Tag: goals

Success Is An Action Word

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Success is an action word

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately, not only about what I want to get accomplished in the coming year of 2015, but also about all of the things that I ddin’t get accomplished in 2014. I know that you can not dweel too long on the past and mistakes that were made and I try not to but when I think of how many opportunities and time I let go by without achieving all that I had set out to this year I feel slightly disgusted with myself. It wasn’t even the fact that there was a lack of ideas or even motivation to get them done. It’s simply that there was much more procrastination and fear and not nearly enough action.

I am taking steps to try to put an end to the need to procrastinate and to put some extra motivation into my drive to get the things I want accomplished for my brand completed. I’m starting with taking some steps into getting myself a business/book coach. Someone who can help steer me in the right direction, to correct whatever it is that I am not doing right, and to give me that nudge that I definitely need and hold me accountable to what I say I am going to do. A coach will also help me with my issues in regards to focus because I tend to think of a million ideas at once and actually believe that I can multi-task and work on all of them at the same time but in reality that puts me in the position where I actually get little to nothing done.

I’m trying to map out my plans for the year 2015 and I don’t want to get overwhelmed with the actual process of mapping out my goals that I don’t actually even sit and write them down (which is the point I’m getting to now). I do this at the end of every year, sit down and list my goals and plans to attain those goals, and the task has never been so hard and so daunting, but as I think of how much time I have wasted not putting enough action into my plan for success it fills me with a sense of urgency to cram the last few years of unaccomplishments into one. I know that I don’t have to do that but I feel like time is something that none of us is sure just how much of it we have left to fulfill our dreams.

I have said it before and I am probably going to keep on saying it until it actually proves to be true but this year is going to be the year I get things on track and going in the direction it is meant to go in. Success is not just something you strive for with planning out what you want. With a plan there has to be action to follow, a lot of action, and you can not allow procrastination to settle in because it is hard to get rid of. So how are your plans for the coming year shaping up? Are you prepared for the amount of action it will take to achieve them?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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Perspective From the Middle Rung of the Ladder

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Perspective from middle rung of ladder

I had a conversation the other day with an older woman, who I have befriended because both of our daughters participate in the same activity. She has taken a liking to me and I to her and I gain a lot of wisdom from her and she in many ways motivates me. I have been able to share my goals and vision for what my dreams are with her and I don’t share my dreams with just everyone.

Every time I feel that fear creep up inside me and I get discouraged and start to doubt myself Ms. Yvonne (that’s her name) always seems to be right there giving me that dose of motivation that I need to get going again. It got me to thinking, there are so many people that see this potential in me, this light as some people say, surrounding me, and that they know that I am going to do so many big things to change this world but I can’t seem to see what it is that they see.

Why is it that other people can see things in us that we either can’t see or refuse to see in ourselves. When I see the journey that I am on to achieve my goals I sometimes get so defeated at how much further I have to go on this journey instead of realizing and appreciating just how far I have come and without acknowledging and thanking God that I am not where I was.

I often feel as if I am still on that bottom rung of the ladder because I keep thinking of what I don’t have yet but if I look at how far I have come and just what I have come through then I can see that I am actually in the middle of that ladder. Perspective is everything and so many times my perspective is thrown off. It’s one of the main things I have to work on in myself and particularly as I go into this new year with new goals and new determination and drive to make these things happen, fear be damned.

Ms. Yvonne told me that even when I don’t feel like I can do it I have to convince myself that I can. If you tell yourself enough that you can, eventually you believe that you actually can and I’ve been telling myself for so long what I couldn’t do because I didn’t have everytihng I needed and things weren’t perfect. It’s time I start telling myself what I can do and open my eyes to the me that other people see.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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Focusing on the End Goal

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Focusing on the end goal

Well National Novel writing month is more than over and I have had a whole week to decompress from the event that went more than a little off track from me. From my technical difficulties to the distractions of life and (if I’m being completely honest) just sheer procrastination the month of November was definitely disappointing in terms of actually completing my projects.

Nevertheless I am not going to use that as an excuse to stop working on finishing these projects. I have done that in the past, get so upset with myself for not completing something that I just sink into a dark whole of depression and end up not doing anything. Well 2014 was a year full of promise and it was all wasted and it was the fault of no other person than myself. Setback after setback I allowed that negative voice in my head to get louder and louder.

With each setback I gave myself even more reasons of why I couldn’t get what I wanted accomplished. I focused so much on the things that I didn’t have at my disposal instead of using what I do have to my advantage. If you focus too much on the things that you don’t have then you can’t sufficiently notice all of the blessings around you that you have seemed to overlooked.

So I am going into the year 2015 with real hope and with faith that can’t be shaken and with the knowledge that whatever God wants me to have will be mine and that he will make a way for all of the plans that he has for me to come to fruition. I have to stop counting myself out before I even truly get into the race. I’m not doing myself any good by doubting God and his belief in me. So no more excuses for why something didn’t get accomplished. Nothing but results from here on out.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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Despite My Urge to Give Up…

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Never give up

I tell you if it is not one thing it is another and when the devil is busy trying to get in my way he really does pull out all of the stops. So week one and two for me was plagued with technical difficulties that would just hit one by one, back to back.

Last week, while the week started off rather strong with a fair amount of productivity, I had a physical injury that kind of left me unable to sit up and type or write anything. I was in so much pain that it almost brought me to tears to even try and move to do anything. That physiccal injury has unfortunately carried over into this week and although I am trying to ignore the physical injury it is very hard to pretend I am not hindered by it.

It just would seem that there are mini obstacles stacking up in my path like mountains trying to keep me from moving forward. I am pushing through and while my goal will more than likely not be met by the end of November, I will take comfort in the fact that I didn’t (like last year) just completely throw in the towel and say the hell with it and just stop even trying. Last year was a bad year for me creatively and this year has not exactly proved to be much better but I am going to make the best of the rest of the days left in this year and kick 2015 off with these two projects that I’ve been taking on during NaNoWriMo and use them as my positive start for next year. Well back to my writing cave I go, hope all of you who are participating in NaNoWriMo are doing well.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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When Things Don’t Go the Way You Planned

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When Things Don't Go as Planned 2

So to say that my NaNoWriMo plans aren’t coming along as productively as I had hoped would be an understatement. I had planned on finishing up two of my book projects that I had been previously stalled on. Now while I have truly put forth honest effort, and have honestly been plagued with multiple back to bak technical issues concerning my computer and what I use to actually write, I can’t lie and say that I haven’t been hit with the procrastination bug. When I got hit with technical difficulty number one I was discouraged and then with the next couple of technical difficulties I had I just felt like giving up on doing it altogether.

Now of course I have not given up on either of my projects but I totally underestimated just how difficult it would be to jump back into my novel and as for the nonficiton self-help book, well I’ve been working more so on that but nonfiction is never easy. I don’t know why it seems I can’t produce anything lately but it is really frustrating to have a lot of ideas that you need to get out but still can’t seem to put them down on paper.

However, November is not over and I am not throwing in the towel on my projects. Whether I finish both projects by the end of November or not, one thing is for sure, it got me started on the projects again. I also have to remember that this could be a great kick-off for my 2015 plans. So how have you been doing in your writing this November? Have all your plans been working out the way that you wanted them to?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

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The Future That Lies Ahead of Me

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Future that Lies Ahead

I was listening to a motivational video by motivational speaker, Les Brown that urged the listener to live in the future. If only for a moment it wanted its listeners to imagine their lives being the way that they want it to be, as the person that they want to be. Les Brown tells us “we have to see ourselves there long before it happens” and urged people that if you are going to fail then fail forward and don’t take two steps back like so many of us tend to do when something doesn’t work out.

When I heard this it immediately had me envisioning my life ten years from now and trying to focus on how I can live like I am already there. Ten years from now my Write 2 Be Media Company will be going stronger than ever with, at minimal, ten published books from me and successfully publishing other authors. My company will not only have Write 2 Be Magazine in print and digital form but also two other successful magazines as well. I will have a television show already into production and a couple of movies being optioned.

I will have my book store up and running by then as well as my line of Write 2 Be t-shirts and other novelty items well into production. The main thing, one that is truly a project that is vitally important to me, my Write 2 Be Creativity Camp will be successfully operating in the state of Maryland and hopefully beginning to branch out to other states for the encouragement of the arts in our children’s lives as a way to not only enrich their artistic abilities but to foster self-acceptance, self-love, and confidence within themselves in this fight against bullying.

There are a few other things that I have in play as well but those are my main focuses and that is a vision that I cannot let go of. I’m not sure that I can so easily live as if I am already there in that moment but I can see where Les Brown has a point of the fact that if we don’t act as if it can ever happen then there certainly is a great possibility that it never will. I think that a lot of times when we fail we want to just give up and stop trying (or maybe that’s just me) but what we need to do is fail forward, meaning learn from that failure and use that failure to progress the next time.

The future holds whatever we allow it to hold so if we don’t envision a prosperous future then how can we truly facilitate the future that we say that we want? We are all meant to live a prosperous life but we have to start acting like we want that life. The future is whatever we make it out to be. What does your future look like?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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When It Seems Like the Devil Is Winning The Battle

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The Devil Winning the Battle

Last week was a really bad week for me. Without going into too many details I will just say that the obstacles piled up high to the ceiling for me in the form of a really thick brick wall and at the moment there doesn’t seem to be any way around it.

The devil seems to be quite busy with me lately and it comes right at the moment when I have just started to get my motivation back into high gear and right when an important opportunity could be coming my way and when my energy for completing some of these projects that I have stalled on for the better part of this year has returned at full force. It’s not like insurmountable obstacles have never been dropped at my doorstep in the past but unlike those times, this is one that I’m not seeing a way out of (at the moment) and it’s an obstacle that could have a domino effect on everything else I have coming up down the road.

I have been told to keep the faith and to not give up but right now that is exactly what I feel like doing. I have been praying over this situation continuously and I have been trying not to worry but it’s hard not to when it all just seem so bleak at the moment. The devil has been extremely busy with me lately and I’d hate to think that he might be winning this one but it’s starting to look that way.

I am trying to keep my focus on what’s in front of me and on the opportunity that is approaching and the projects that I have to finish but it is hard to concentrate on work when I feel so stressed and worried. I have always remained a person who was optimistic that things worked out for the best and I would hate to lose that faith that I have now but I truly don’t know if there is a light at the end of this tunnel and it scares me.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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The Challenge Ahead: Getting Mentally Prepared for National Novel Writing Month

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NaNoWriMo1

The good thing about working on two unfinished projects for National Novel Writing Month is that I don’t have to complete the task of writing an outline like I would normally do for a new project. However the challenging thing about it, aside from the fact that I will be working on two books at the same time, is that they are two different types of books. One book is my novel that I started about two years ago and the other book, which I started working on about nine months ago, is non-fiction, more of a self-help/motivational book for writers. The two projects couldn’t be more opposite of each other so I’m not sure how the contrast is going to affect my production.

While National Novel Writing Month will not be new to me, trying to complete two different projects at the same time that are not in the same genres. I am a little more confident about the non-fiction project because I started it more recently and it will be fairly easy to jump back into it. The fiction book, I’m afraid I might have taken too much of a break from that one to just jump back in. Either way I am determined to make the best of the month of November and to attack these projects as if my life depends on it (they really do, lol). Once November is over and I (hopefully) have my two finished projects I plan to immediately get them into the editing phase so I can get the ball rolling on getting these books published.

I have my work cut out for me and for any of you who have participated in NaNoWriMo, you already know it is not an easy task to accomplish. I will share the process with you as it goes along and I hope if any of you are doing NaNoWriMo this month please feel free to share with me your process and how you’re achieving the task. I guess November will be a pretty busy and productive month!

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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http://write2bemagazine.com/

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No More Excuses, I Have to Do Better

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No More Excuses

I need to do better. I was watching a video online the other day dealing with how to become more successful and attain your goals and one of the things the person in the video said to do was to write a new list of what your current goals are. Not look at your old list and revise according to your current circumstances but rather to look at where you are now, who you are now, and what you want in this moment, and write down what your goals are moving forward.

When I wrote down my list I realized that some of my old goals had fallen off of that list and there had also been some new additions that I didn’t even see as something that I would ever want but surprisingly found myself being called to it. Some things were on my old list but the idea has grown into something more than what it was before. It was a little eye opening to make this new list but also made me a little disappointed in myself.

I can’t count how many excuses I have made to not write or do something towards any of those goals on that list and at the time they felt like legitimate reasons (tired, sleep deprived, depressed, no energy, etc.) but in retrospect they were just excuses for one overall fact that I wasn’t feeling inspired and was riddled with self-doubt and fear.  I used to have a daily routine in which I at least wrote 1,000 words of whatever novel I was working on and then still wrote my blog and a couple of articles and that was in one day. I was so productive and it seems like that time was so long ago when it really wasn’t. I don’t know what happened in the last two years that made me somehow stall on everything but I have seemingly found myself stalled on everything that I want to accomplish and create.

I am not going to make excuses anymore because they don’t get me anywhere and they only result in me wishing for something that I can just change now before too much time has been wasted and too many things have gone undone. I feel like I might have been on some type of writing sabbatical that was neither planned for nor wanted and I am ready to get back into a normal rhythm of writing again. It’s time to throw away the excuses and put down some results. What excuses have you been making for yourself in your writing career?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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Staying Focused on My Own Journey

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My own Journey

An old friend of mine posted some words of wisdom on his Facebook page today that resonated with me. His post started off with these words “Ignore the comparisons and expectations knocking at your door. The only person that you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday. Prove yourself to yourself, not others.” It went on to say more but I stopped there because it dawned on me that while I have gotten out of the practice of trying to impress and prove something to other people around me, I haven’t quite managed to prove the things to myself that I need to. I haven’t quite lived up to my own expectations, both of others and myself.

I have a huge amount of goals for a huge, damn near impossible dream that I have had since I was younger, and where I am now at this exact point in time is not where I imagined I would be right now. My own expectations have not been met and the terrible realization is that I only have myself to blame for that. I have something to prove to myself about my real intentions towards my dreams and about my true ability to be able to get what I need to get done to accomplish those goals.

I make comparisons all the time (subconsciously) about how far someone else has come and about the life some others around me may have. It’s not that I want their life per say, but rather that I see that they are where they want to be in their life and I am not quite there yet. But there’s this quote that reminds me that I can’t drive myself crazy with where someone else stands in their life. It says “don’t compare your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 20” and I am guilty of doing that a lot. I take someone else who is in their home stretch of their journey and compare it to me being in the middle of mine.

I have to keep in mind that I’m just in the middle of my journey and I haven’t even begun to realize the blessings that are going to come my way. When that frustration starts to set in and I look around at everyone’s seemingly perfect circumstances I have to be reminded that I don’t know what is going on behind their side of the fence. Their grass might not be as green on their side as it appears and as long as I continue to water my side of the fence my grass has the potential to be just as green, if not brighter.

So I’m going to stop looking over on other people’s paths and stay focused on mine. I can’t afford to be forced into a detour because I simply wasn’t focused on where I was going. I’m going to work hard on staying in my lane and looking straight ahead. What’s for me is on my side of the fence, not over in someone else’s yard.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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