Lessons to Be Learned From a Media Mogul—Oprah Winfrey

Who hasn’t ever admired all of the accomplishments that Oprah Winfrey has been able to achieve.  I sure have a lot of respect and admiration for the empire that she has created and built up, literally from nothing.  What I admire most I think is the humble beginnings that she came from and how, not only did she never let any of that get in her way, but she in fact let it drive her forward.

Her success came in small doses and she savored those lessons that she learned along the way.  She didn’t rush her success and she didn’t hold onto any of the negative criticism that she received from others who tried to make her be someone she wasn’t.  I wanted to share some of those lessons that I have learned from Oprah Winfrey and plan on implementing on my journey to where I want to go.

1. There’s No Sin in Failing, the Sin is in Never Trying—  You always hear people use the excuse “What if I Fail” when it comes to trying something different but you rarely here anyone ask the question “What if I actually Succeed”.  Not trying is the greatest harm that people can do to their dreams.  It is always better to try and to fail than to have never tried at all.
2. There’s Nothing Wrong with Setting the Bar High for Yourself and Your Life— I’ve always had people tell me that people shouldn’t have such high standards for what they are going to get out of life.  For a moment I’ll admit that it seemed that the higher I set my standards the more I ended up being disappointed by the outcome.  I’ve come to realize that it wasn’t the high standards that ended up disappointing me, it was the lack of belief that I had in accomplishing those high standards that left me disappointed.  Now I realize, the higher the standards the better, so long as you believe that you can attain them.
3. Having the Ability to Forgive Can Allow Your Journey to Move Forward— Oprah particularly likes to drive home the fact that forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for you.  It made sense to me when she pointed out that if you don’t allow yourself to forgive the people that have hurt you in your past you will remain stuck in your past with all of that hurt and anger.  Forgiving others for their mistakes allows you to move forward and become a better version of yourself.
4. Always Be the Best You— You can’t really get anywhere trying to be what everyone else wants you to be and trying to live up to other people’s expectations for you.  All you can ever really do is be the best you and fulfill the purpose and expectations that you have for yourself.
5. Do Something that Scares You— If you never do anything that scares you, something that is different from your normal activities, then that means you’re never really taking any risks.  Taking risks is scary.  Starting a brand new company and working for yourself is      scary.  Putting yourself out there to market your business or the book you’ve written is scary.  Doing something that you’ve always      dreamed of doing but never took the chance to do (like sing in front of a room full of people) is scary.  But in the end all of those things bring you to an end result that could be amazing if you are not too scared to take the risks.

You know there are so many people out there (myself included) who were always told to be more like someone else and so that’s what we aimed for.  I can remember so many times saying that I want to be the next Oprah Winfrey, or that I want to write as beautifully as Maya Angelou.  I was always striving to be a version of someone else that I thought was so great and so talented when the reality is that I can never be anything other than myself.  Why spend so much time trying to emulate someone else’s talent, someone else’s goals, someone else’s dreams, when that will never get me what I want.

Truthfully, just as there is no one that is ever going to be like that one person you strive to be like or that person whose talent you wished you had, there is also never going to be anyone like you either.  You have a talent and a uniqueness that is all your own and that no one else could master but you.

I am just going to take what I admire about the people who are where I want to be and the lessons that I have gained from them and fuel my journey with that knowledge.  While I may never be as successful as Oprah and I may never change the world in the ways that she has, who knows, I may be more successful and I may change the world in a whole different and remarkable way.

I have the Write 2 Be Unique…What is your Write 2 Be?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

Write 2 Be Magazine will be debuting on January 15^th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.