One thing I learned about myself in my quest for entrepreneurship is that new ideas are the key. I think this really applies in any aspect of your life not just trying to open a new business.
A lot of times people are afraid to take risk and the old saying goes nothing ventured nothing gained.
One of my biggest fears is starting something and not finishing but this is something I am realizing is inevitable if I want to be flexible enough to change gears when something is not going to work out.
It is easy to sprout new ideas the hard part is doing something with them. No matter how big or small you feel an idea might be that will help you get to the next level in your goals do not be afraid to try.
Remember nothing ventured nothing gained.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The sanity in mentorship!
I wanted to discuss one of the reasons I am sane at my job today. I have a great mentor.
I am realizing more how important it is to have someone you can relate to as a means of guidance. My mentor in most areas is literally the white version (no censorship on this blog) of what I aspire to be if I have to continue to work at corporate America for a while longer. Her and I think the same way and have a similar approach to reaching our goals at work and in life. She is also a Go Getter like many of us. For example I have been at this company for almost 5 months and have come up on my first mid year career discussion. Since I value my mentors opinion greatly I shared with her my approach and timeline for success at the company. Her immediate response was “Your timeline for promotion is too long. You need to shorten it.” My first thought was wow, I had heard that you need to be here for at least 2 years before even thinking about getting promoted. But when I thought about it more it made perfect sense. Why should I limit my potential just because it is status quo. That is not me! I then changed the time frame to 8 months (probably a little too bold but what the hell). That feedback gave me what I needed to push myself.
For those of you that do not know, my current job is not a good fit for my skill set, which is ok. There is something to be learned in every situation where God lands you. Having a mentor that I share similar goals with helped to give some guidance and constructive feedback when I have found myself not in the most ideal working situation. It is about getting that different perspective from someone you look up to and feel you can trust.
Having the right person to be connected with is all it takes sometimes to make success happen.
I am realizing more how important it is to have someone you can relate to as a means of guidance. My mentor in most areas is literally the white version (no censorship on this blog) of what I aspire to be if I have to continue to work at corporate America for a while longer. Her and I think the same way and have a similar approach to reaching our goals at work and in life. She is also a Go Getter like many of us. For example I have been at this company for almost 5 months and have come up on my first mid year career discussion. Since I value my mentors opinion greatly I shared with her my approach and timeline for success at the company. Her immediate response was “Your timeline for promotion is too long. You need to shorten it.” My first thought was wow, I had heard that you need to be here for at least 2 years before even thinking about getting promoted. But when I thought about it more it made perfect sense. Why should I limit my potential just because it is status quo. That is not me! I then changed the time frame to 8 months (probably a little too bold but what the hell). That feedback gave me what I needed to push myself.
For those of you that do not know, my current job is not a good fit for my skill set, which is ok. There is something to be learned in every situation where God lands you. Having a mentor that I share similar goals with helped to give some guidance and constructive feedback when I have found myself not in the most ideal working situation. It is about getting that different perspective from someone you look up to and feel you can trust.
Having the right person to be connected with is all it takes sometimes to make success happen.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Back on Track
So I know I went a way for a while but I had some stuff to sort out. When I originally started this blog I was worried that maybe I would not be committed, maybe I would again start something and not finish, or that maybe it would become another to do on the list.
However I have to say I have felt a little bit of a gap not writing on this blog for the last couple of weeks. It has become my own little diary in a public way:-)
I think the overall concept with getting back on track if you have lost momentum in a project is key. As go getters we tend to get drawn into different directions. Sometimes I think the main ingredient for being a Go Getter is a having an intense case of ADD. We start so many trails but most times do not finish walking that trail. I realized that I did not want to take that path with this blog. I may not say hi every day but I am committed to sharing my thoughts whenever I have something important to relay or whenever I am super frustrated and need a great outlet.
I encourage all of you however to post comments and interact on this blog. It is not just for me but for all of you who have thoughts on what it means to be a woman trying to live up to your goals in life.
This is also a great way for us to share other resources.
I am avid about becoming an entrepreneur so if I find interesting information I think people will enjoy I will share those items as well.
Please feel free to do the same with whatever keeps you striving to achieve.
Tootles!
However I have to say I have felt a little bit of a gap not writing on this blog for the last couple of weeks. It has become my own little diary in a public way:-)
I think the overall concept with getting back on track if you have lost momentum in a project is key. As go getters we tend to get drawn into different directions. Sometimes I think the main ingredient for being a Go Getter is a having an intense case of ADD. We start so many trails but most times do not finish walking that trail. I realized that I did not want to take that path with this blog. I may not say hi every day but I am committed to sharing my thoughts whenever I have something important to relay or whenever I am super frustrated and need a great outlet.
I encourage all of you however to post comments and interact on this blog. It is not just for me but for all of you who have thoughts on what it means to be a woman trying to live up to your goals in life.
This is also a great way for us to share other resources.
I am avid about becoming an entrepreneur so if I find interesting information I think people will enjoy I will share those items as well.
Please feel free to do the same with whatever keeps you striving to achieve.
Tootles!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Stress - using your goals to stay positive
A lot of times battling all types of stress feels like we have had the wind knocked out of our sails. For me financial stress is probably one of the more depleting ones, especially when I am trying to stay positive and achieve goals and you need money to achieve those goals:-). This is the one stress that when I have it my entire world is hazy including the achievements I am trying to strive for. I have found though in having ups and downs in overcoming any issue the one thing that has always brought me through is re-focusing on my goal and where I want to take my life. When you have something you are striving for in life larger then yourself keeping that in sight at times can help. Think about it. One of the things you have control over is what you choose to spend time and energy on no matter what other things are happening. Always take time during hard situations to focus on the positive and keep your goals in plain view.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Focus
I struggled this weekend with whether or not to post comments. I decided that I needed to take time out and re-charge and re-focus. This is one important rule I find when trying to put forth plans to achieve your goals.
A lot of times we end up having 20 to do’s on our list of achievements and in turn rip ourselves a part if we do not achieve ALL 20 within our pre-set timeline. We have to be able to focus on the one goal that is most important and work our way down the list. Focus also forces us to really think about which goal is most important to us as Go Getters. It is the 80/20 rule. In this case the one that you are most passionate about is going to float to the top immediately.
I had a conversation with one of my best friends today who is finishing up her masters, working, and doing a number of other things. She was feeling a little frustrated because in her mind she has not achieved all the goals she set out to do over the years and has really been calibrating herself to this list. This is another reason why focusing is so important. If you know you have that one thing that will impact everything else positively to focus on you will have time to put that plan into action rather than worrying about accomplishing everything on the list. You also will have more likelihood to gain a win and feel good at the end of it all, which is important when it comes to driving through with your commitment of achieving your goal. If you end up feeling like you cannot accomplish EVERYTHING discouragement will set in quickly.
Remember as a Go Getter you will constantly have things on your plate that you keep piling on because you or even someone else feels you can get it done. Moral of the story is when to recognize the true value add to yourself in achieving your main goal when you focus.
A lot of times we end up having 20 to do’s on our list of achievements and in turn rip ourselves a part if we do not achieve ALL 20 within our pre-set timeline. We have to be able to focus on the one goal that is most important and work our way down the list. Focus also forces us to really think about which goal is most important to us as Go Getters. It is the 80/20 rule. In this case the one that you are most passionate about is going to float to the top immediately.
I had a conversation with one of my best friends today who is finishing up her masters, working, and doing a number of other things. She was feeling a little frustrated because in her mind she has not achieved all the goals she set out to do over the years and has really been calibrating herself to this list. This is another reason why focusing is so important. If you know you have that one thing that will impact everything else positively to focus on you will have time to put that plan into action rather than worrying about accomplishing everything on the list. You also will have more likelihood to gain a win and feel good at the end of it all, which is important when it comes to driving through with your commitment of achieving your goal. If you end up feeling like you cannot accomplish EVERYTHING discouragement will set in quickly.
Remember as a Go Getter you will constantly have things on your plate that you keep piling on because you or even someone else feels you can get it done. Moral of the story is when to recognize the true value add to yourself in achieving your main goal when you focus.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Tooting your own horn!
One of my mentors told me an interesting story that she heard at a women's conference at her alma mater a few weeks ago. I hope I can do it justice via a blog post but it really made an impact when I heard it in person and I automatically could relate.
If you had 200 people working for the same company in 1 room and 100 of them were men and the other 100 are women and someone got up on a podium and said the number 1 trait to becoming a CEO is knowing how to breast feed. Immediately all 100 men would raise their hands and start arguing about how they were breast fed, their wives breast feed, and how they have all this experience by witnessing women who have breast fed and can do the job right based on that.
The women on the other hand would sit there and start questioning themselves, criticizing if they really breast feed that well and none of them would raise their hand because they are so worried about tooting their own horn.
I will be the first one to admit this is a major weakness of mine. However I have not let it stop me in pushing through and striving to gain things I think I deserve. The first half of my career I relied a lot on people to promote my skills for me. I have realized over time that even though it is not attractive to be the one that is always tooting your own horn it is very important to ensure you are always communicating your value add to the right people who can get you to the next level.
If you had 200 people working for the same company in 1 room and 100 of them were men and the other 100 are women and someone got up on a podium and said the number 1 trait to becoming a CEO is knowing how to breast feed. Immediately all 100 men would raise their hands and start arguing about how they were breast fed, their wives breast feed, and how they have all this experience by witnessing women who have breast fed and can do the job right based on that.
The women on the other hand would sit there and start questioning themselves, criticizing if they really breast feed that well and none of them would raise their hand because they are so worried about tooting their own horn.
I will be the first one to admit this is a major weakness of mine. However I have not let it stop me in pushing through and striving to gain things I think I deserve. The first half of my career I relied a lot on people to promote my skills for me. I have realized over time that even though it is not attractive to be the one that is always tooting your own horn it is very important to ensure you are always communicating your value add to the right people who can get you to the next level.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Definition of a Go Getter
According to Webster's Dictionary the definition of a Go Getter means the following:
a person disposed to initiate action, rather than take instructions; an enterprising person; a person with a strong drive to accomplish useful goals; especially, one whose career progresses rapidly.
We can align this to a lot of activities in our day to day life. It does not have to be work or career driven but can even be that you are a Go Getter in relation to a more personal goal. For instance right now one of my main goals is to gain peace through eventually becoming debt free and living a more meaningful life (so owning my own time and not having to be at someone else's job all day). Right now that useful goal is driving me to continuously think about the tasks I need to execute in order to get there. A few things I am doing is taking an active look at every penny I spend (even if it is on a coffee at Starbucks) and evaluating how important that purchase is and if it is something that will help me achieve my goal. If it is not it does not get spent (even though I must be true and admit I have hit some road blocks here; like Nordstrom’s:-).
The Go Getter in me has set the goal and now I am driving as hard as I can to meet that achievement. It is an example on a different scale then climbing the corporate ladder, but those are obvious examples. What I want everyone to understand is being a Go Getter does not just apply to if you make CEO in 5 years at some company, but it can include different goals in life. The thing about having this drive as a Go Getter is that you do not just start the task to achieve, you consistently re-calibrate it, re-shift it in your head if something is not working and continue to chip away at it little by little until you have accomplished what you set out to do.
I talk to so many people that set useful goals one month and when you follow up with them 2 months later and ask what happened you get "oh that was way too hard to deal with so I could not bother". To me this is the main difference between everyone else and a Go Getter.
a person disposed to initiate action, rather than take instructions; an enterprising person; a person with a strong drive to accomplish useful goals; especially, one whose career progresses rapidly.
We can align this to a lot of activities in our day to day life. It does not have to be work or career driven but can even be that you are a Go Getter in relation to a more personal goal. For instance right now one of my main goals is to gain peace through eventually becoming debt free and living a more meaningful life (so owning my own time and not having to be at someone else's job all day). Right now that useful goal is driving me to continuously think about the tasks I need to execute in order to get there. A few things I am doing is taking an active look at every penny I spend (even if it is on a coffee at Starbucks) and evaluating how important that purchase is and if it is something that will help me achieve my goal. If it is not it does not get spent (even though I must be true and admit I have hit some road blocks here; like Nordstrom’s:-).
The Go Getter in me has set the goal and now I am driving as hard as I can to meet that achievement. It is an example on a different scale then climbing the corporate ladder, but those are obvious examples. What I want everyone to understand is being a Go Getter does not just apply to if you make CEO in 5 years at some company, but it can include different goals in life. The thing about having this drive as a Go Getter is that you do not just start the task to achieve, you consistently re-calibrate it, re-shift it in your head if something is not working and continue to chip away at it little by little until you have accomplished what you set out to do.
I talk to so many people that set useful goals one month and when you follow up with them 2 months later and ask what happened you get "oh that was way too hard to deal with so I could not bother". To me this is the main difference between everyone else and a Go Getter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
