So over the weekend, I had some AH-MAZING women participate in our Made to Succeed Academy’s – Women Who Are Made to Succeed panel discussion where we got real and raw about our individual journeys of success, confidence and womanhood. Even though the session is for my high-school students who are a part of the program, I walked away feel super inspired, empowered and blessed to know these exceptional ladies.
One of the women on our panel was media personality, Déjà Vu, who some of you who are in the New York City area may know from the radio station WBLS. She’s such a ball of positive energy and she said shared something powerful during our panel discussion that struck a chord with all of us, “Don’t be the girl who cried goal.”
Are you that girl? Have you been saying you’re going to do something but for some reason or another, you haven’t gotten it done yet nor have you started your plans to achieve that goal? Are you walking around “talking about it” but not “being about it?”
Don’t feel bad if you are that girl because I was that girl for a few years too. When I was working at Atlantic Records, I started hating my job after about a year or so. I had co-workers and close friends who I would constantly complain to about all the reasons why I hated my job. Well after a few years of complaining and not doing anything about it, one of my close friends grew sick of my complaints. She told me what I needed to hear. She blatantly reminded me that I had been complaining about the same thing for years, so it was time to either do something or shut up about it.
That was the moment that I woke up and set my goal of leaving my job and going full-time into my purpose by that April as we had that conversation in January. It’s been over four years and I never looked back.
I understand that circumstances in your life may be less than ideal to start pursuing certain goals. I’ve learned, however, that there is no such thing as perfect circumstances. You may be putting off your goals for an illusion of a perfect moment and it’s making you into that girl who cried goal. If this is you, that stops today.
We can allow ourselves to let any little thing can deter us from starting or finishing a goal. Perhaps you want to strengthen your relationship with God so you’ve decided to get back into going to church. Well Sunday morning comes and because it’s raining or it’s too cold outside you decide not to go. Maybe you set a goal to become an actress but because you went on a few auditions and got rejected, you decide to stay comfortable in that corporate job that you can’t stand.
Do you have anyone in your life that’s holding you accountable to those goals that say you’re going to accomplish? If not, you definitely should and I’m available to help you too. There are going to be challenges on your journey of birthing your success but you have to be committed to see it through. It’s going to be a challenge to accomplish your goals if you’re around people who are not goal-oriented and driven because if they’re comfortable in mediocre circumstances then that will rub off on you.
What’s something that you said you were going to do but you keep putting off? Or what things are you allowing to distract you from finishing what you started?
I hear so many women complain about their jobs, their lifestyles, their finances, their relationships but won’t do anything to create change. What are you going to start doing now to create the change that you want to see? If you want to go on that vacation then go, even if you have to go by yourself. If you want to shift careers then do it, even if no one in your family supports you. If you want to write that screenplay then start doing it now, no more wasting time.
Think about all the books that haven’t been written, businesses that haven’t been started, songs that haven’t been sung, or dreams that have gone unfulfilled because of the fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of success or fear of the unknown.
I’ve heard it said before that one of the wealthiest places in the world is the cemetery because there are dozens of ideas and inventions that died with those people. You don’t want that to be your story – be the girl who slayed her goals, not cried about it.
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
@iammariaimelendez