The buzzer sounds, long and loud. A clear
indication that the first quarter has come to an end, yet the second quarter
awaits us. Similar to most sports, there is always one constant and two
opponents in life and on the court. One of your opponents is time, and we all
know time waits for no one. Time is precious, selfish and can never be bought
or refunded. Your other opponent is your competition; it’s what you face daily.
It’s the obstacles, the adversity and the people in our life that pose in
opposition to our purpose. Ultimately, acting as barriers, trails and
tribulation to distract and distant us from our purpose.
The vibrations of the buzzer linger in your ear, curious
and knowing. The only constant is in this life is to win, to win abundantly in
every aspect of your life. This year we discovered proper planning, time
management and speaking the vision despite the things in front of you were keys
to success in 2018. Granted those three elements are still important but they
only represent two thirds of the complete success pie! The other piece to this
model is Action! Yes, it’s simple! Yes, it’s basic yet it is the hardest
concept to present. Action, sounds like something we ought to be doing or
something we should already be doing but we aren’t. Allow me to explain action,
action is exerting energy, passion and time into an expected vision, goal or
theory that pushes you toward your purpose.
Purpose is for an appointed time yet there are
steps that you must take in order to reach the pinnacle. That’s where action
comes in, but it doesn’t manifest the way you’re probably thinking. It takes a
different kind of action, it takes adjustment, response and a clear
understanding. Just know going forward, NOTHING JUST HAPPENS!
1.
Be quick to adjust
When I think of all the time in this life I had to
change, if I had to number them here wouldn’t be enough finger and toes yet
daily I made a change to push forward. Growing up we move around a lot, thirty
different schools, thousands of different teachers and a hundred versions of
me. No, none of my parents were in the military we were merely unstable. So
constantly, I was the new girl wearing old girl clothes. I was always making
friends and losing them months later. Now that I think back, being in my late
twenties I noticed I never once gave up on meeting new people, learning new
things and making adjustments to my environment. Oddly enough, after a few
moves I became tired of revamping my same old clothes and rehearsing retired
jokes for new laughter. I had run into an adult issue in my childhood years, I
was facing complacency while aspiring to grow. While battling the need to
adjust, it dawned on me that this would be a life thing that I should perfect
early on. You should strive daily to adjust quickly, mainly because we are
living in a time where the new is old within hours and the classic is vintage
in just moments. We do not have time to be constant in a world filled with
adjustments. Make the adjust and prepare to make another adjustment.
2.
Slow to respond
When I suggest slow to respond do not size it up
against point one (be quick to adjust), think of slow to respond physically and
verbally (watch that heart too). When I was younger I wanted to be an ice
skater. I’m not sure if you are familiar with Tara Lipinski, but I wanted to be
just like her. She was famous for her lean shape, quick response on ice and
agile movements when on the rink, oh and not to mention her movements were as
sleek as my hair being pressed bone straight in a black hair salon (that’s
REALLLY STRAIGHT). I grew up black, meaning my mother would chump me off before
the streets could but loved in such a way where questioning her love felt
unlawful. So when I made mention to my mother that I wanted to be an ice
skater, her response was not what any young girl with dreams desired to hear. I
proceeded to tell my friends and they all laughed at me, they stated that I was
awkward and reminded me of the inevitable; I couldn’t Ice Skate!!! I had never
been ice skating nor did my mother think it was finically feasible for me to
pursue such a dream. Yet I was drown in by her talents, I now know my talent
was cultivated through her skating but my talent would manifest in a different form.
That’s one example of many, but the point is
simple. We can’t be so caught up in what others think we can and cannot do that
we lose sight of what we are called to do. Going forward, I learned how to not
declare my dreams a loud but that’s not the solution. You MUST proclaim your
destiny and just know others will speak contrary against it. That’s the name of
the game; the only thing you have to do is show and prove. When I suggest “slow
to respond” know that I am signifying your response. Some stuff doesn’t need a
response, and others things require a different response such as winning. When
people tell you who you are and what you should be doing, you show them who you
by what you are called to do and be sure to do it well. Although I am a writer
and aspiring author and executive producer I am very much so like Tara
Lipinski. I don’t own a pair of ice skates and I’m not getting on the ice, but
I sleek when it comes to confrontation and smooth when it comes to competition,
it’s like preforming on ice without the ice (wink wink). I say that to say, don’t change your
position, nor shift your dream to appease the worlds truth.
3.
Understand where you’re going requires
change
Change, Obama brought a whole new meaning to this
word. There is value in change yet there is pain in change as well. I remember
being a big time party goer. I love music and I love to be social, yet I was
what me and the homies called “low key wit it”. You couldn’t look at me and
last night failed attempts to be in the house at an appropriate time. You
wouldn’t notice me dozing off or doubling up on water due to dehydration. I had
mastered what people fail at daily. One day I WOKE up and smelled the coffee,
actually it wasn’t coffee it was last night’s stale hookah scent on my pillow
case and sweat from the guy I danced with all night. I had to make a change.
Not just shower and soak in Epsom salt, I had to change my whole environment. Dallying
through the day, my thoughts haunted me as I tried to see if there was anyway I
continue doing the same thing I was doing and still reach my destiny. Was there
any way I could have them both? Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with
partying and celebrating life, but I had taken it to a whole new broke by standard
level. I contemplated that whole morning and wrestled my thoughts that whole
night. The following morning I made one change, daily I was stripping my old
self and grafting my new self.
Change is the inevitable, but it can also be very
painful. In the words of my sis Jhene Aiko “why hold on to what you have to let
go of?”. Please know that everyone can’t go with you, everybody doesn’t want to
go with you and you shouldn’t want to take everyone with you. Everything you
have now can shift in a moment; I want you to be ready for that. It is unwise
to not prepare for the occasional outfit and expect to fall in love with the
first outfit in your closet when the time comes. J
(It never works)
We are in the second quarter of this game we call
life. Just imagine if you only had two ‘time out’s” and one “water break” to
last you the remainder of this year. What will you do with it? You have to put
in the action to see the result of your labor. I have never heard of a famer
planting apples and harvesting peaches. Make strides toward your vision, adjust
and know that what used to work may not work going forward. It takes energy to
be in action, but it takes action focused toward your purpose to reach you
destiny. The time is now; don’t let another minute go by without exploring
every avenue to win.
No comments