#WednesdayWisdom – shemakescents

Monday Motivation | Measure Your Progress Not Your To Do List

Published on August 28, 2017August 28, 2017 by Danielle YB Vason2 Comments

The other day I was thinking about all the things I still want to do this year and started to get a little overwhelmed. As someone who is always looking forward and setting new goals, it is easy to get lost in what is left on the rolling to do list. Raise your hand if you can relate. By spending energy constantly thinking about how much we still have to do, we lose focus on what we have done already. One of my personal goals at the beginning of the year was to celebrate my successes, big and small, which to be frank; I have not really kept up with.

So today, I am encouraging everyone, myself especially, to review how we measure success and progress. Instead of focusing on how much you have left to do on a goal or project, measure your progress by much you have done already. Success Magazine backs up this paradigm with research. According to an article by Mel Robbins, a motivational speaker and entrepreneur, “research proves that seeing your progress and how much you have completed will inspire you to keep pushing”. I will celebrate the fact that I hit my money milestone with my student loans and not on the fact that I have a way to go before I can eliminate my student loan debt altogether. Reaching that milestone was not easy so I have to take a moment and appreciate how far I have come on that path to financial freedom. In addition to keeping a rolling to do list, start a “did it” list that you can go back and refer to when you need a motivational push to keep going. As I said, it is easy to get overwhelmed and forget all the great things you have accomplished. Measuring your progress by what you have accomplished and keeping a rolling list of things that you have completed so far will help each action, big so small, feel more impactful.

Don’t Let Fear Be A Roadblock To Success

Published on December 7, 2016 by Danielle YB VasonLeave a comment

This is the season when people reflect on the past year and pledge to “do better” in year ahead. I promised myself that I would “be brave” in 2016 so much so that I selected it as my personal word of the year. The thing is, I spent a great deal of the year doing what I have always done and was perplexed as to why things were not progressing as quickly as I would have liked. Why is this situation still a situation? In a moment of clarity, I was standing in a mirror of self-reflection realizing that I have made decisions in the areas of my career, finances, and relationships based primarily out of fear. This is why I selected brave as the word of the year in the first place; to push myself out of my comfort zone and accept new challenges. Nothing in my life or yours will ever change if we continue to do what we have always done. As Walt Disney says, “ We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. The opportunity for something new is knocking, are you ready to open the door?

What Does “Being Brave” Mean to You?

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{Life Skills} How To Comeback From A Setback

Published on July 20, 2016April 25, 2017 by Danielle YB Vason3 Comments

I came across this quote the other day and I thought it was too good not to share. I talk and write about goals all the time, but I rarely write about how to stay on track after a setback. In the simplest of definitions, a setback occurs when there is a reversal in progress. Last year, I had a slight financial setback when I put a few thousand dollars on my previously paid off credit card. I consider this a setback because it literally set me back and an entire year of my money snowball and the added interest I will be paying to make up that year is definitely a reversal of progress. This year, my setback was not being exactly where I wanted to be career wise. This is something that has stressed me out a great deal until I realized this is my arrow year. They say an arrow can be shot only by pulling it backward so when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great. I hope this post launches you back onto your chosen path to greatness.

4 Steps to Come Back from A Set Back

Question Your Goals. Are the goals you set for yourself still relevant? What was important to you six months ago, may not even be on your radar anymore. That being said, it is okay to abandon goals that you have outgrown for more relevant endeavors. Take a step back and examine your career, relationships, and finances and decide what’s worth resetting and what can be let go.
Setbacks Are Meant for Learning. Okay, so your proverbial “tire” got a flat. What was your lesson? Was it to slow down? Focus more on the road ahead? Lean into the curves that life throws you? The only waste of a setback is not learning the lesson. A lesson missed is a mistake waiting to be repeated.
Break Down Your Goals Into Smaller Manageable Goals. Sometimes people have a reversal in progress when they get overwhelmed by the task at hand. It’s like eating pizza. You shouldn’t be able to eat the entire pie at one time, you have to eat it slice by slice. Weird example, I know… but you get the point. Here’s something a little more personal. I have a goal to be debt free (not including our mortgages) in the next five years. If I looked at the $27,000 in credit card and student loan debt in its entirety, I might have easily gotten overwhelmed with my goal. I had to break it down into smaller manageable goals. First I separated the debts- $5,000.00 for credit cards and $22,000.00 for the remainder of my student loans. I then set separate goals dates to be done with the debt. For example, my goal was to pay off my credit card debt by August 1, 2016, and I am happy to report that I accomplished that goal ahead of time. I did that by setting weekly goals with the 52 Week BINGO Money Challenge and bi-weekly goals of making a minimum $150.00 payment every two weeks regardless of the minimum payment. With the credit cards out of the way, I am now able to snowball that money to tackle part two of my student loans and knock out that remaining debt in four years or less.
Set a Goal Date & Get Her Done. In this post, “{Got Goals} How To Make and Achieve Your Goals” I break down the tools needed to complete this step. Check out the post and you will see what I’m talking about. Don’t forget when breaking down your goals into smaller manageable goals to assign milestone markers for you to stop and reflect on your progress. When I got my credit card under the $1,000.00 mark, I stopped and patted myself on the back because I could see my achievements in the near future.