As 2013 ends, I am thankful and grateful for all of my blessings, peace of mind, success, and God’s favor and faithfulness. It’s been a good year and I thank God for it! In 2014, dream big and live large, look forward to a bright, prosperous future filled with good health, success, good people in your life, positive thought processes, and keep the negative people, forces and energy at bay. Everything else will fall in line. I gave a motivational speech to a group of young women and men today during a brunch and wanted to share the same with everyone. I used what I coined as “Dr. Culbreth’s Personal SWOT Strategy for Success: Moving Forward, Upward and Onward in the Millennium”. (Personal SWOT stands for examining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that we experience as we continue our journey in life).
As you prepare to enter 2014, conduct a Personal SWOT of yourself. Examine your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Personal SWOT) and develop a plan to use your strengths to move forward, upward and onward in life. Develop a plan to improve the weaknesses thus turning them into strengths, remembering that weaknesses are not always negative. Develop a strategy to utilize opportunities and make them work for you, and develop a strategy to address the threats and turn them into opportunities.
If you are focused on moving forward, upward and onward in life, then seriously evaluate the people you surround yourself with and ask yourself if they are bringing too much negative energy into your inner circle. Have they grown significantly over the past five years? If people within your inner circle are holding you back and they are not trying to move forward, upward and onward to be the best that they can be, and if they are stagnating your growth, it’s time to make a decision. Invite them to exit your life and when you do so, make sure that they exit to the left. Sometimes people don’t realize that they are stagnating you and keeping you from reaching your full potential.
Ignore the naysayers who try to convince you to give up your dreams, who tell you that dreaming in color is unrealistic, and who don’t have any dreams of their own. Let them fall by the wayside because it is about you living your life beautiful and turning your dreams into reality. Don’t be afraid to dream big colorful dreams and develop a plan to turn them into reality. Surround yourself with positive people who are like minded and focused on moving forward, upward and onward in life. Think positive thoughts regardless of the situation and remember that the words you speak and the thoughts you think can determine your destiny.
Focus on being your own success story and through hard work, dedication, and of course sacrifice, you will achieve your goals, one step at a time. “If you can somehow think and dream of success in small steps, every time you make a step, every time you accomplish a small goal, it gives you confidence to go on from there.” (John H. Johnson).
There is a video on the Internet in which an older man uses the example of holding a young man’s head under water. Finally, he loosened his grip and allowed the young man to come up for air. He asked the young man what he wanted most while being held under the water. The young man replied that he wanted to breathe. The older man stated “you have to want success as much as you wanted to breathe”. In reality, if you are determined to be successful in life, conduct a personal SWOT then use the results of your SWOT to focus, plan and develop several back-up plans, set goals, develop strategies, and organize. Next, dream big and dream in color! Sometimes our dreams are all that we have to keep us going. Keep the faith and believe in your dream becoming a reality. Never let go of your dreams and never think that any dream is too big to believe in.
Life is a journey and it’s not intended for everyone to continue traveling on the journey with you. Take charge of your life. Remove negative people, forces, and energy and live life beautiful! You are riding on a 747 train (not a plane) and will not make any un-necessary stops for any reason. You deserve the best of everything. You are God’s masterpiece and as such, you should walk tall, hold your head high and focus on sparkling like a diamond in the sun set.
Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Successful and Prosperous 2014.
Live Life Beautiful!
Dr. Donnamaria Culbreth
The Education Doctor's Blog 