BE the impression you want to see!

You know that “gut feeling” you get when you are meeting someone for the first time? THAT feeling is often the decision maker on where your relationship will go, be it a personal or professional one. Learn to trust the  judgement calls you make using your own instincts and make informed decisions from there.  The key, is to make sure you also register well in the check off’s on “gut feelings and good lasting impressions” for others too.

 

Until next time Go Getters!

 

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Get UP … Again!

For those of you who haven’t seen this amazing video, you will be inspired.  If this is your “more than” one time seeing it … Let is serve as a reminder that no matter how many times you have to start over .. get up .. again (and again and again and again for that matter) even if you get off to a bad start you can pick yourself back up and go for your “it” …. you CAN do just that!

Until then …  be true to YOU!

VanB

 

Hey YOU, thank you for reading this post.  I encourage you to not only read, but apply what you’ve learned.

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YOU, are your biggest competition!

We tend to value or under appreciate our own contributions in life, when we begin to compare ourselves to what someone else is doing in their own life.  Your girlfriend received her Master’s degree with some kind of laude attached to it, and now the shine on your certificate has lost a little luster because you barely eked by with the grades to get your own completed.  If that’s not enough, your homeboy pulls up in the baddest ride in the parking lot, and within seconds the bluebook value on your own older model, paid for I might add, vehicle has plummeted.  Hunnnnnayyyy, when are you going to learn, that when you measure your worth by someone else’s yardstick, you are ALWAYS going to come up short?!!  Healthy competition is a good, and serves us well when it is used to push ourselves to the next level of greatness in our own planned journey.  The most important person you will ever successfully compete against is YOU, and your desire to reach a little higher and a little farther than you did the last time.

What are you aiming towards next?  Get Ready … Set… GROW to your biggest potential!

Until then …  be true to YOU!

VanB

Hey YOU, thank you for reading this post.  I encourage you to not only read but apply what you’ve learned.

If this post made you think, nod your head, or smile, click the tweet or facebook button to share with others.

Share your comments below and sign up to get the latest updates  ( I don’t share email addresses… promise)

That final exam, isn’t the last test you will ever take.

Those who have graduated high school, college or advanced college courses know all too well about the tests you go thru to get to the next level in education and academia but then there are those series of life’s test too?!!!

There are coming of age tests that signify the two words that most young adults can’t wait to use… I’M GROWN!  That is of course until you are actually grown, and then the real test comes.  It’s time to put into action and show what you have really learned besides being provided for.  Did you pay attention to what your teachers (parents or guardians) had been preaching to you for the last 18 to 21 years?  Does your ability to be “grown” only ring true when you are presented with situations you are only ready to deal with in age and not in responsibility?  Sadly enough, this area of testing is no longer restricted to those who are just leaving the parental nest.  There are a lot of 40 plus year old grown folks, who are in life remediation because they are mature in age and are still participating in life with new-to-this actions.  They are still taking the test.

There are situations that come to test our faith, strength, convictions, character or preparation for the things we say we really want.  Along the walk of life these test present themselves in the form of friends that test our convictions or character, the test might show itself in the form of sickness, disease, lack or loss to test our faith and/or strength.  Opportunity often shows up to test our resolve and preparedness, are you ready to pass when opportunity shows up?

One test that we often overlook until later the lesson is learned, if at all, is one that I like to call the pre-test.  Do you remember back in the day, when your teacher used to give you a pop quiz or pre-test before the big test to see if you were ready for that final exam that would take you to the next level?  Well as adults I believe we still get life pre-test, the little test that comes to see your level of confidence, self-assuredness, when you used to doubt your ability to handle THAT big promotion you interviewed for before they even offer it to you, or does putting THAT title beside your name because of what others might think scare you.  If you are curled up over in the corner breathing into a brown bag BEFORE you arrive, what are you going to do when you actually get there? This pre-test comes just before you touch the handle to open the door to your next new level test.

Life presents us with tests on a once in a life time, event, and daily basis for as long as we live.  You can either keep taking the same test over and over, or do the work and pass to the next level.

Learn to look at your tests not just as testimony but as an opportunity to go to the next level.

The next time the pre-test appears, inhale faith, exhale success, walk into it with all you’ve got and pass it with flying colors.

What tests have you passed recently?

Until then …  be true to YOU!

VanB

Hey YOU, thank you for reading this post.  I encourage you to not only read but apply what you’ve learned.

If this post made you think, nod your head, or smile, click the tweet or facebook button to share with others.

Share your comments below and sign up to get the latest updates  ( I don’t share email addresses… promise)

You shouldn’t confuse talent with purpose!

Elev8 posted this video of  TD Jakes on Oprah’s Lifeclasses briefly discussing the difference between talent and purpose.  With an entrepreneur’s spirit, on more occasion’s than I would like to admit, I have set out to start a business because I had talent in a particular area, only to find out that I had no real passion for it.  What YOU have a passion for, and your  purpose in life will continue to “pop up” no matter how successful you are in something else or how much other people  try to steer you in a different direction.  Find out the difference for yourself, I hope this video will inspire you like it has me.

Until then ….  Be True to YOU!

VanB

Learn “Sign” Language

Listening is an important skill, for it is in listening that you learn a lot.  We have all heard the old saying that goes something along the lines of “listen twice as much as you speak” I would like to take that saying one step further by adding, “In listening you learn a lot, but in reading the signs (actions) of others you learn so much more”.

The sign language in this instance doesn’t require you to be deaf or have the inability to speak, it DOES however, require you to speak less, listen more, and watch the sign language of others.

We all have a “representative”, you know, the person we send out on a daily basis to meet and greet new people, co-workers, the world.  We meet a person, they look and sound great, we immediately think, this is someone I should connect with and we set out making that happen.  We immediately rush into becoming partners, couples, or girlfriends, based upon a first impression, and unfortunately more times than not we end up regretting our look-before-you-leap actions, when the signs were there all the time.

Do any of these “signs” look familiar to you?

• Do you have relationships where you are consistently giving more than you receive, and the return on your investment is now in the red? Hmmm, sign approaching.

• He says he spiritual (Man of God-In my Bishop T.D. Jakes voice) and he’s looking to build a relationship on a solid holy foundation.  The more comfortable he becomes with you as a single woman, the more he expects you to do all kinds of things that are anything but holy …THAT my friend is a sign, that even the late Ray Charles could see.

• You are always on the receiving end of someone else’s problems, and when it is your turn to confide in that person .. well lookey there, the timer on the stove goes off, or someone is on the other line, and he or she “has got to go”?  I wish I could make it flash but … IT’S A SIGN

• You are the supporter but never supported.  Do you attend all your friends events, partners outings, but something conveniently comes up with your event/thing is about to take place? Perhaps this is another sign that you have overlooked.

As my grandmother used to say “wait a while, and before long, her slip will be hanging”, which translates to, take some time to get to know someone, get past their representative, and know a little more about the core of the person as it relates to you, and the type of relationship you are trying to establish.  At some point during your getting-to-know-you stage, his or her true motives will always shine through, it is then incumbent upon YOU to act accordingly.

I would be remiss, if I didn’t include a well known quote from one of my favorite authors, Maya Angelou “The first time  someone shows you who they are, believe them”.  Notice it reads, SHOWS YOU … pay attention to the signs.

Until then … BE

VanB