 I decided that every time something significant happened, I would write it down. Not in detail, just a line or two, to note the event. I did this by month. So I had a list for each month of the year. At the end of 2020 I reviewed my list and made a neat table on my computer using a Word Document. I created categories such as Challenges, Social, Professional, Health and Fitness, Purchases, Finance and Books Read. I then proceeded to fill up the tables based on my lists.

There is something powerful about writing things down and seeing then concretely, rather than having them be an abstract thought in our minds. Writing it down gives life to our thoughts. Also, by being able to view the things we have done in a concrete way, we may be surprised by how much we were able to accomplish. It also brings greater inspiration and motivation to press on with our goals and aspirations and to accomplish even more.

I would recommend this very simple method to anyone who want to track their progress in an easy and uncomplicated way. Is there another method that you use? I would love to hear about it in the comments section.  

Best Year Yet

As bleak a year as 2020 was, I must say it was not entirely bad. After reviewing and summarizing my table, I was surprised to realize that 2020 was a successful year for me. Probably, one of my most successful yet. One of my most significant achievements and the one I am proudest of is starting my blog and creating my website. You can click on this link to check out my website. This was a steep learning curve for me. I had been contemplating the idea of starting a blog for a couple of years. So to finally take that leap and remain consistent at it, was a big deal.

What were some of your significant accomplishments in 2020?  What are some of the things you are proud of? Please share with me in the comments section. Others may be inspired by it, and I would love to celebrate with you.

Another significant thing for me was the number of books I read. I read (audio books included) a total of 27 books. This is noteworthy, because apart from reading for the purpose of school, I possibly did not get through even one book in previous years. Reading was not on my top list of priorities; survival was.

Coming up Next…

When something is good or you have made a good find, you want to share it. Am I right? So, I want to recommend to you my readers what I found to be the 5 most impactful books I read in 2020. I hope you would join me for next week’s post where I will share those 5 books with you. To do so now will make this post much too long. This is because I don’t want to simply list the books, but I want to briefly tell you what it is about and why I found it to be impactful.

Over to you…

Oftentimes we have an inspired idea or a dream and we don’t act upon it for various reasons. One the major reasons being fear. Fear that we won’t succeed, fear that we will succeed, fear that no one will support us, fear that others will scoff at us, fear that we don’t have what it takes.

Fear! False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear can rob us of opportunities to learn and to grow as well as some of the most beautiful experiences of our lives. Les Brown, one of my favorite inspirational speakers says, “too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” I want you to live your dreams and not your fears.

My challenge to you for 2021, feel the fear but do it anyway. Act upon your inspired ideas. Get moving toward your dreams. In the words of Napoleon Hill, “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”

You, yes you my friend, are capable of great and incredible things. The gifts and talents you possess, were not given to you by chance. Rather, they were given to you by design and for a purpose. Cultivate them. Use them. Begin today. You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start in order to be great.

Take the Leap!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and reading this post. I trust you found it inspiring and helpful. Please leave me a comment and share this with a friend. Until next time. ~Namaste.🙏