Transitional Friday: When God Answers Prayers

answers

 

 

 

 

I’ve discussed discouragement and waiting for God, but eventually He will answer?

However, what happens once you finally have prayers answered?

I’ve had prayers answered that showed me this was not God’s will for my life and took me down a dark path.  I’ve also had prayers answered that only God could orchestrate and proved this was God’s will for my life.

God answeres prayers

  1. Thank God for answered prayers
  2. Ask God if this is His will for my life
  3. Understand the lessons God has been teaching along the path
  4. Praise God for His blessings and provision
  5. Remember that God likes to show off to show what He can do
  6. The lesson in the wait is Faith, but we can’t abandon it once our prayers are answered
  7. Sometimes we have to get out of the boat and take the first step in faith

Creativity Thursday: 9 Steps to make your creative dreams a reality

I would love to be able to make a full time living writing, but I have not reached that point yet.

However there are ways to turn a creative dream into a reality.

  1. Determine your dream—what do you want to do more than anything

    Dare to Dream and Reach for the Stars
    Dare to Dream and Reach for the Stars
  2. Determine the steps needed to reach this dream—what are the steps you need to reach this particular dream and goal
  3. Be honest—is this dream a reality?  Can you work towards being a full time writer or a singer?  Or do you want to be a basketball player, although you’re only 4’8?  Be honest if this is doable and if it is not then how can you make it doable.  You could become a basketball coach, cover the game for a local radio station or write the articles for the newspaper?
  4. Write out your dream—people are more likely to reach a goal when they write it down
  5. Learn, Learn, Learn—is returning to school an option?  Do you need a coach?  Conferences, seminars, blogs on your specialty, books and online classes are a great way to learn and grow.
  6. Practice, Practice, Practice—begin working on the craft and learning
  7. Network—whether it is attending conferences and seminars, joining local groups or finding a critique group find ways to network and continue learning.
  8. Business—remember that you are working towards establishing a business.  Learn all you need to know about the business aspects of your industry.  I know I’ve learned a lot through trial and error.
  9. Perseverance—don’t give up.  The path is never straight and narrow.  There will be many twists and turns along the way.  The goal is to never give up but keep learning, practicing and working hard to move forward.

 

Leave a Reply: What have you done to make your dreams a reality?

Transitional Friday: Setting SMART Goals

Last week, we discussed 9 ways to set realistic goals, but left off with SMART goals.  So what are SMART Goals?

SMART Goals

  1. S=Specific—a specific goal  {ex.I will lose 20 pounds by the last day of November}smart goals 2
  2. M=Measurable—a concrete way to measure your goal.  {ex. I have 3 months to lose 20 pounds.  That’s about a pound and a half a week.}
  3. A=Attainable—Decide how to reach this goal and the steps that need to be taken to achieve the goal.  {ex. I need to exercise five days a week for 45 minutes and each 1500 calories a day}.
  4. R=Realistic—Is this goal achievable?  Is this something I can achieve? {see #5 above}
  5. T=Timely—Set a timeline for reaching this goal.  Otherwise you are less likely to reach that goal.  Thing of the goal being tangible.  Often if we can see, taste, smell, hear or feel the goal, we are more likely to achieve it.

 

How do you set realistic goals?  Do you use the SMART goals?

goals 2

Transitional Friday: 9 Ways to Set Realistic Goals

We’ve been discussing the importance of our choices and overcoming failure.  I thought it was important to discuss setting realistic goals.

So how do you set realistic goals?

  1. Write your goals down—look at the big picture for each area of your life {ie…career, finances, weight, relationships, spiritual walk, etc}.  Write down where you would ideally like to be in one year, five year, ten years, fifteen years, etc.goal
  2. Break the goal down—now break that goal down into smaller portions that are easier to maintain.  List the steps you need to take to reach this goal.  This could be anything from go back to school, to paying off a bill, to exercising each day for weight loss.
  3. Set Deadlines—set a deadline to reach the first part of your goal.  Once you’ve reached that goal, look at the next step and set a deadline to reach that goal.
  4. Schedule Time—schedule time for your goals.  I struggle with my weight and getting healthy.  I do much better when I schedule in time to exercise and what I will eat for the week than when I leave it up in the air “to get around to.”
  5. Be Realistic—have you set goals that can be honestly reached?  If you can’t carry a tune and want to be a pop singer, you may want to search for another dream.  However, if you’re a great artists, with practice and lessons you may be able to move to the next level.aim for stars
  6. Set Goals you WANT to learn—don’t do something because you feel that you should or are pressured into it.  Work toward your dreams and desires!
  7. Develop a plan—there are often obstacles that creep up and derail our plans.  For me, that struggle is again with my weight.  I do best when I decide in advance how to deal with this obstacle.  I then have more will power and am better prepared to overcome this obstacle and bounce back.
  8. Use positive reinforcement—use positive reinforcement, instead of saying “I can’t do this,” tell yourself, “I can do this if I will dedicate one hour a day to this endeavor, etc.”
  9. Don’t forget SMART goals—this may be the most important and the most actionable of all of the goals.  Often you hear about SMART goals in business, job interviews, higher education learning, etc.  So what are SMART Goals?

How do you set goals?

Next week: What are Smart Goals?

Transitional Friday: 9 Ways to Bounce Back from Failure

Failure success

 

 

There are times when no matter how much we try, we continuously face failure.  There have been several areas of my life, where nothing I’ve tried has succeeded.  I continue to face one failure after another.  Over time, this is enough to make anyone grow weary, frustrated, overwhelmed and even defeated.

So how do you continue to move forward when nothing is working?

  1. Don’t Give Up—if you are pursuing a dream, never give up, no matter how much defeat and frustration you receive.  I’ve heard some writers say that they received thousands of rejections before receiving a break through.  I’ve heard artists say that they worked for twenty years before making it big.  However, they never gave up.
  2. Keep Bouncing Back—this is much like never giving up, work through the emotions and bounce back.Churchill quote
  3. Evaluate—often I’ve had to go back and evaluate what worked, what didn’t work, and the why for each one.  Then I figure out what I can do differently and how to move forward from there.
  4. Be Realistic—often it’s easy to reach for our dreams without being realistic.  You will not become a concert pianists, if you refuse to practice the piano.
  5. Set Goals—often I feel like a fish at sea, but when I set goals and see where I’m going and what needs to be done to get there, I make much better progress.
  6. Be Open to Change—sometimes we need to be open to change, whether this is going in a different direction, taking a different approach, learning a different technique, etc.
  7. Never Stop Learning—continue to read, study and follow the experts in your field of interest.  There is so much that we can learn from these experts, including not on the subject matter but also what to do and not do.
  8. Be Open to Feedback—be open to accepting constructive criticism from others.  Yes, there is the occasional person{s} that wants to pull you down, however most people want to help you.  One critique method is the oreo method.  This starts with a positive, then adds what needs to be changed and ends again with a positive.
  9. Prayer—pray, seek God’s will and be willing to go in the direction in which He is leading.

Remember, you are not alone.  There are numerous examples of people that have failed before success.

Walt Disney faced numerous hardships before reaching success
Walt Disney faced numerous hardships before reaching success
  • Henry Ford had 5 businesses go broke before Ford Motor Company became successful.
  • Walt Disney faced multiple occurrences of being fired, bankrupt and failed businesses before succeeding.
  • Thomas Edison had over 1,000 unsuccessful inventions before inventing the light bulb.
  • Winston Churchill lost almost every election before being voted Prime Minister at age 62.
  • Before making it big in I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball was considered a failed actress and B movie star.
  • Vincent Van Gogh is considered the greatest artists of his time, but only sold one painting in his life time.

 

How do you bounce back from failure?  Who else has inspired you?

 

 

Transitional Friday: When Change isn’t your Idea

Life throws us a curve ball at times and change is forced upon us.  This can be through the loss of a job, loss of a loved one, abusive relationship, natural occurrence, decision of another person, tragic accident and number other causes.

So, how do you deal with change when it isn’t your idea?

  1. Cry—sometimes we just need to cry and express our pain.  There are times when there just aren’t words. mourn
  2. Mourn your loss—a loss is a loss, regardless of how large or small.  Even if the change is one that we want, our life is changed and we need to mourn and say goodbye to that part of our lives.  Sometimes this is a few hours or a day and other times it is months or years.
  3. Pray and ask God for guidance and to help you move on—in all things we need to pray and ask God what He would have to do now.
  4. Accept your new normal—we have a new normal, even if it is for an interim time.  We have to accept this and learn how to live in this new reality.
  5. Determine your ultimate destination—we need to decide what our goals are.  What do we ultimately want in life?  Sometimes it takes weeks or months to determine what we may truly want and what God’s will might be for our lives.  We mustn’t forget to seek God’s will.
  6. Make a list of steps to reach that goal—now that we know where we are going, we need to access where we are and the steps to get from one place to the next.  Again, sometimes our goals are short term and other time they are long term.reach
  7. Work hard towards those goals—we work hard to meet these goals, whether it is returning to school, searching for a job, selling a house, etc.
  8. Continue to put one foot in front of another—there are days when life gets difficult and we don’t feel that we can keep going.  We take a deep breath and continue to put one foot in front of the other.
  9. Reach for your dreams—never give up—if this is truly what God has laid on your heart, never give up.  Ask for His help and keep pushing through no matter how difficult life gets at times.

Sometimes life altering events, lead to positive change.

What other ways do you deal with change?

 

Tweetables:

When Change isn’t your Idea

Techniques to deal with change 

Transitional Friday: Thinking Positively Through the Transition

When life gets us down, it is difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The devil pounces on the darkness and insecurities to bring us down.  In order to see the good and move forward, we need to see the positive.

This has often been a personal struggle for me, but each day I work to have a better attitude and move forward.

  1. Write your goalsgoal
  2. Write stepping stones towards your goals—what steps are necessary to reach the goals made.
  3. Reward yourself—find a way to reward ourselves for each small accomplishment we’ve made.  This could be a book or CD, massage, favorite restaurant, etc.
  4. Write positive affirmations and repeat them—I find that writing and repeating positive affirmations helps me to begin to believe them in time.  I heard one speaker {I wish I could remember who at the moment} state that they state these right before bedtime every night.
  5. Reflect on your situation, what brought you here and how far you’ve already come—I find it difficult at times not to dwell on how far I still have to go, but I have to look at how far I’ve come.
  6. Replace negative thoughts—don’t allow the dark places to crowd in and bring me down to where I’m useless.  The positive affirmations really help. prayer
  7. Pray and ask for God’s guidance and peace
  8. Listen to uplifting music and watch heartwarming movies—these lift the mind and help me to change perspective.  I have to remind myself I deserve this also.
  9. Find a peaceful place {ex. Lake, mountains, meadow, etc.} and remind yourself this too shall pass

What do you do to think positively?

 

Tweetables:

Thinking Positively Through the Transition

Transitional Friday: Ecclesiastes 3: 18-22, The Purpose of Life

We are wrapping up our look at Ecclesiastes 3 and a season for all times.

I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals—God tests us to show us that we have the beastly quality of animals and will prey upon others.

 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals—man is frail     ashes and dust

the same fate awaits them both—their existence is temporary

As one dies, so dies the other—all living, breathing animals {whether human or not} will died one day

All have the same breath—we all breath the same air

humans have no advantage over animals—we do not have long to live in righteousness and honor before God

Everything is meaningless—if we’re not living for God then it is all meaningless
 All go to the same place—life is fleeting and we all go to the same place

all come from dust—we came from dust ; Abraham asked in Genesis 18:27, “who am I but ashes and dust”  return to earth

and to dust all return—one day we will all return to dust; think about the burial ceremony, we say “ashes to ashes and dust to dust”
 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?—only God knows if the human spirit goes up and the animal spirit goes down.  Some may say if the saved goes to heaven and the unsaved goes into the earth.

So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work—God wants us to enjoy our work and to work hard

because that is their lot—because that is why He made us.  He has a purpose for ALL of our lives.
For who can bring them to see what will happen after them—only God knows the purpose for our lives, how we will touch others and what will happen in the afterlife.  He also knows the rewards this life will bring into the afterlife.

What is your purpose in life?

 

Tweetables:

The Purpose of Life

Transitional Friday: Finding Balance as a Small Business Owner

Being a small business owner can be stressful and all time consuming.  The important thing is to find a balance between life and being a business owner.

What are some ways to do this?

Set specific hours to work on your business.  Let your friends and family know that you are working during this time.

Set aside specific time for your family.  Family is very important and these are relationships that you do not want to lose. pamper self

Set aside at least one hour a week for your hobby.  Whether you enjoy golfing, watching a movie or another hobby, set aside time each week to enjoy yourself and to do something you love where you don’t have to think about work.

Set aside at least one hour a week to pamper yourself.  Set aside time each week just for you.  Whether you just enjoy the peace and quiet or go for a massage or mani/pedi do something special for yourself.

Bible Study         Start each day with God.  I always feel better when I start my day by spending time with God.  This doesn’t have to be long, but even fifteen minutes each morning make a difference.  I like to read the word and spend time in prayer.                      exercise

Set aside time for exercise each day.  I feel better when I exercise and think clearer.  I love to walk and usually spend this time in prayer.  I promise the time will be worth it and well spent.  In order to give my all to business, I have to start by taking care of myself.  If you’ve read my weight loss journey you know this isn’t easy but I’m working on making the necessary changes.

Set aside time each week to give to others.  Even if it’s just an hour a week, I always feel better when I do something for others.  I also believe that your benevolence will come back to you.

How do you balance life and being a small business owner?

 

 

Tweetables:

Finding Balance as a Small Business Owner

Life Balance between running a business and living a rewarding life

Creative Thursday: How setting goals can help you be more productive and creative

Setting goals is a great way to move forward and achieve your objective.  These don’t have to be huge goals, but they can be.

Whether you want to write a book or paint a mural, setting goals can be a great place to start.

Did you know that:

creativeo   People are much more likely to reach their goals if they write them down?

o   Setting goals helps you to visualize what you want to achieve?

o   Setting goals helps you to work out the steps necessary to reach your desired outcome?

o   Setting goals helps you track the progress you’ve made?

o   Setting goals keeps you focused on moving towards the dream?

What are some of your goals that you are working towards?

 

Tweetables:

Why setting goals is so important in creativity

How setting goals can help you be more productive and creative

 

Transitional Friday: Questions to Ask Before Becoming a Small Business Owner

Last week we discussed taking the plunge into being a small business owner.  We looked briefly at a few questions to ask yourself.

Let’s look at these questions in greater detail this week:     under investigation

  •            Are you ready for the responsibility? –are you ready for all of the work and responsibility to rest on your shoulders?, are you able to make the decisions that need to be made?, can you lead others underneath you?, is your family prepared for this change in income?, have you thought about insurance and how that will be covered?
  •             Are you ready to do the work?—are you ready to do to the work necessary to build your business?, do you have a marketing plan?, are you prepared to network?, can you explain in 30 seconds or less what you do?, is this already a proven part time business that you are taking fulltime?

 

  •             Are you ready for the challenge?—are you ready for the ups and downs that come with business?, do you have a financial cushion for slower months?, are you ready to work 50-60+ hours a week to build your business?

computer

  •             Do you have the emotional support necessary?—do you have family and friends that support this endeavor?, do they encourage you?, do you have a life coach that will guide, encourage and hold you accountable?, do you have a prayer team to pray for you?

 

  •             Do you have the financial support necessary?—does your spouse have a steady income?, do you have a financial cushion?, do you have at least a 3 month {preferably a year} of savings built up the way Dave Ramsey and Suzy Orman suggest?, is your spouse prepared to support the family while you build a business?, have you been profitable doing this on a part time basis?

 

  •             Do you have an area designated just for work?—do you have an office or area designated for work?, will you be working at home?, do you have set hours?, have you taken in distractions that might get in your way?, are you treating this as a job or a hobby?

 

  •             Do you have a business plan and a game plan?—do you have a business plan?, do you know the steps you need to take?, do you know where you want to go?, do you know how you’re going to get to where you want to go?, do you have a business mentor?                                 work at home

 

  •             Do you know what your focus is?—do you know what your focus is?, do you have one focus or many?, do you need to narrow down your focus?, do you know who your ideal client is?, can you explain your ideal client in 30 seconds or less?, can you explain your platform or product in 30 minutes or less?

 

What other questions did you ask yourself before becoming a small business owner?

 

 

Tweetables:

Questions to ask yourself before becoming a small business owner

Are you ready to be a small business owner?