Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 30th

Your accountability partner keeps you on track and moving forward in all aspects of your development. – Mike Staver

People often say that motivation doesn’t last.  Neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar

Accountability: The missing link in achieving your health and fitness goals. – thehumbledhomemaker.com

People who wrote down their goals were 42% more likely to achieve them than the ones who didn't. Telling a friend increases this rate to 78%. - Brian McCormick

As a goal-driven and pretty disciplined individual, I have never had an accountability partner.  I know what my dreams are and work towards accomplishing my goals to achieve my dreams.  However, this year I had a friend ask if I would be interested in being accountability partners and I said yes.  The plan was to meet once to discuss our goals for the year and then weekly we would communicate via email to discuss our progress.   

With it being only a month into the year, I have to say it has taken my drive to accomplish my goals to a whole new level!  For example, I have a goal to cook or bake something every week.  I have gotten away from both activities since I do not have anyone to cook or bake for and need to work on developing my skills again.  Knowing that I will have to give an update to my accountability partner sometime in the week, I am challenged to make sure I am working on this goal as it would be an easy goal to dismiss. 

And by having this goal, I had a first in my life…I was told by a friend that I was not allowed to make Oreo truffles for a while because they were amazing and way too easy to devour all of them! 

Challenge: Would having an accountability partner assist you in accomplishing your 2018 goals?  If so, start thinking about a colleague or friend who you could ask to be your accountability partner. 

Next week, I will give some tips and guidelines on how to set up an accountability partnership.

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 23rd

Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.
― Barry Finlay, Kilimanjaro and Beyond

You can’t fall if you don’t climb.  But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground. – Unknown

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. – Henry Ford

Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it. – Andy Rooney

If you never attempt the ascent, you'll never know the thrill of swooshing down the other side. - Unknown

Over the last month, Terri’s Tuesday Tip of the Week has discussed dreams, dream boards, goals and “mundane repetitiveness” (habits).  After a conversation with a friend last August, I had an epiphany.  Accomplishing our dreams is like climbing a mountain.  When we dream, we are excited about a new idea and are at the mountain peak.  We are drilling down on our dreams (going down the mountain) when we create our goals and our habits are the base of the mountain.  HOWEVER, to accomplish our dreams, we must climb the mountain.  We start at the base of the mountain by doing our daily habits, which helps us accomplish our goals advancing us up the mountain and we reach the peak of the mountain when we achieve our dreams.   

Last week, I listened to a Business Boutique podcast (see Resources for podcast) by Christy Wright that had a similar idea.  She stated that when you come up with an idea, you have to break down the dream into smaller goals.  In her podcast, she did a formula of breaking down a goal all the way to the point of knowing how many words to write in a day to complete a 70,000-word book in 6 months.  Like me, she is a runner and used a running analogy for the mountain.  She said the scariest part of running a hill is looking to the top and immediately trying to reach the peak.  Wright says that she accomplishes running a hill one step at a time, one milestone at a time.  After mundane repetitiveness of putting one foot in front of another, she reaches the peak! 

Life is like a mountain, the climb is hard, but when you reach the top, the view is amazing. - Unknown

Challenge: What mountain are you climbing this year?  What small steps do you need to do to reach the peak of the mountain? 

Resources

https://www.businessboutique.com/podcast/ep-38-hitting-big-goals-by-winning-small/

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 16th

We are what we repeatedly do.  Success is not an action but a habit. – Aristotle

Success isn't always about 'Greatness', it's about consistency. Consistent, hard work gains success. Greatness will come...Success isn't overnight. It's when everyday you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up. – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Will Durant

Rowdy Gaines started swimming his junior year of high school and soon discovered he had a passion for being in the pool.  Auburn University offered him a swimming scholarship and he became a five-time NCAA champion.  With the Americans boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, he thought his chance of competing for a gold medal had passed and he stopped swimming.  After encouragement from his father, he jumped back in the pool and started training again.  Competing in 1984 at the Olympics in Los Angeles, he won the 100-meter freestyle and participated in two relays for the United States, which they won.

After winning his medals, he calculated all the miles he swam in the 8+ years leading up to the Olympics and discovered that he had swam over 20,000miles in 50-yeard increments.  Rowdy Gaines said:

I swam around the world for a race that lasted 49 seconds.

Gaines had passion, desire and discipline.  He learned that mundane repetitiveness is the best way to master anything. 

Challenge: Your dreams are displayed on your dream board.  Goals are hanging in a location making it easy to daily review them.  Now it is time to develop new habits that will help you accomplish your dreams and goals.  What consistent habits do you need to incorporate into your life to accomplish your goals and make this the best year of your life?  

Resources

https://heatherquisel.com/do-you-have-the-grit-it-takes-to-succeed/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-you-have-grit-takes-succeed-heather-quisel/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowdy_Gaines

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 9th

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for? - Robert Browning

Your goal should be just out of reach, but not out of sight.

-         Denis Waitley and Remi Witt

Are your 2018 goals written and located somewhere where it is easy to review them daily?  If not, it is not too late to write your S.M.A.R.T. goals to help you accomplish your dreams in 2018!

When I was creating my goals, I reviewed my benchmark data from previous years (June 27, 2017 to learn more: https://tuesdaytipoftheweek.blogspot.com/2017/06/terris-tuesday-tip-of-week-june-27th.html).  I noticed that I have exceeded my knowledge (reading and listening to books) goals over the last 3 or 4 years and I started thinking that I should make these goals a little bit harder this year to challenge myself.  Talking with my mom, I mentioned this to her and she suggested that I not make it too difficult because I do not know where life will take me in 2018 and her thinking was correct.  I took a couple days to ponder both sides of this issue…write a goal that would be easily attainable or set a goal that could be attainable based on previous years, but would challenge me.  Since I usually love a challenge, I decided to set “stretch goals”!  Additionally, I know that I will conduct quarterly goal reviews to see my progress and change either a personal behavior or the goal if something happens in my life that will prohibit me from accomplishing my goals.  Furthermore, when I accomplish these goal, it will mean more to me because I will know that I stretched myself to accomplish it. 

When I decided on my “stretch goals”, I started thinking about changes I could start making to accomplish my goals.  I know that I watch a little too much television in the evenings and often give myself the excuse of needing time where my mind does nothing.  I changed my mindset and determined that I can read to relax instead of watching television.    

When people sense victory, they sacrifice to succeed.  When people sense defeat, they give as little as possible. - Stretchyourself.org

Challenge: Review your goals.  Did you set easily attainable goals or did you challenge yourself where the goal is slightly out of reach?  To challenge yourself in 2018, write a “stretch goal” that is slightly beyond reach and go for it!  

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 2nd

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. – Lewis Carroll

Setting goals is the first step from the invisible to the visible. - Anthony Robbins

Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement. - Brian Tracy, Eat that Frog

WELCOME TO 2018!  I am excited a new year has arrived and I am ready to take it on with a vengeance. 

As a goal-driven individual, I will admit that I have been thinking about my 2018 goals for over a month and I am so excited to start working on them.  It took everything in me not to start reading a new book on New Year’s Eve afternoon because I wanted to accomplish my whole reading goal in 2018! 

Listening to various podcasts, news shows, etc., I learned that 92% of New Years goals fizzle by January 15^th and only 3 out of every 100 individuals write their goals down.  HOWEVER, those people that take time to create, write them down AND review them are 50% more likely to achieve them than someone who does not have their goals written down (goalband.co.uk). 

DO NOT WORRY if you have not yet written down your goals because TODAY is a great day to start!  Below are three steps to help you think about, create and daily review your goals to catapult you to success:

1.       Ask yourself “What do I want December 31, 2018 to look like?” and write it down in detail.

2.       To accomplish that dream/vision, it is important to create goals to help you progress daily towards your ultimate outcome for the year.  Many successfully people create S.M.A.R.T. goals because Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Oriented goals allow the individual to know when they accomplished the goal.  Additionally, I break my goals down into the “6 F’s” (Faith, Family, Future, Finances Friends, Fitness) because these are the areas that are most important to me.   (In the resource section below are links to previous blog posts to help explain these ideas).

3.       Once you are satisfied with your 2018 goals, print them off and daily review them to remind yourself of what you are pressing towards.  I suggest typing the goals and saving them so that each year you can review your previous goals. 

Challenge: Create your 2018 Goals.

Resources

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2014/04/08/why-you-should-be-writing-down-your-goals/#

http://www.goalband.co.uk/goal-achievement-facts.html

S.M.A.R.T. Goals – December 15, 2015 (https://tuesdaytipoftheweek.blogspot.com/2015/12/terris-tuesday-tip-of-week-december-15th.html)

6 F’s of Goal Setting – December 16, 2014 (https://tuesdaytipoftheweek.blogspot.com/2014/12/terris-tuesday-tip-of-week-decembner.html) & December 8, 2015 (https://tuesdaytipoftheweek.blogspot.com/2015/12/terris-tuesday-tip-of-week-december-8th.html)

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 26th

A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. - Jackie Robinson

There is incredible power in the arts to inspire and influence. - Julie Taymor

You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can impact a life forever. – Zig Ziglar

Last week, I recapped my New York City excursion and want to highlight one thing that I did not discuss.  Lynette Lewis did not set out to directly influence my life, but she changed the trajectory of my life because she pursued her purpose in life and her dreams.  What is also interesting is that I have a friend in Texas that heard me speak about personal purpose statements a number of years ago in my small group and she texted me about her personal purpose statement the Sunday I was leaving for New York.  Lynette Lewis has not only impacted my life, but also the many other people that have read my blog and attended the small group I led.   

We live our lives day to day and should strive to accomplish our purpose in life.  Based on my experience, we will not know until later in life or we may never know who we have impacted.  If you need a good movie to remind yourself of this, watch It’s A Wonderful Life.  George Bailey changed so many lives in Bedford Falls, but did not know until Clarence (the angel) revealed it to him. 

Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book.  Write a good one. – Brad Paisley

CHALLENGE:  I love the above quote from Brad Paisley because we are about to embark on another year.  2018 is going to be awesome and we have another opportunity to continuing writing our story and impact people’s lives along the way!

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 19th

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how. - Friedrich Nietzsche

If you have a strong purpose in life, you don't have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there. - Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it. - Gautama Buddha

When I moved back to Texas in 2006, I had no dreams, goals or a vision for my life.  A couple months after I moved back, the church I was attending had a lady’s conference and the speaker was Lynette Lewis who had graduated from the same college I did.  During that conference, she told her personal story of waiting until 42 to marry the man of her dreams and how she used her personal purpose statement to remind herself to press forward in life and not “fret” over the fact that she had not met the “right one”.  Listening to her, I was energized.  I read her book Climbing the Ladder in Stilettos: ten strategies for stepping up to success and satisfaction at work and then wrote my own personal purpose statement.  After contemplating the direction I wanted my life to head towards, I started learning about goals and decided I wanted to get involved in politics (look where that took me!).  Through the years, I have continued to follow Lynette Lewis by reading her blog, listening to podcasts, etc.

Fast forward to November 30, 2017.  As I was going through email, I saw one from her announcing a quarterly event in New York City called Love Your Life where the topic was going to be “Turning Your Passion into Your Profession”.  At first, I ignored the email and went on doing various things.  However, I kept seeing this email in my Inbox for a couple days and thought about attending.  After a week of contemplating, I decided to go.  One of my “40 Before 40” ideas had been to see New York at Christmas, so I decided I could two things with one trip.  (I posted my Christmas in New York pictures on Facebook in my 40 Before 40 albums!  I still love Tiffany’s on Fifth Avenue.) 

Back to my story…I drove to New York City on Sunday December 10^th and did sightseeing that Sunday night and on Monday December 11^th.  Around 4pm on Monday, I started questioning my sanity because I drove to New York City to attend an event where I would know absolutely NO ONE!  After receiving a text from my sister, I left my hotel and walked the half mile to the location.  Walking in, I was still questioning myself, but within 10 minutes of arriving, I met the nicest lady named Teri and we had a great conversation.  Additionally, I met a dance student who is originally from Washington, D.C. and is attending school in New York City.  She was fun to talk with because she could completely relate to my frustration with traffic. 

The program consisted of two women who found their passion and incorporated it into their professions.  After the program, I waited to talk to Lynette.  I asked her if she remembered speaking at the church in Austin, Texas and she said she did.  When I told her what an impact on my life she had, she gave me a big hug and was so excited that I had driven up from Washington, D.C. to attend.  Thinking about the evening as I was getting ready for bed, I realized all my fear and anxiety had been for nothing because I learned so much and had a great experience.

CHALLENGE:  If you do not have a personal purpose statement, I highly recommend that you take time to create one.  To learn more about how to create a personal purpose statement, check out Terri’s Tuesday Tip of the Week on December 8, 2015, email me and I can provide a plethora of documentation or check out Lynette Lewis website listed below.

Resources

http://www.lynettelewis.com/

Lewis, Lynette. (2006). Climbing the Ladder in Stilettos: ten strategies for stepping up to success and satisfaction at work. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 12th

Create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into that picture as if it were already true. - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Over the last couple of weeks, Terri’s Tuesday Tip has discussed how to conduct a personal year-end review and challenged readers to find something good out of every “disappointment”.  Now that we have completed those thought provoking activities, it is a great time to start thinking about what to accomplish in 2018.

As we are all busy with Christmas shopping, traveling, finishing tasks to complete our 2017 goals, it is important to take time to think.  John Maxwell said:  

Thinking is hard; that’s why so few do it.

Taking time to think provides the opportunity to clear our minds of the craziness around us, forget our accomplishments and disappointments of 2017 and only focus on what we desire to do next year and the rest of our lives.  A great place to start is to do what Diana Ross suggested:

Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead twenty years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.

I started this process a couple weeks ago and have taken a lot of time to think.  It has not been an easy process because there are so many uncertainties in my life right now.  However, this process has allowed me to think about the “what ifs” and dream about a future that is not on the path I had originally planned.

CHALLENGE: Take 90 minutes over the next week to think about where you want to be in twenty years.  Write it down.  Start thinking about what goals you will need to create for next year to accomplish that dream in twenty years. 

40 Before 40 Update: I accomplished #25 and #26 and am currently in the middle of working on the next few.  To view pictures of my different activities, here is the second Facebook photo album I created: https://www.facebook.com/terri.flow.3/media_set?set=a.10154855339932294.1073741853.598657293&type=3&pnref=story

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - December 5th

There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers. - Teresa of Avila

Some unanswered prayers are only because God doesn't want to do something for us. He wants to do something through us. – Bill Johnson

Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. - Rick Warren

Last week, I provided a template for completing a personal review of 2017.  As I was writing that blog post, I reminisced back to a Tip I wrote on January 17, 2017 (https://tuesdaytipoftheweek.blogspot.com/2017/01/terris-tuesday-tip-of-week-january-17th.html), which discussed how we should have some type of memory or reminder when things occur in our lives that move us toward our dreams.  By having these reminders, it provides us encouragement to keep pressing toward our dreams.  When I wrote that blog post, I remember calling my mom and asking her what I would do if my dream was not fulfilled by that event/milestone in my life.  At that time, she said I had no idea how that dream would be fulfilled and that the concept of having reminders was beneficial.  She told me I would deal with the outcome when it happened. 

The outcome came about three weeks later when that situation fizzled.  HOWEVER, I learned a great deal from that circumstance, which agrees with this quote:

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.  You live and you learn. – Unknown

Pain and tears are never easy, but I can assure you that other opportunities have come along.  That reminder was helpful in encouraging me to keep pushing towards my dreams and goals.  

Our deepest life message often comes out of our deepest pain. – Rick Warren

CHALLENGE: Even though my dream was not fulfilled the way I thought I wanted it to be in January 2017, I learned so much from that experience. 

As you are reviewing the “disappointments” of 2017, find something good that came out of each one. 

40 Before 40 Update: I accomplished #24 over the weekend.  To view pictures of my different activities, here is the second Facebook photo album I created: https://www.facebook.com/terri.flow.3/media_set?set=a.10154855339932294.1073741853.598657293&type=3&pnref=story

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - November 28th

The journey is the reward. – Steve Jobs

When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. – Unknown

WOW, this year has gone fast!  We are about 33 days away from 2018. 

As we are preparing to end one year and go into the next, it is a great time to review the year, learn from experiences and decide what changes to make going into the next year.  Hal Borland summarized the transition from one year to the next by saying:

Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

As most of us are usually busy and move from one thing to the next throughout a year, we often forget to take time to learn from our experiences.  Now is a great time to start reviewing 2017 and gain knowledge from the year.  Below are some questions to help review 2017. 

1.       Review what happened in your life this year.

2.       What accomplishments or milestones did you have in 2017?

3.       What lessons did you learn this year?

4.       What do you want to change going into 2018?

CHALLENGE: Write down answers to questions 2, 3 and 4 to help review 2017.