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Caye Blackwood

About Caye Blackwood

Posts by Caye Blackwood:

Guest Post: Make the best of your daily planner and write it down!

Words have power. When you are embarking on a journey to change your life, it is important to harness your words by writing them down. There are several ways that the written word can help improve your life overall including writing down goals, writing down your schedule, and journaling your gratitude. Each will have a different direct result that will improve your life overall.

Writing Down Goals

Many people choose bravery when they say their dreams out loud, but they will stay as dreams unless they are written down. Once a dream is written down, it is  positioned to become a goal. Once a plan is made to attain that goal, it becomes achievable. 

If you are serious about achieving your goals, Pamela Shaw, life coach extraordinaire, recommends using the 90-day planner to track it all. This is the best daily planner because it has blank spaces for you to create and design your life– goals, schedules, habits, key behaviors, lists to support–everything you need to achieve your goals. You can write your goals at the beginning of the book and then break them down into smaller steps. 

At the beginning of each day and week, review your goals and find ways to take steps toward making them a reality. This awareness becomes a secret  weapon– keeping your goals in front of your vision all the time readies you to seize opportunities that come along.

Writing Down Your Schedule

Great time management is when you can take your day and break it down by the half hour. This helps you be more productive because you have a written schedule down for getting everything done in the day you need to do. When people do not write down their daily schedule, they will get side-tracked with distractions. Not only does this decrease productivity, but it also keeps you from achieving your goals and dreams.  As Pam teaches, ‘the process of accumulation is real’!

For example, if you are hoping to improve your marriage or strengthen a relationship with someone in your life, you might break it down into specific steps where you spend more time together or talk more. When you read this goal in your planner, you can schedule time in your day to call or visit this person and spend time communicating, creating new experiences, bonding. If it is not written down, you likely won’t find time to do any of those things that make relationships strong.

Journaling Your Gratitude

One of the best ways to change your life is to change your perspective by being more grateful. There are plenty of daily planner prompts and guided journaling opportunities for someone to find things to be grateful for in their life. If you want to live a better life, try practicing gratitude and writing down the things you are grateful for each day.

Being grateful helps you notice the good things in life and attract more positive energy to yourself. The law of attraction states that you will attract more of what you are into your life. In other words, having positive or negative thoughts will bring positive or negative experiences to you. A successful growth plan will come from a place of gratitude, peace, and excitement, not ruminating thoughts, resentment, hatred and anger.

Changing by Writing

Writing down your words gives them more power. Whether you are looking to achieve your goals, become more productive in your day, or just looking to find more peace and happiness, writing specific things down will make the difference.  Words reinforce thinking.  Repeated thinking becomes a belief.  We only act on what we belief about ourselves and others.  If you are looking to make any of these changes, try writing them down and see what changes.

Guest Post: Why Should You Use a 90-day Planner

f you could change anything in your life, what would it be? You can change anything in 90 days if you have the right tools– from getting a new job, improving your relationships, sharpening beneficial habits or enhancing your living situation. The best tool you can use to start your life transformation is the 90-day planner. It has been designed to work with the Pamela Shaw goal setting METHOD to help you design and enjoy more of your life.

The 90-day planner is more than just a calendar or business planner; it is a system that helps you maximize your time, days and weeks. Using the 90-day planner helps you to not only guides  you to better manage your time but also achieve your goals.

Achieve Your Goals

An integral part of achieving goals is to write them down in a place you will see them. If you fail to write down your goals, they are just fleeting thoughts you have without any real strategized or integrated effort into making them a reality. The 90-day planner has sections to write and break down your goals and review them regularly- In fact, if you follow the guided process, you’ll RE READ and review them min. 52 times and completely write them out quarterly- 4 different times.  REPETITION is your friend!

One key aspect of goal setting is to have a big goal with ways to break it down into little goals. For instance, having the goal to get a better job is good, but planning and knowing how to get there is better. Take your goal and break it down into smaller, achievable goals by reverse goal setting. For getting a better job, some of these smaller goals may look like:

  • get more training to qualify for a better position
  • go back to school if a degree is required
  • take advantage of opportunities to learn a new skill when offered- volunteer!
  • take a class on interview skills
  • learn how to improve your resume

Put these goals into a timeline of when you expect to complete them. Having the goals written down in your 90-day planner where you can review them often helps keep them on your mind. That way, when opportunities come along, you will recognize them and be prepared to act on them. When your goals are regularly reviewed and made a part of your daily routine, you can actively work toward them. 

Better Manage Your Time

Everyone has the same 24 hours a day. The difference is how each person chooses to view, allot and then take action on those hours. One of the main purposes of the 90-day planner is to help learn to manage time in a way that gets you closer to the life you want. Achieving your goals is possible when you are dedicating time to your goals. As Pam says in her core training “Time invested in one area is time away from another;  CHOOSE wisely.”

Within the 90-day planner, there are calendars and ½ hour time slots in a daily planner format. At the beginning of each week, plan out your time for everything you need to do. Pre set your schedule the  night before.  You can also start each day this same way, reviewing your schedule and adding in specific time slots when you do something to work toward your goal. By scheduling out each ½ hour of every day, you are setting expectations for yourself and slowly getting closer to your overall goal. 

At the end of each day and then again at the end of the week, review how you did. Take the time to do an honest evaluation on how you did and what you will do better going forward. By creating a pattern of reviewing and reminding, you make your goals a major focus of your life.

The Pamela Shaw Method uses the 90-day planner as a tool to design your life and live your vision by setting and achieving your goals. If you are interested in learning more about how to clarify your dreams, improve your life, stay motivated, or find the power within yourself to become who you really want to be, see more of Pamela Shaw’s educational videos. The sooner you start, the faster you will experience authentic living the life of your dreams.

Guest Post: Take Control of Your Future

Many people live their lives just coasting through time. Change is scary and the unknown is intimidating, so people try not to rock the boat and accept the status quo. Does this sound like you or how you approach life? What if you learned a better way to live that helps you take control of  more desirable future?

Don’t Dwell in the Past

The one thing that holds people back from living their dreams and controlling their future is a memory of the past. They dwell on mistakes or bad things that have happened, perhaps struggle to believe that there is more for them. Just because something negative happened in the past does not mean that it will always be that way.

The future is bright and full of possibilities. Instead of using your mistakes in the past as a beating stick, use them as a learning experience on how to create better choices, outcomes, options in the future.

Dream Big

Do not be afraid to dream big and make grand plans. If you could live your best life, what would change? If you could design your life so you are happiest and feel fulfilled, what would that look like? 

Visualize your dream life. Some things to consider are:

  • What do I really want?  (journal that EVERY day for a  month and see what emerges)
  • What job would I be working?
  • What does an ideal day consist of?
  • What people will be in my life? Where do I need to create a boundary?
  • What will give your life purpose and meaning?

Using these questions as starting points, carefully consider your preferred priorities and how they will take precedence in your life.

While you may think that dreaming is just for fun, your dreams can become reality. If you visualize your future and truly want that life, find the motivation to create change. Instead of just letting life happen to you, take control of your future and work toward making your dreams real. Ruminating on the past repeats the past.  Envisioning a clear future draws you towards people, opportunities and circumstances reflective of that vision.

Keep Changes Small

Even though your dreams are big, it is important to keep the changes small. Break down your dreams into smaller, more achievable steps. Not all goals will be broken down into obvious steps. A common goal is to lose weight or be healthier. This is easily broken down into smaller steps that include eating healthier, setting times to work out each day, developing habits that turn into beneficial routines, etc. Find a win in the moment by asking,  is this what I really want (to eat, to do, not to do) or is it because the rut of yesterday is taking over?  Over time, these small steps will build up into achieving the ultimate goal.

Some less obvious goals may be getting into a health relationship with a significant other or making a million dollars, there are less obvious ways to break it down. Get creative with how you make small changes by finding mix and mingle events and commit to attend them. Start knocking on doors or make cold calls to expand your client base and sell your products.

By keeping changes small and intentional, you can warm up to change. Making small changes over time is the best way to ensure the changes last.

Control Your Future

When you design your life and take control of your future, anything is possible. Become a more active participant in your life and gain confidence. You can make your life whatever you want with small daily wins that create change over time. If you are interested in learning more about how you can achieve your goals and live your dreams, learn more about the Pamela Shaw method to goal setting and habit formation!  As Pam  says,  ‘You can’t live a perfect day until you design what one looks like.”

Guest Blog: The Three Pillars of Change: Goal Setting, Affirmation, and Habits

The Three Pillars of Change: Goal Setting, Affirmation, and Habits

If you are looking to change your life and heart, it is time to start leading a more intentional and purposed living routine. When it comes to creating the life you want, there are three pillars that will guide you. The three pillars are goal setting, affirmations, and habits and each has its own process on the path to true change.

Whether it is health, financial troubles, starting a hobby, losing weight, improving relationships, or starting a business, you can change anything in 90 days. Following these three pillars will help set yourself up for success.

Pillar 1: Goal Setting

A lot of people fall short when setting goals. They set lofty goals that do not set them up to truly change.

Start with one question: what do you really want? What will make this the best year yet? Most people will have one answer come immediately. That is going to be your main goal. Now list 10 things you wish for yourself- a habit you want to create, a gift you want to develop, or something you want to grow. This will be your guide for goal setting.

Evaluate

Without coaching and without a good system, you will not succeed. Look at your life and identify what some of the biggest problems.

  • What are your biggest time wasters?
  • What limiting thoughts or beliefs caused you to doubt your abilities and direction in the past?
  • What is your loudest fear about yourself?
  • What voices have been allowed into my life that are not serving me well?

Once you answer these questions, find ways to fade distractions and eliminate fear and outside voices. The 5 men and women in your head through talking, social media, or daily interactions, they determine the way you are speaking in your mind and teach you what to believe in yourself. Choose carefully.

Recognize Success

Setting goals helps you become intentional. We do not always accomplish our goals, but we do accomplish some. When we focus on what we did not do instead of what we did, we are looking backwards and pushing ourselves down.

 

No matter how you feel about your success, there is a lot of success in the past. People tend to focus on the negative- things they do not have or ways they have fallen short. No matter where you find yourself, no matter where you are today, you are leading yourself to a better future. Learn to treat yourself well. No one has to live life perfectly.

Set SMART Goals

SMART is an acronym for designing goals that serve you well.

  • Specific- list a time frame for achieving the goal and list out times your will work toward this goal.
  • Measurable- the goal must be measurable. List a number for the money you will make, the hours you will practice, the number on the scale, or the level you will reach.
  • Actionable and Achievable- what actions will you do and make it something you can achieve.
  • Rewarding and realistic time frame- Dream big but break it down into chunks of realistic time frames and reward yourself along the way.
  • Tangible and timely- make your goals something you can picture and make sure it is the right time for these goals.

The biggest problem people make is setting too many goals in too many different categories of spiritual, family, career, physical, emotional, social, personal, educational, and financial. If you are just starting goal setting, pick one category. If you are an expert, pick three.

Make Your Goals a Priority

Start each day with two questions. First question: What will make today a winning day?

 

To have a good year, you need a good month, good week, good day. To have a good quarter you need a lot of winning days. It all accumulates. Small purchases add up to big debt. Small savings will build up to a large savings. That happens in every category. Stop treating every day and hour like they do not matter. Winning each day, week, month, and 90 days leads to success.

 

Connect with people to keep your accountable. Keep yourself accountable without beating yourself up. It is easier to keep up than catch up, so keep working on your goals each day. If you don’t win each day, define what winning is by the end of the week and month so you stay on track. Be responsible and don’t let yourself off the hook.

 

The key to success is ending your week with “what did I do well?”. Stop focusing on what you don’t have or didn’t do. It is hard but focusing on those negatives will stop you from getting more. The focus is forward and gratitude. Celebrate what you did well, even if it was something as simple as having 80 ounces of water a day for your weekly win.

 

After that question, reread your goals and design your next week. One of two things must happen when you keep rereading your goal- you will either change your goal or behavior. You will not allow yourself to stay where you are with nothing changing. Choose what to do each week and day when designing your week and commit to it.

 

Second question: With everything you do ask “Is it making me closer to my goal?”

 

Our brains have wild possibilities, and we have a responsibility to renew our minds. If our thoughts go wrong, everything goes wrong. We must switch our mindsets. Choose your thoughts and priorities.

 

We need to be intentional to turn off noise from distractions. Embrace quiet or thoughtful music to renew your mind. Get your thoughts and discipline under control. Make a conscious decision on how you spend your time.

 

Some people spend more time planning a vacation than they do on their relationships, finances, or careers. You have to work hard to create change. We are not victims to our minds. Put action behind your thoughts and make new, positive paths in your brain that are concrete. We will discuss this more in the third pillar of creating good habits.

Pillar 2: Affirmations

An important part of achieving goals is affirmations. Put up a visual board and put them around where you will see and hear them. In your design book, you can write out your affirmations. Write what you want to take place.

 

Create affirmations for every major goal category, 3 for each goal. Use “I am” and then list positive result and behavior in it. An example would be “I am committed to doubling my income from ___ to ___ so that ___(fill in the blank with support your family, travel the world, sell my business, etc.)__”. Another more specific example is “I am committed to losing 20 pounds by eating better food for lunch and going to a gym class 3 times a week from 6-7 am.” Do this for every goal.

 

Rearrange your habits and thoughts to align with these affirmations. Identify your limiting thoughts and talk through them. Do not define yourself from the past. Then surround yourself with your affirmations. Laminate them and put them in the shower. Record them on your phone and listen to them as you get ready for the day and go to bed at night. Create intentional thoughts to replace any negative thoughts.

 

When you make it a regular choice to read, hear, and say your affirmations, they will help you believe. Be sure to put keen, thoughtful, prayerful intent behind your goals. Psalm 25:4 says he will show your path. Let him show you your path.

Pillar 3: Creating Good Choices

We create our habits and then they create us. To break a habit, you have to replace it with a better habit. You can’t break a bad habit like sleeping in until you make a habit of waking up early.

 

Changing takes time and intention. Pick a habit you want to change and start small. Pick one or two. What is your pattern? Create one that is intentional. Every morning and evening will likely start looking the same, but then you are living intentionally.

 

Small things turn into big things. Like in sewing, patterns create the end product. It takes time and you must follow the pattern to get the desired end result. Relying on emotions and how you feel in each moment will not accomplish much. That makes you a victim to convenience.

 

Before you get defensive about your freedom to do what you want in every moment, you must realize you are victim of your choices and habits. You must have self-discipline. How would your life be different if you chose to make more choices that took you to your goals?

 

From this point moving forward, choose how your choices will take you where you want to go. Keep your self-gratification in check. If our thoughts and habits are trained, we can do anything. The same is true of bad choices too. People don’t wake up to all the sudden kill someone or have an affair. Instead, they make small choices from small thoughts and they all add up to lead to consequences.

 

You can behave your way into goals. It takes mental discipline to overcome emotions. People get endorphins from accomplishing things, even checking things off a list. Two things successful people have in common:

  • Consistent wake and sleep times. Know your body and rearrange the house and noise to accommodate creating good habits.
  • Have structure to your morning. If you have habits established to a morning routine, you don’t have to negotiate every single morning. Include listening to your affirmations. Frame your day in your 90-day planner with the time blocks. Write it out. Schedule it out and use alarms and reminders on your phone. If it isn’t there, it does not fit. They should all tie into your goals and appointments.

 

Stop regretting that there isn’t enough time. Stop being mad at other people who are accomplishing their goals. Everyone has the same 168 hours in a week. Complete the process and then repeat the process. Learn to believe in yourself and the process. Stop looking for easy, just start doing the best you can. Nobody owes you anything, God has given you everything.

Prepare and Succeed

When opportunities come along, it is too late to get prepared. There are job applications and promotions, college scholarships, sports recruiters that come and you cannot just immediately prepare for those things. You have to be prepared when these opportunities show up. And all it takes is 90 days.

 

Live life to the fullest. Decide your goals, believe in your affirmations, and then create your habits to live your life in a higher way. Elevate your goals in a way that your real wants surpass your current state. Dream big. Become your best life coach and create yourself the best life.

 

Remember, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. So, what do you want most?

Guest Blog: Thriving in Purposed Living

You Can Change Anything in 90 Days

If someone told you that you could change anything in 90 days, would you believe them? When it comes to changing your habits, body, marriage, or career, it takes less time than you think. If you are truly committed to changing something in your life, using the Design Book and Pamela Shaw methods can be the avenue that gets you there.

Creating the Goal

People often become frustrated with goals because of experiencing repetitive misses in past processes. Before setting a goal, there are two basic principles to change that are very important to point toward success.

 

The first principle is that you cannot change what you won’t acknowledge. What is it you want most? It is important to identify it. If you want a new job, an improved body, or a better marriage, that is a great starting point, but not enough. Instead, identify why that is the thing you want most.

  • Has your job become uninteresting? Why?
  • Are you lacking self-esteem or having less energy?
  • Do you feel disconnected in your relationships? What would change that?

 

Nothing will change if you do not acknowledge the real problem.

 

The second principle is that time in one area is time away from another. For example, if you decide to that you want a new job, you should dedicate time to additional training, applying for jobs, or improving your interview skills. Choosing to focus and prioritize time somewhere else like a major yard project or training for a marathon will delay getting a new job. It is not that yard work and running are bad choices but choosing to spend your time in those ways instead takes away time from your job goal.

Setting Up for Success by Breaking It Down

After identifying what needs to change and dedicating to doing it, it becomes a 90-day goal. While that doesn’t seem like a lot of time looking at the big picture, it can become overwhelming in the application.

 

To make the process easier, it is often easier to break the goal down into 30-day increments, then weekly increments, and sometimes even daily or hourly blocks of time.

 

Breaking things down can make the big goal more attainable. Schedule out block of time in your daily planner. Create a to-do list that gives a specific thing to do that gets you closer to your goal. When you have daily and weekly time to dedicate yourself to the goals, you can see change. It is important to spell out steps you are going to take.

Commit to Being Uncomfortable

Every day everyone will experience a gap between what they want right now and what they want long term. If you have a goal to improve a relationship with someone in your life, you must choose it. If you plan to call that person at a certain time, but find yourself feeling awkward, busy, or tired and wanting to back out, keep your commitment to make the call.

 

A more common example is the goal to become more fit. You may have a goal to lose more weight or become a better runner, but when it comes time to eat less or get up early to exercise, you do not want to do it. There is always going to be a gap where you must fight the “right now” feelings for the bigger goal.

 

Giving in to what you are wanting in the moment will rarely bring change. Stepping into the uncomfortable area of personal growth and inconvenience is what will ultimately lead to stretching and change. If you want to know how to live a better life, you must acknowledge and fight the feelings of giving in to how your feel in certain moments.

Using the Best Tools

While many believe that pure willpower will be enough to accomplish their goals, that is not the case for most people. Using the right tools for each situation will help you accomplish more in the long run.

 

⇒ Create a Plan

One of the best tools you can use for creating change is using a planner. The Pamela Shaw 90-day planner is the best daily planner to invest in because it provides guided instructions on structuring your schedule. It is like having a life coach plan your day.

 

Using a goal setting planner helps you with the two principles mentioned earlier. There are places to list your big goals and areas for breaking it down into an easier to manage, actionable plan. With your growth plan as a guide, you can utilize it to create daily to-do lists and schedule times for each item. This will help you accomplish more with your time and work toward your goals.

 

At the end of each day or week, there are times to reflect on what you did in getting closer to reaching your goal. This works as a guided journal of sorts to help you keep a record. It is a great way to look back and see how small changes snowball into bigger changes.

 

There are videos on the Pamela Shaw site you can watch on how to make the most out of your 90-day planner. You can also sign up for weekly email tips that help you stay motivated.

 

 

⇒ Focus on Gratitude and Forgiveness

An important part of creating change is expressing gratitude for the things that are good in your life. By focusing on gratitude, you put positive vibrations into your life and acknowledge a higher, holier power. Change that is beneficial and lasting rarely comes from a place of negativity or hate, but rather love and positivity. Nothing fixes this faster than being grateful.

 

Another attitude that goes hand in hand with gratitude is forgiveness. No one is perfect and that extends into goals and creating change. When you make mistakes or experience a setback, it is important to forgive yourself and move on. If the setback had nothing to do with your efforts, keep a positive attitude and keep pushing forward.

 

 

⇒ Never Give Up

It is easy to stay motivated at the beginning of a goal. The hard part comes when you start experiencing that gap between dealing with feeling unmotivated. Take steps to help stay motivated, like posting pictures or creating a plan or vision board in the front of your 90-day planner. Be specific about what you want to change in your life and how it will look. When you feel less motivated, read or look at your planner to remember why you started in the first place.

 

Something that is so addictive in creating change is realizing the power you have in your own life. Once you improve one area of your life, those desires start to leak into other areas too. Building up the momentum can be hard at first, but never give up. The work is worth it.

Thriving in Purposed Living

Engaging in purposed living means you have less desire to waste time and more dedication to making the most out of your life. It is seeing that living has a purpose and wanting to be a more active participant.

 

Using the principles discussed in this article can be done over and over again. Once your 90 days are up with one goal, you can move on to another area of your life that needs improvement. Realizing you can change anything in 90 days helps create habits that help you live a better, more fulfilling life.

Guest Blog: Use Affirmations to Live Your Best Life

The Why, How, and Power of Affirmations

If someone were to tell you that you could change anything in your life in 90 days, would you believe them? It’s true, you can! Setting goals and achieving them can change your life. Too often, people give up and cut themselves short. Even if that has been your past, you can change that today.

 

How can you be different and create a new path for your life? An important part of the process is affirmations. No matter what you are setting goals toward, adding in affirmations will help you achieve them. If you have no experience with affirmations, it is important that you know what they are and why they matter.

 

An affirmation is defined as an emotional support or encouragement. It is confirming something. Creating affirmations for yourself are reinforcing certain ideas or goals. You are encouraging and supporting yourself. When you say affirmations, you are confirming your abilities and vision for the future.

 

Say them, repeat them, and make them part of your daily routine. What you tell yourself matters.

 

How many times do we say things that limit our abilities? Are you doubting yourself? When you start creating a goal, are you only focused on your fears? There are many things that people say to themselves that are not productive. Be better to yourself.

 

The scriptures say that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Does that sound like someone who should be saying negative to themselves? No! God wants more for you and you should too.

How to Compose Your Affirmations

To start, use your goal setting planner and write out your affirmations. It will help you formulate these affirmations by writing them out and there is a guide in the 90-day planner to help you. The key is to be specific and list out details.

 

When creating goals, you will make them in categories; spiritual, family, career, physical, emotional, social, personal, educational, and financial. Beginners should start out making a goal in one category. If you are an expert at goals, do up to three. Create affirmations for every major goal category, 3 for each goal. This means you will be writing a lot of affirmations.

 

The basic formula is to use “I am” statements and then list a positive result and behavior in it. Making them personal and personalizing them with specific details helps you envision them. Hearing and saying these positive things about yourself is a way to create new pathways in your brain. These positive pathways will essentially rewire your brain for success.

 

Let’s go over some examples on affirmations you can see the pattern. This point is clearer when we use examples and might get your brain turning over ways you can do it for yourself.

 

If you are creating a financial goal to increase your income, you might say “I am committed to doubling my income from ___ to ___ so that ___(fill in the blank with support your family, travel the world, sell my business, etc.)__”.

 

Another more specific example is “I am committed to losing 20 pounds by eating better food for lunch and going to a gym class 3 times a week from 6-7 am.”

 

If you have a goal to improve a relationship, you might say “I am committed to spending more time with my spouse. I will make time each night to have a 20 minute conversation where I put my phone away and limit distractions so I am present.”

 

⇒ Do this for every goal. ⇐

 

The power in affirmations does not come from just saying them, seeing them, or listening to them alone. You must believe in them and rearrange your habits and thoughts to align with them.

Ways to Use Your Affirmations

With any goal you make, a secret to achieving them is using affirmations. Create visual representation by making a vision board and hanging it where you see it often. Use your phone and record yourself saying them.

 

Making affirmations does no good if you do not use them. Make affirmations a part of your everyday life. Listen to your recordings by putting it under your pillow each night and play it while you get ready each morning. Creating a routine that serves your goals means finding specific times to listen to your affirmations.

 

An important part of affirmations is that you are listening and believing what you hear. During your day, you might find that you have negative thoughts creep in. Maybe they are doubting thoughts that come after a hard day of getting knocked back. Sometimes they are just from past failures. Having your affirmations in your head can help you to create intentional thoughts to replace any of those negative thoughts.

 

When you make it a regular choice to read, hear, and say your affirmations, they will help you believe. As you listen to your affirmations, visualize what you will feel like when you achieve your goal.

 

Be sure to put keen, thoughtful, prayerful intent behind your goals to give them more power. Include God in your routines. In Psalm 25:4, it says He will show your path. Let Him show you your path.

 

At the end of each week, you will review your progress for your goals if you are following the 90-day planner schedule. You should be starting each week planning out how you are going to align your schedule to fit with your goals. Read your goals and your affirmations and then one of two things will happen; either you will change your habits, or you will change your goals. If you change your goals, you will need to change your affirmations.

The Power of Why

Something we like to teach people is that there is power behind the why in your goals. If possible, consider writing your “why” into your affirmations. It takes intentional thought. It does not have to be complicated but think about why you chose that goal.

 

Let’s make this point clear with some examples. If someone is looking to get a better job and is choosing to start their own business, the reasons behind that, or their “why”, could be because they want more freedom in their schedule. Maybe they want to spend more time with their family or travel more.

 

When writing their affirmation, it could be “I am committed to starting my own business so I can spend more time with my family. I will talk to three people/businesses a day about what I do.” Writing the “why” in can help you visualize what it will feel like to get there and motivate you on days you are wondering why you left the security of your old job.

Use Affirmations to Live Your Best Life

Remember that no one assigned you your life. No one told you how you have to live it or how you have to feel about yourself. Goal setting is a great way to make the most out of your life and live more intentionally.

 

Breaking free of the bonds of expectations includes breaking the bonds of self-doubt, accepting mediocre, and being okay with “good enough”. If you knew that there was more waiting for you, wouldn’t you want to get there? Setting goals and using affirmations to strengthen their power, you can live any dream and do anything. Stop waiting for things to change on their own and live your life the way you were meant to.

Guest Blog: Setting Goals & Thriving During Hard Times

Setting Goals and Thriving During Hard Times

In January 2020, people were setting goals and planning their years, but those plans were interrupted. For many, they sat down to plan out their day or week and then the plans were thrown out the window with announcements of schools closing, employment transitions, and grocery store shelves emptying. As society started shutting down, lives turned a bit chaotic.

 

Luckily, the 90 day planner system is 25 years old and the goal system is great for coping with changes. There are always things that come up in life that throw off our plans. While it may not be a global pandemic, there are curve balls in life that require some adjusting. Sometimes it may look like job loss, health challenges, and even death of loved ones.

Something that the world has learned this year is how to adjust to new normal. Through goal setting and reflecting, we find our way to adjusting to a new normal when challenges arise.

Laying the Foundation

Life does not have to spiral out of control when changes come. Instead, you have been working to build a foundation to your life that can help propel you forward. If the progress you are making now is slower than before, that is okay. Adjusting is part of life and progress is still progress.

 

The 90-day planner is built for laying a foundation to everyday life. It is built on godly principles of responsibility, discipline, and service. The planner helps set goals and plan out 90 days, but that has always been based off what you think will happen in that time. When disruptions come, you can stay the course with your goals.

Living your life in a goal setting pattern is a great foundation to lay for your everyday life. If the changes are big, make some small adjustments to your day or goals and keep going. Keep the momentum going and find the time to make yourself better.

Trusting What You Know

While many people are self-proclaimed experts in social media, we must learn who we can trust. Businesses are built off monetizing people in their weak moments. In the pandemic, we have seen people rise to being “experts” at public health, mental health, and money management. Some come from a place of genuine concern while others are taking advantage of the situation. The same is true with personal problems- they try to take advantage of people in weak situations.

 

As people look for leaders to help get them through a crisis, we know that we must trust God. He knows us and what we can do with our lives. Listen to your guiding voice as you move forward into the unknown. Instead of beating yourself up for not pivoting faster and adjusting to changes, honor that you needed time to sit on the couch and binge watch a show all week. You are never alone and have more potential than you know.

 

Repeat what you do know. If morning meditation has been a great way to start your day in the past, start it up again. Changing circumstances can create chaos in personal lives, so do the things that work for you to create a place of stability.

Stop and Evaluate

Sometimes God allows problems and challenges into our lives to bring us to be still and reprioritize our lives. Some questions you can ask yourself are:

  • What has changed?
  • What am I happy about having gone in my life?
  • What is gone that I am missing?
  • What needs re-designing in my life?
  • What is within my control?
  • What is not controllable?

After reflecting on these questions, you can start making a list of goals you want to accomplish. Just because a normal schedule or daily habits are different does not mean you are failing. Instead, view this an opportunity to start fresh and a chance to create the life you want.

Make a Plan

The evaluation phase gives clarity to life’s priorities and a vision of what you want your life to look like. God did not create things by accident, he had a plan! If you want your life to change, you should have a clear picture to visualize. Making changes is just an accumulation of small, daily choices today, tomorrow, and every day after. To pick great goals, consider picking ones that push you out of your comfort zone. Some areas for goals include:

  • Your home: Create and cultivate beauty through smells, lighting, and sounds. Restore order by creating safe, uncluttered spaces.
  • Prioritizing health: Focus on having a healthy mind and body. For your body, think about proper hydration, supplements, gut health, vitamins, exercising, and getting proper sleep. Mind health goals should include quality quiet time, reading, prayer, meditation, and limited screen time.
  • Relationships: Spend quality time with your spouse, children, family, friends, work colleagues, teams, and organizations.

Create a plan that includes timing. Frame your day with intent in your daily planner, including ½ hour scheduling. Involve making choices over things you can control and learn to accept the things you cannot. God is in control and we need to focus on trusting him and making good choices where we can. Bring your best face forward and always remember that you should do what you can, wherever you are, every day.

Create the Life You Want

Now that you have had time to really evaluate your foundation, goals, and life plan, it is time to step into your purpose. Think about your outcome and frame your day to start with visualizing what yourself being successful. When we focus our thoughts through the day, we make better use of our time and our prayers become more purposeful at night.

 

There are three specific tips that people who thrive in life know.

 

First, remember that you are a role model. While no one ever feels like a role model, you are one! If you live your life with intention, knowing you are setting an example for others, you will be inspired to live up to that role. Families, friends, and associations are noticing when you rise up and lead. Embrace the new normal in every situation and show how to push through challenges.

 

Second, reaffirm your commitment to being a learner. People who are committed learners know that when their day does not go as planned, they can learn from the experience and try to do better the next day. Life is a great teacher and God is trying to get us to learn. If we can commit to approaching life’s lesson as a learner, we can accept that we do not have all the answers already.

 

Third is to always be grateful. Gratitude can shift your mindset to be open to God and the blessings in your life. Being grateful looks like acknowledging what you have instead of focusing on what you do not have in life. Gratitude can help improve focus by showing what truly matters and setting appropriate priorities. A guided journal can be helpful with this tip.

 

Better days are ahead. Move forward in optimism and use this time to make yourself stronger. If you want tools to help you create change, look at the various planners and videos from Pamela Shaw. Have faith that you can create real change as you embark on your new life adventure.

Guest Blog: Change your Life in 90 Days

Change Your Life in 90 Days Using These Principles

Much of the Pamela Shaw curriculum is built around 90-day time frames. Changing lives happen in small, intentional steps. To create new habits and bring real change, all you need is 90 days. To help facilitate these changes, there are 7 principles to abide by in life that successful people have employed for years in our life coaching services. If you are looking to change your life, this is where the work starts.

The 7 Principles to Create Change

1. You can change ANYTHING in 90 days.

 We have seen this play out time and time again during classes. People come in and feel unsure if they can really make notable changes in such a short amount of time. Decisions lead to actions which turn to habits. Establishing intentional decisions and actions lead to better habits. If you want to create real change in your life, start by changing your habits. In just 90 days, you can change a lot. We have seen people change their lives by creating lifelong patterns that help them achieve their dreams.

2. You can’t change what you won’t acknowledge. 

Before you can change your life, you have to know what to change. Stepping back and evaluating your life and digging to the real reasons of unhappiness can be painful work. First, take time to notice what things make you unhappy. Is it your job? Maybe it is the quality of relationships with loved ones. Whatever it is, list it in your journal.

 

Next, take time to really think what you have control of and the ways you contribute to this unhappiness. List those things too. Maybe it is your lack of qualification or education that keeps you in that job. If relationships are an issue, are you dedicating the time to nurturing them? Do you need an attitude adjustment? Write down the things you can do to start change. Taking time to realize and acknowledge where the change really needs to happen is a vital step in creating real change.

3. You can’t live your values until you know what they are.

Do you know what characteristics you value most? Most people have a set of values they live by, even if they do not consciously decide them. Figuring this out takes personal reflection. Pull out your guided journal and write about the things you value. Why do you value them?

 

To help bring clarity to your values, think about specific experiences that have shown you why it matters. Perhaps you have seen examples of people you loved who personified these values and taught why they matter. Or maybe you have seen bad examples from those around you, showing how lacking that value mattered too. Whatever your values are, list them and why they matter. If you want to take an extra step, include ideas on specific ways you can implement them in your life

4. You do not break a habit until you replace it with a different one.

The fastest track to failure is to just stop doing a bad habit with only willpower and shame. A secret successful people know is that changing your life starts by replacing bad habits with good ones. If someone is hoping to stop spending so much money on eating out each day, they may need to wake up 15 minutes earlier each day to pack a lunch. Another person looking to stop criticizing their partner so much can instead tell that person three things they love about them each day. By replacing bad habits with good ones, you are shifting your focus and using it to change your life. Writing them into your daily planner will help remind you of your goals each morning.

5. Time invested in one area is time away from another; choose wisely.

 It has been said that time is the great equalizer. Everyone has 24 hours in a day, but it is up to each person how they spend it. A great quote from Pamela Waldrop Shaw from Breakthrough Academy is “The decisions you make determine the schedule you keep; the schedule you keep determines the life you live.” Be intentional on where you spend your time. If you are choosing to invest your time in one area, you cannot give it to another. Prioritize your goals and let that determine where you spend your time.

6. Change can be hard; the pain of regret is always more painful than change. 

Humans are creatures of habit. That means that we tend to do the same things, creating safe patterns and areas that we stay in. Leaving those patterns and areas is uncomfortable, which is hard. At the end of our lives, people tend to regret not doing something because it was too hard. All decisions come with a trade-off; it just depends on if a person is willing to pay the price of being brave.

 

People have two kinds of regret- either there is regret for doing something and regret for not doing something. Regret weighs on the soul, almost in emotional torture, thinking about what “could have been”. Research has shown that people tend to regret things they did not do more than the things they did do. One study shows how that goes an extra step showing that the biggest regrets come from who we wish we had become but didn’t. Who a person fails to become is often an extension of actions they did not take. Living with that regret is much harder than the pain of change.

7. If you don’t intentionally pivot, alter, or shift the direction of your life, it will continually migrate in the same direction. 

People who are unhappy with their lives, but do not make any changes, are choosing to stay in their unhappiness. In fact, people who choose to not make any choices are actually making a choice. If there is one thing in life that is sure, it is that change happens. Everything in life is always growing or shrinking, evolving or dying. For those who are unhappy in any aspect of life, not making any changes means that unhappiness will always linger.

When changes come, which they will, view it as an opportunity. To take advantage of these opportunities, it is important to pivot, alter, or shift. Choose to pivot your actions, alter your perception, or shift your choices to create a path to more happiness. When taking proactive steps, people can change the flow of their lives to make more of themselves. If someone is choosing to not take advantage of opportunities to change, their life will keep going in the same direction.

Choose to Change Your Life

If you are hoping to create change in your life in any area, it starts with a 90-day commitment. These principles create the foundation of the Breakthrough Academy by Pamela Waldrop Shaw. They have been proven to help people improve their focus and design their dream life. Change is not always easy, but it is possible if you want to live a better life. View Pamela Shaw’s courses or take a less guided approach with the 90-day planner. Let us show you how you can change your life in just 90 days.

Guest Blog: The Power of Why

The Power of Why

When chasing a dream, there comes a point in everyone’s life that obstacles come along. We always encourage people to dream big and many people have risen to that call.

Do you remember where you were when you decided to do something big? When you opened your business, got a new job, entered a committed relationship, or made some big goal? At some point, you decided that you were going to do something big and live up to that dream. Thinking back on that moment of deciding to create a big goal to get your dream, do you remember why?

When we talk about your “why”, we mean we want to know why you decided to take that step, why that dream spoke to you. Some of the common whys people have include:

  • Wanting to gain financial independence
  • Wanting a better place to live
  • Creating a feeling of personal fulfillment
  • Improve quality of life
  • Freeing up time for other goals
  • Start a legacy for children and grandkids
  • Support parents
  • Give back to a community
  • More financial independence

Whatever your why is, having a strong knowledge of it is going to help you succeed in chasing your dream.

Why Your “Why” Matters

There is a gap between fulfillment of dreams and the challenges you are going to face on the way. Everyone experiences it. Dreams come easily but making them a reality is a different story. To fill the gap, you need to know your why. Your why will fill that gap and your awareness will be the strength of that bridge.

 

Your why may be too dim if you cannot remember it or it does not motivate you anymore. If you are still wanting your dream, think about what your why is now. It is okay for your why to change and evolve as your dream evolves. The power comes from having a why.

 

One way to test the strength of your why is to ask, “What if I don’t?” Take a genuine look at your life and think about what if you don’t take that risk or make that change? Your life will be similar to what it is now and think about how that makes you feel.

Dream Big!

There is nothing you will see someone have, do, or experience that cannot be yours too. There are obstacles and limitations like fears, challenges, and insecurities. Real or imagined, the obstacles can be overcome if our why is strong enough. You will overcome the fear, rejection, and challenges that will always come along.

 

You will have to invest time, overcome insecurities and self-doubt, and more. When seeing other people achieving their dreams remember that there is nothing to stop you from succeeding but yourself. Those bumps and obstacles will add to your experience.

 

You will have competing voices in your head, but the one you choose to believe will determine your power. Most people fail because of an undecided heart. You must feel committed and search for a solution, not an escape.

Overcoming Challenges

What way do you default when you hit an obstacle or challenge? Some people are lost in the fire and others are made stronger by it. Life is not perfect, but great moments are born from great opportunity.

 

Everyone faces daily obstacles. You have to get out of your comfort zone and get comfortable in the uncomfortable. Determination and hard work are important, but they are powered by your why. It will push you through hard times. Decide on your response to challenges and then push forward.

 

Through life, you will meet people who say you cannot reach your dream. People who tell you that you can’t, they are not talking to you, they are talking to themselves. They can’t, but you can!

 

Reinvent yourself if you need to. Adjust how you see yourself. You live out your personal beliefs about yourself.

 

It is a process and evolves. How you see yourself can do that and it will keep changing. Let your personal growth evolve and believe that you can. Change how people see you and how you see yourself.

 

Rewrite your story and the next chapter. You write who you are, which will strengthen and free you. What is your identity today? Are you a person who keeps a list of things you have done wrong? Is your self-perception a list of your fears? Or is it rooted in the future and how you will create the skills, build the habits, and become a little bit bigger than you are now?

 

We all love getting a yes in life, but don’t let no affect you for a millisecond. You won’t remember the no when you are celebrating from your nice vacation, awesome job, or dream home balcony.

Give Dreams Time

Persistence, determination, and time matter. Years of sinking, sacrifice, and tragedy were possible because I was willing to give one more act of bravery, trying one more time. If you can remember your why, just give it another try.

 

No one ever knows how close they are to the edge of a breakthrough. It is like in childbirth when a woman thinks that she cannot do labor anymore. In reality, she will have a baby just 45 minutes later. She just needs to keep at it.

 

Reaching your dream will not happen overnight. Remember that small decisions will shape the quality of your life. Private victories proceed public ones. Everything you do will decide what you earn and what you learn.

 

Where do you want to be 5 years? In your goal setting planner, where would you say you want to be financially, spiritually, career path-wise? No one assigned you your life. You can change it any time. If you don’t know where you want to be, you’re already there.

 

Anything you choose- faith or fear, lazy or push through, it all accumulates. Just like spending or eating. It is the same with achieving victories. You are where you are because of choices accumulated over time. Over the next 365 days, you can change where you are and get to that 5-year goal. Focus on the why.

The Power of Why

Today we deal with obstacles, but we have a history of overcoming them. We walk toward my vision and obstacles don’t stop us. We know we can overcome them. Mary Kay Ash once said, “Never give up, because you never know if the next try is going to be the one that works.” Connect powerfully to your why and use it to power your purposed living, through obstacles to the life you really want.

Your future is coming, are you ready?