View 112

This week Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc in Houston, TX Louisiana. The folks in these areas need help and relief efforts need money. Please consider donating any amount of money to support hurricane relief efforts. Pray for them and make a financial donation. This episode is going to be a mash up of sorts: a summer goals recap, August affirmations summary, I’m going to a book festival this weekend, and what makes me tick professionally. Thanks for listening to the 25th episode of the View 112 Podcast.

Happy September.  For me, September is a serious month.  Like summer is over, school, is back in session, etc. Kinda like January with the holidays being over and everyone’s back on their grind.   I have a few things to share so lets get into it.

Summer 2017 Goals:

1. Summer Streak (writing)

2. Summer Savings

3. Summer Wellness

4. My Summer Adventure

So what happens when you do not reach your goals? Do you set the same ones? I re-assess, see where I went wrong and make adjustments.  I think my first mistake is taking on way too much. I do that a lot if you haven’t noticed. Turns out my number one priority is school and all year I’ve known that.  This summer my priority was to pass my math class and everything fell to that.  

August Affirmations

1. I am worthy of all God has for me

2. I will do what it takes to graduate in 2018

3. I will build a lucrative writing business and advance professionally

4. My body is a powerful temple and I will take care of it

5. I will give and receive love beyond my wildest dreams

This week, at a work meeting we did an activity in which we had to identify our professional values.  Out of a list of probably 50 or 60 values we had to pick our top 3.  Turns out,my professional values line up with my personal values. I just HAD to pick 4:

My Professional Values 

1. Faith

2. Excellence

3. Positivity

4. Thoroughness

Finally, I am headed out to the Library of Congress National Book Festival today! I’ve never been to a book festival and I’m so excited. I’m look forward to seeing how the literary community gets down.  There are dozens of writers speaking today including authors like Roxanne Gay and Thomas Friedman, both of whose books I’ve read. I just can’t wait to take it all in.  It’s free and at the Convention Center in downtown Washington, DC.  I’ll be writing a recap of my experience.  

I've attempted several times in the past week to record this podcast. I didn't feel 100% about it because it's felt weird to simply discuss business and books as usual after seeing the events that happened in Charlottesville, VA. In the last week I’ve gone through a range of emotions: disbelief, frustration, anger, and now resolute. I am more determined than ever to fight hate and be a light.  Not only will I not tolerate the hate and divisiveness in our country but I will continue to shine by supporting initiatives, publications, organizations, and content that work to rid our country of this foolishness and highlight the power of justice and inclusion. Before you listen to this podcast, I hope we are aligned on these 2 things: 1. Hate has no place. 2. Hate is nothing new under the sun.  It's just been given a stronger voice by silence (i.e. tolerance) and emboldened by people like Donald Trump. Today I’m going to share a few of my thoughts on personal and professional responsibility here on the View112 podcast.

Like I said its been a long week. I've gone through a a multitude of feelings and thoughts about how I wanted to proceed with this particular episode. I have always viewed myself as a positive, progressive person and I wanted to be forward thinking in my sharing my thoughts and actions this week. Before I begin, I wanted to give you an update: ya girl finally passed this math class! Yaassssss! I am so close to the finish line so keep thinking of me and keeping your encouragement going. Thank you! Last weekend as I was working on my math final exam, I watched CNN disturbed. I live in the state of Virginia and its been shocking to see such evil happening literally in my state. While I am not naive to the fact that racism and bigotry still exists in our county, I've foolishly allowed myself to pretend in some ways that these things only really happen in the Deep South or something. As I get into this, I will share with you how I've discovered that not only have I been a bit simple minded in believing this hate exists elsewhere, but that I have work to do to fight it right here in my own backyard. In light of all that's happened, I think its interesting that the business community has been highlighted for having a strong moral compass than usual. This really got me thinking about what I can do and encourage you to do from a personal and professional standpoint to not tolerate and fight this foolishness.  

1. Speak out. It is literally the least you can do.  I have 2 thoughts on this.  First, silence is compliance. If you witness hate or injustice and say nothing you are compliant. When you say nothing you are actually tolerating this mess. It does not matter if you are not being directly impacted or if the targeted demographic is not one you are a part of. Dr. Martin Luther King put it perfectly "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." If you think that people who are targeting a specific group of people don't have it in them to target a different group of people, you are mistaken. My second thought on speaking out is to ensure you are diversifying your audience. The day after the election is the day I learned that there were 2 different conversations happening in this country. I learned then that just posting things on social media and making sure my friends knew to vote and all was simply not enough. I didn't find out until post election that I knew people who actually did not vote or people who did vote for Donald Trump. These people were very quiet during the entire election process. All of these people who were saying they were "undecided" were clearly decided, they just knew it would be unpopular to state their intentions. Additionally there are a lot of young people in this country who have given up on politics and don't believe the political process is apart of helping them exact the change they wish to see. So while I was speaking up, I was to the wrong audience. Sadly, I was preaching to the choir. I've heard this many times in church that telling only people in church about the goodness of Jesus is not going to save more lives. You have to open the doors of the church to everyone and you have to go out into the world.  We have to go out and speak out in other places. 

2. Educate yourself.  I mentioned how foolish I was for being surprised that white supremacists where prominent and active so close to where I live. I was foolish and uneducated. My company announced that it would make donations to human rights organizations, one of them being the Southern Poverty Law Center. I had not heard of this organization and decided to do some research. Not only is this organization quite progressive in fighting hate, I learned a lot from being on their website alone. I learned that there are at least 42 hate groups just in my state of Virginia. 11 of them are within a 20 mile radius of where I live. Some of them are disguised behind names and companies. They don't all say the KKK or We Hate. They are titled things like National Policy Institute, Washington Summit Publishers, and Center for Perpetual Diversity and Virginia Publishing Company.  So of course I hate when people make generalizations about black people. (you know, how Donald Trump thinks we all live in inner cities and are poor?) Well I've been generalizing racists and white supremacists too. I thought they were all poor, proud red necks living in the middle of America somewhere. But nope. Turns out that many of these hate organizations are targeting young, college educated men. Turns out white supremacists are also working and thriving right here in Virginia commuting to work in the same traffic as me, shopping with their wives at the grocery store with me, and probably at the next pump over at the gas station.  One of the benefits of educating yourself is to ensure that your efforts are not working against you.  Case in point: PayPal. PayPal already had an Acceptable Use Policy which banned the promotion of hate and violence etc. saying they would not support account users who did this. Now, did they have a policy in place to police it? Doesn't seem like it. It wasn't until they found out that their service played an integral role in funding the hate that we saw in Charlottesville, VA that they removed these accounts and sent out a statement.  I am glad PayPal took action, but let us all learn a lesson that to simply say something is of value to us is not good enough. We must also have things in place in ensure our values or not compromised.  Hate comes in all shapes and forms and the methods to perpetuate hate also come in different ways.  If you are unclear about a particular organization, please educate yourself (not just listen to news commentators or your friends) on what organizations are about and what they are doing. One other thing that really irritates me is when people say that the Black Lives Matter organization is a hate group. Their demand is simple: stop killing Black people. That's it. Do the research for yourself and to those people out there that are saying Black Lives Matter is a hate group. Stop it.

3. Allocate Resources. We cannot wait around for other people (politicians, companies, etc) to do the work WE want to see done. We've got to put ourselves on.  Once you've educated yourself, you need to mobilize your resources (money and time) toward organizations, initiatives, and politicians that are working toward the change you wish you see. I've said this time and again, to be the light.  For every dark deed or moment we can bring the light.  For me, I am donating money to the SPLC along with my company.  I love the work they are doing.  Now that I know one of the hate groups is a publishing house, I'm even more amped up to support publishing houses and literature that promotes diversity and inclusion.  I decided a few weeks back that I wanted to purchase and donate copies of the book The Hate U Give by by Angie Thomas. This YA book follows the journey of a young person turned activist when an unarmed friend is killed by police.  Finally, I know I can force change mostly on a local level by connecting with my state and local government officials. I have downloaded the Countable App and the Arlington County Government App to keep better track of what's happening on a state and local level.  Not just national news with the current WH administration.  

Those are my thoughts, ideas, actions.  Let me know yours.  Did I miss anything? Is there an organization you want me to know about? Email me at [email protected]

A couple of days ago, I had a chat with a co worker who just received a promotion and is moving cross country to California. I let him know, as a member of my team I always admired how relentless he was about his own professional development. This guy is always reading up on our industry and practicing sales tips/techniques. He even learned a couple of languages to prepare for different opportunities in Asia. In lieu of coming on the podcast, he gave me the title of today’s episode: Chance Favors the Ready. I am going to let you know what that means to me and how I put it into practice here on the View 112 Podcast.

Chance Favors the Ready… its right up there with Seneca the Younger’s “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. In other words stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.  I’m here for that! Here are a few of my best practices to prepare for a professional opportunity:

1. Take a good look at that LinkedIn profile and resume. I used to have a bad habit of waiting until I applied for jobs or promotions to update my LinkedIn Profile and resume. Applying for a job or promotion is stressful enough let along having to update your credentials with a resume or on LinkedIn. Now as I am working on freelance writing, I’ve added that to my LinkedIn profile and I built a writing resume. Now as I work on different projects and have had different experiences, I make note of them. Since I interview people a lot, I notice when people are not prepared to talk about their work or experiences. Not because they don’t have them, but maybe they’ve forgotten about them or have not thought about how they could relate the work. As professionals we meet people all the time and people are constantly looking at our LinkedIn profiles. Heck all of our social media profiles for that matter.  What does yours say about you when you don’t have the opportunity to speak for yourself? I’ve learned especially in my current role to be prepared to meet anyone at the drop of a dime and with little notice. I reach out to my peers and other leaders for advice and support and people reach out to me to find out what I’m doing as well. I have to be ready to talk about what I’m doing. How I achieved a certain result etc.  Those skills come from experiences and I make sure those experiences are also on my resume. The recruiter at my current employer told me he found me based on ONE line on my resume about corporate sales. I had only done true B2B sales 1 year out of my 12 year career history but that 1 year of experience is how this recruiter found me. 

2. Commit to skill building RIGHT NOW.  Speaking of B2B Sales, my co worker I referenced in the open and I used to practice different sales techniques all the time. We’d practice different cold call openings. We practiced different email templates. We practiced making calls standing up versus sitting down. We learned how to build our own campaign lists- a skill we both learned from other jobs. When career opportunities first opened up in China, my coworker began learning Mandarin. I know a few people that went to China but he is only person I knew that actually learned Mandarin. Even though he no longer works in China, he is connected with colleges there and communicates with them via WeChat in Mandarin. I could go on forever about language learning as it is my biggest life long learning goal. But friends, do you know how much more opportunity is available to you by being multilingual? As a teenager I took a sign language class with my mom. To this day, I can communicate slightly via ASL because of that class. I’ve had a couple of coworkers over the years that have taught me more signs. Last year I was asked to go to a recruiting fair at Gallaudet University. While mostly we used our technology to communicate with candidates, I was able to sign a bit and connect with candidates on a level that other recruiters did not. They didn’t know how to sign at all. Now that I think of it, most of the skills I’ve learned, I’ve learned with other people or by reading and practicing. At a pervious employer I had an assistant that would pull all kinds of reports for me. One day I asked him to show me how to do it. Anytime I need someone to help me do something, I also want them to show me how they did it. When I first got into blogging, I hosted my blog on Wordpress, then I learned how to host it on my own using BlueHost. Today view112.com is hosted on SquareSpace. I had to learn how to maintain a blog on a new platform and host The View 112 Podcast. All of these skills will manifest themselves in different ways and at different times. I won’t have to get ready though.  

3. Know what’s poppin in your industry.  I’ll keep this one short. READ. Seriously, the major benefit coming out of the digital age is the amount of information that is accessible. Put it to good use. This is why I don't watch much television. Yes, of course I watch some (Game of Thrones, Ballers, Insecure tonight and when the NFL starts oh boy). Still on a regular basis, I simply do not have the time to watch much television. There is so much other content I need to consume to prepare me for the opportunities of my life. Reading is my favorite way to consume content and for quick reads on my industry, I check out FlipBoard at least once a day. FlipBoard can be arranged by topics like business, technology, travel, etc. You can curate your own content from different places like Business Insider and Fortune Magazine.   There I read literally dozens of articles per day. I also get alerts on my iPhone and Apple Watch from Apple News. Similarly to FlipBoard, you can curate the content you read from different outlets such as Time Magazine and The Washington Times. I read and listen to podcasts about my career industry. I also read and listen to podcasts about writing. I read Writers Digest and Readers Digest. I get newsletters sent to my email inbox from different places. Lastly I follow my industry on social media. I like to be in the know. Consuming all of this type of content helps me be in the know. I can connect with most people about anything (except movies-I don’t watch them lol).

4. Practice apprenticeship. Yep. Allow me to share an example of this from an episode of HBO’s Insecure: The character Molly was on a video call with a colleague from another office in a different state. It was clear this woman was in a higher position than Molly, but the 2 ladies had a good working relationship and Molly had worked on projects with this lady before. Anyway at the end of the call Molly mentioned that she’d learned a lot from working with the woman and would be glad work with her in the future. The woman thanked Molly, then paused and said come to think of it, I do have some big cases coming up and could use the help. She asked Molly if she would be available to spent time between the Chicago and LA offices. Molly said sure. I sat there thinking, now thats…how… you…do…it! Do you know the opportunities that are going to come to Molly (my fav on the show) from this? Side note: Shout out to HBO’s Insecure for highlighting a lot of things on that episode including unequal pay. It is important to give help. Offering help in this way has a bad reputation in some circles as brown nosing which is ridiculous. Of course there are ways to go about this which are inappropriate. With the right professional relationship, being an apprentice to a more seasoned person in your field is totally the move. I was listening to an episode of the MyTaughtYou Podcast with Myleik Teele and she had on author Ryan Holiday. I’ve read 2 books by Ryan Holiday: The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy. I learned that Ryan worked for THE Robert Greene who wrote The 48 Laws of Power. Holiday did research and learned workflow and all types of tips and techniques while working for Robert Greene that have made him an incredible writer in his own right. Over the years, I have offered help outside the scope of my role for people I've worked for. Favors as small as grabbing coffee to typing conference call/meeting notes when I didn’t have to. I have helped with much larger things like helping to research points of a presentation that I didn’t get credit or help for. I’ve done work that people are too busy to do. Often times there was no direct payoff in the moment. I’ve learned over the years that sitting around the right people or being in the room at the right time has paid off more than I could ever imagine. There have been so many moments I’ve found myself in situations in which I have not had direct experience. Again, not direct experience, but I’ve seen that situation or something similar before while I was in that room as a fly on the wall, quietly working.  

Chance Favors the Ready-Thank you so much to my co worker Alex Kim, the inspiration for today’s episode.  If you enjoy listening to the View 112 Podcast, please do me a favor and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. I’d really appreciate a rating on Apple Podcasts as well. You can ask questions and connect with me via email at [email protected].  I can be found on social media LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter all as Jeanita Morris too. Until next time… 

Affirmations are specific statements used to help you visualize and believe in what you are setting out to do. Today I am sharing my brief story of affirmations and the new book I’m reading The Motivation Manifesto here on the View 112 Podcast. 

I've spent a lot of time talking about goal setting and quarterly reviews. I've also been reading a lot about affirmations so I've decided to give them a try. In the past, I've used something similar to affirmations such as mantras while running or working out to encourage myself past the mental hurdles that pop up. I also recently listened to an episode of The Tim Ferris Show in which Seth Godin shares his experience with affirmations. His testimonial convinced me further to give it a whirl. 

I will be saying these affirmations out loud 3 times per day (I've set a reminder on my iPhone) and writing them down once per day.   On this podcast I share the whys behind my August affirmations:

I am worthy of all God has for me. 

I will do what it takes to graduate in 2018

I will build a lucrative writing career and advance professionally.

My body is a powerful temple and I will take care of it. 

I will give and receive love beyond my wildest dreams

As a nice compliment to this practice, I just picked up The Motivation Manifesto from Brendon Burchard. In this book, Burchard shares his 9 Declarations and I find them to be pretty powerful. I share them as well. Books come into our lives in different seasons and can be used for many different reasons. Again, I think this book will be a great compliment to the work I'm doing with affirmations.  Hope you enjoy this episode.  

In episode 8 of the View 112 Podcast, I did a 2017 Q1 review and was pretty pleased with my results.  Mapping out my annual goals quarter by quarter has certainly helped me stay on track with most things. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback about that podcast as well as a listener question that I’d like to share in a bit. Here is the Q2 Breakdown of my goals

April:

• Running (register for a fall race, run 5k Fridays in April, biking and yoga

• School: Keep the focus for the semester and prep to do math prep.

• 1-2 blog posts per week.

May:

• Finish spring semester strong

• Game plan for summer semester

• Half training biking yoga

• Look for bday celebration spots

• Visit mom and dad

• 1-2 blog posts

June:

• Create summer specific goals

• Summer semester prep

Things I added from last quarter:

• find a therapist

• annual physical

• get divorce paperwork handled

• Get a mentor and join a writing community

Update on Summer Goals:

• Summer writing streak

• Summer savings

• Summer wellness

A listener question:  A question for you for your podcast, or just advice. After listening to the episode about your Q1 goals, I have to admit--hearing you list off your goals one by one by one had me pretty apprehensive...and then you said, "moving on to February"--I freaked out! All those accomplishments just for the month of January?!?!? It had me feeling pretty down. However I kept listening and you got to the part of what you have checked off your list and what you hadn't. I felt two things: one-I need to set more goals, and two-Rome wasn't built in a day. It was inspiring to hear all of your goals - just for Q1 and what you deemed important and urgent, and what could wait a bit and didn't have to be accomplished then and there. So---long-winded way to get to the question: what is your opinion on vision boards? Do you use one? Have you done one in the past? If so, did you find it effective in reaching and/or charting those goals, both large and small? Do you feel it visually helps accomplish goals or is it just as useful as writing it down? Lastly, if you're a proponent of it, steps to make it happen (and make it?!).

For the 20th Episode of the View 112 Podcast, I snag a special guest! One of my business mentors, Terrence McBurnie II. Terrence has served in the United States Air Force, holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration, and has enjoyed an accomplished career in leadership with a couple of Fortune 100 caliber companies. Terrence is the first person to acquaint me with the concept of having a Personal Board of Directors for development. This concept of mentorship has changed the way I asses mentors and reevaluate the type of mentor I am to others. On this episode, I ask Terrence more details about establishing a Personal Board of Directors and what components are important to him. As usual, he provides great insight. You'll see why he's one of my mentors.  

During our chats over the years, Terrence challenged me with a thought from renowned author, speaker, and businessman Jim Rohn:  "You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with". We discuss the significance of this this concept and the power of cultivating relationships that matter.

Thanks for much for listening!

-Jeanita 

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing Dad's out there!  For this special Father's Day edition of the View 112 Podcast, I invite my sister to return and this time we dish on our Dad, David Morris.  Our dad had an incredible impact on us as professionals in the workplace.  My dad worked at the National Education Association for over 30 years.  Through his example, we learned the importance of business relationships, business professional essentials, and the power we have to enhance our career through self development.  Thank you for all you've done Dad.  We love you!

As a modern day professional, on-going learning and development should remain a priority. I have an insatiable thirst for learning and always look for ways to master more, improve and gain extra insight. There are countless, inexpensive ways we can take initiative in our own personal development. Thanks to the power of technology, a variety of educational platforms are accessible to us. Vehicles such as podcasts, webinars, online classes, apps, etc are ours for the devouring. You can learn anything you want! I'd like to share with you how I’m investing in my development this summer. 

1. I'm taking writing courses.  One of my Q2 Goals was to join a writing community and get a mentor. Well I joined 2 writing groups on LinkedIn and I have a subscription to Writer’s Digest Magazine. For months I’ve been researching different writing courses. These courses normally run $230-300 and finally after waiting a bit, I was able to get a bundle of courses on sale with other materials for $50. (Talk about winning!) Check out the materials and content I have received for $50:  

• How to Blog a Book eBook

• Build Your Author Platform Through Blogging OnDemand Webinar

• From Blog to Agent to Book Deal: Writer’s Digest Conference Session

• 50 Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic MP4

• Is Your Blog a Book: When, How, Why (and Why Not) Your Social Medial Could Become a Traditionally Published Book OnDemand Webinar

• Author Blogs: How to Get Started with This Platform Essentials and Use it to Snag An Agent MP4

2. I'm taking a college math course.  I’ve mentioned before that I'm currently in school pursuing a degree in Management Studies. So far, all of the major related classes have come easy to me. I’ve been able to draw for my experience for projects and papers. That’s one of the benefits of being an adult learner. Experience. All I have left to graduate are math and math related classes. One class, which is the introductory math class (you know the one you can test out of), I have failed twice.  I have not been able to test out and I have not passed the class. This is quite embarrassing for me. Failed classes are a part of my past. I failed my Senior thesis in college. I refuse to let this be an obstacle that prohibits me from finally graduating. So this summer I start this class again. I have also downloaded several apps and lessons to help me from a tutoring standpoint. Normally I take 2-3 classes but this summer I am going to focus on just this one. I am determined to get over this math hump. While this is hard for me to admit, I’ve learned that being vulnerable and asking for help is one of the best ways to tackle problems. Whenever I mention my math problems to someone, they are incredibly kind and have offered solutions.  My best friend's son (a high school student) shared his math apps. I’ve had co workers who have degrees in math.  Who knew? I will not struggle through this alone and that’s a great feeling.  

3. I'm reading allllll the Summer Reads.  Friends, I am reading SO MUCH this summer. In addition to the 3 books I’m going to read during the View 112 Summer of Business Books Reading Challenge, I’ve picked up a couple of other titles including:

• I Can’t Make This Up by Kevin Hart

• You Are a Bad Ass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

• Thank You For Being Late by Thomas Friedman

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

• Content Inc by Joe Pulizzi

• The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

4. I'm here for podcasts. It's not just my own podcast I love folks! I consume a lot of podcasts.  Here are 12 of my very favorites:

• The 5am Miracle

• The Tim Ferriss Show

• My Taught You Podcast

• Pod Save America

• Lovett or Leave It

• SideHustle Pro

• Revisionist History

• How I Built This

• Pay Checks and Balances

• Freelance Writing Success

• The Read (for the laughs)

• His & Hers & SC6

How are you investing in your development this summer? Share with me all of the courses, books, and podcasts...

On this episode of the View 112 Podcast I interview a colleague I admire, Patrick Godfrey. Patrick is one of the most inspiring leaders I know. His work ethic and integrity are unmatched. Last year, during my 112 Books reading challenge, Patrick gifted me a very special book, Together is Better by Simon Sinek. I was touched by such a thoughtful and insightful gesture. Patrick gave me this book right at the start of a new professional journey. I read a few of these (my favorite) quotes from the book to Patrick and we had quite a fun chat:

“Leadership is an education.  And the best leaders think of themlseves as the students, not the teachers” p.89

“If the challenge doesn’t scare us, then it’s probably not important” p.45

“The opportunity is not to discover the perfect company for ourselves.  The opportunity is to build the perfect company for each other” p.80

"Fulfillment is not born of the dream.  Fulfillment is born of the journey" p.91. 

"Don’t complain, contribute" p.4

Patrick hails from the state of Ohio is all about Ohio sports.  For part 2 of this episode, Patrick and I (with a few friends) head over to The Big Board in Washington, DC and watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals.  We talk LeBron and I get Patrick's NBA Finals prediction. 

This one was fun!  Thanks so much Patrick for being on the View 112 Podcast.  

Thursday June 1st, I kick off the View 112 Summer of Business Reading Challenge. My group is going to read and discuss 3 books that will leave us better in our business lives by the end of summer. This got me thinking about other things I want to accomplish during this time period. Soon I will be doing a Q2 review post/podcast and prepping for Q3, but I want to set goals specific to my favorite time of year: SUMMER!

1. Summer Streak (Writing Goals): I got this idea from Runner’s World Magazine. They have a challenge for people to run 1 mile per day everyday between Memorial Day and Labor Day which is 99 days. From what I’ve read in the past about these short streaks, they are pretty helpful. For example, Runner’s World Magazine also had a challenge to run at least 1 mile per day from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Day to encourage people to have a fit holiday season. The reviews and feedback during and after the streak from people doing the challenge were all positive. Most people who remained committed did appreciate the habit building experience. Knowing they needed to run that mile no matter what proved to be helpful. People ran in airports waiting for delayed or cancelled flights. People ran with their families before or after gatherings and dinners. I would like to apply this same strategy to writing this summer. I’m going to do a writing streak between Memorial Day and Labor Day of writing a minimum of 300 words per day. I expect to benefit from a daily writing habit. No pressure to post, not rhyme or reason, just shut up and write. Let’s see what kind of writer I will be in about 100 days.

2. Summer Savings: I just picked up the book You are a BADASS at Making Money by Jen Sincero. If I’m honest, my financial goals are pretty limited. I just want to purchase a new spot when my lease is up next year in April. I have about a year to put myself in the best position to make that happen. I’m pretty good at finding ways to make money, but I need to do better saving and managing money. Especially as I acquire more money, I don’t want to blow it. Probably like most of us, money management is one of the things I think (read agonize) about regularly. I’m blessed to be gainfully employed and building a writing business. I’m grateful I can pay all of my bills and still have disposable income for creature comforts and little luxuries. Still, I know I am not maximizing my full potential when it comes to money management and financial freedom. My goal is to save $100 per week. With 14 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, that’s $1400 bucks. I’m going to add this money into the business account I just opened a few weeks ago.

3. Summer Wellness: In the 2017 Q1 Review, I discuss my goal to see a therapist and work on my mental health. Since then, many people ask me why I think I need to see a therapist. Well truth is, I stress about a lot of things. In fact, I can analyze situations to a paralyzing fault. Additionally, I carry a lot of guilt and regret about the past. While I don’t think I’m stuck in the past, I certainly am great at reminding myself over and over of the major failures of my life. I need to work through letting things go. I can forgive other people, but I’m terrible to myself when it comes to making mistakes. Because of this, I’m not as fearless as I want to be in life and business. I anticipate making the “big mistake” I will add to the list of other “big mistakes” in my life, stall out, or sabotage things all together. I need to push through this. I think seeing a therapist will help me do the mental work. I’ve read over and over again about the value and benefits of meditation, particularly for people like me who are tightly wound, anxious, and over worked. I want to find the balance between being grateful for all I have while building to be better. Since I’m already building my life and business to higher heights, I want to be able to enjoy the journey for once in addition to the rewards that will undoubtedly come. I’d like to chronicle my wellness journey this summer (mind and body).

These are all deliberate goals I’ve set from myself, but I have one more.  It’s hard to articulate but essentially, I want to enjoy an amazing summer adventure. I don’t know what that means other than I want to do or experience something this summer that will get me out of my comfort zone and stretch me in ways that I can't think or imagine. Seems weird but I don’t know what that is.  All I can say is that I will be looking and preparing for that opportunity. I have friends that want me to do everything from kayaking to skydiving. Again I’m not sure sure what I’m going to do but I want Summer 2017 to be epic. I’ll keep you updated on my journey throughout the summer.  Be on the lookout for live podcasts and blog posts on many of the updates. What about you? Are you a sun seeker, thrill seeker, goal getter or all of those rolled into one? Have you considered goals for Summer 2017?