It's Hard to See the Picture When You Are in the Frame

It's August....the heat has let up for now....it's not raining today...  Whatever the reason, I thought I would do some self-assessment this week.   If you read my blogs, you know I believe self-improvement is critical in anyone's life.  You know I read motivating books and magazines, and listen to positive tapes.  (if you don't know, you can read my May 21, 2010 post or click The Books I Have Read link in the left column).

Recently, I attended a leadership boot camp.  For my company, boot camp means honest talk and guidance to get you to the next level in your personal development; to get you out of your comfort zone so you will become a better person, a better leader.  As Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, says, "The most important actions are never comfortable."   Now, I have known the  boot camp trainers/mentors for several years and I have seen them evolve into better people, better leaders.  I listened as they talked about the books they read and the tapes they listened to during their journey.  I listened as they

Poll - What Are Your Challenges?

For some reason, we think when we are facing a challenge or challenges, that we are the only person in the whole wide world who has EVER faced that challenge.  If you think like this, STOP NOW! It is sooo untrue.  The one thing I have learned in talking with people is that, for the most part, we all have the same challenges in life.  The only difference between you and the person "who has it all together" is, the person hasn't really shared with you.  I mean, if you sat down with the person and both of you shared yourselves, had a real heart to heart conversation, you would most probably find the person has faced the same challenge (s) you face.  The person, however,

Guest Blogger

I want to use my weekly post to thank Robert Wingfield for allowing me to be guest blogger for his blog, The RAW Blog. (http://rawblog.posterous.com/)  Let me tell you a little bit about him.  He is a native of Nashville, TN and a graduate of the illustrious HBCU Fisk University (yeah Fiskite!).  Rob is a media consultant in Nashville and blogs about current events, food, music and entertainment.  I have known Rob for a long time and felt greatly honored that he would allow me to express myself to his followers.  Check out his blog.

And while I am talking about guest blogging, if you (yes, you) would like to write something, anything, to be posted on my blog, email me at myjourneytome@gmail.com.  Be glad to have you! 

THAT Stirring

Ever read or hear a message then felt something jump inside of you so much tears came into your eyes? Yes? That feeling, that stirring means you were supposed to read or hear those words at that point in time. It means those words were meant just for you, even if you are sitting in a vast audience.

The other day, I was idly going through my emails and opened an email update of a blog I subscribe to. The title of the blog post was catchy because I was feeling that way. I started to read the post. And something jumped deep inside of me,

Why You Shouldn't Be Perfect

As I write this, I am thinking perfectionism fits perfectly here right after the topic of achieving personal goals since the two can be intertwined.  I am the type of person who starts something brand new on Monday and expects to be perfect at it by Friday (of the same week).  Yes, I am a closet perfectionist. (I guess since I am writing this, I am no longer in the closet!)  And I had been frustrated a lot of times in my life.

I learned a valuable lesson about perfectionism from my granddaughter. When she was learning to talk, oftentimes her speech would be grammatically incorrect. We would correct her, she would repeat it and go merrily along her way.  No uncomfortableness, no shame in her game. It suddenly  dawned on me one day I wanted to be perfect at everything I did because

It Ain't All About Achieving The Goal

Set a personal goal, write it down, break down the goal into do-able steps, add a completion date and you will achieve it.  You will live happily ever after!  Sound familiar?  It should.  We've all heard this at one time or another.  And since I wanted to live happily ever after, I went through the process of writing down goals with a completion date.  Some I accomplished and some I didn't.  For the goals I didn't accomplish, I would do the process again....and again...and again.   But when I saw I wasn't accomplishing a goal again and again, I stopped writing it down, and as you expect, the goal got lost in life.  To me, a goal was the "be all and the end all".  If I wasn't "being all" then why bother.  I lived like this for years.

What I didn't realize is, although achieving a goal is important, there is more going on than meets the eye.  The realization hit last year when