I feel inspired. I feel brave!

 I feel inspired. I feel empowered. I feel that I can do anything that I set my mind to! 

Honestly that is how I feel. I am in love with this feeling. I know in the past this feeling has guided me to do revolutionary things in my personal and professional life. I know that I accomplished many of the things I set out to do. However, the challenge is remaining inspired all the time. Somewhere along the path the following distractions always seemed to raise their ugly heads. These include hectic schedules filled with things I cared a lot about but too many I cared very little about, well-meaning but distracting friends, family and colleagues, lazy summer days and/or just a general lack of enthusiasm based on my work environment and/or the political and economic climate. 

However, wouldn’t it be lovely if this undeniable magnetic energy and gung-ho and motivated attitude could be bottled and released whenever we needed an energy boost? I certainly think so. If I could share how I feel with all of you now, I certainly would.

This week, I was fortunate enough to be involved in a CDB Train the Trainers workshop for marketing for small hotels in St. Lucia. The workshop exceeded my expectations because I truly feel that I walked away with so much more value than simply knowledge about marketing. I feel that the workshop provided an opportunity and avenue for introspection that I really needed especially concerning my professional life. I had already started to make strides in making some changes but I feel that this past week has given me the extra push and will power that I needed to run instead of walking at a leisurely pace.

Life is interesting because you don’t know who you will meet or maybe what you will hear or what you will do that will lift your mood, motivate, inspire, empower or simply change your life for the best.  

I have met some amazing, inspiring people along my life’s journey so far. However, the set that I met during this last week came along just when I needed them to. They are entrepreneurs and budding entrepreneurs, fitness enthusiast and trainers who just want to bring out the best in those they interact with. They inspired and they encouraged and I feel richer for having met them.

 Today, I believe I can do anything that I put my mind to. I can remain focused. I can be brave.

How about you? Do you inspire others by the things you say and do? Have you met someone who has truly inspired you to do more and be more?

If you haven’t, then you need to expand your circle to persons who can help you to reach your full potential. If there is something you have been meaning to do today big or small, I hope that I may be a voice of positivity and inspiration. Go for it! The world really has too many people who continue to say ‘I could have or I should have’ instead of ‘I did It.’

I intend to say ‘I DID IT.’ Let’s make and deal and do whatever ‘it’ is today.

Drop me a line to say you did it!

The 'Hustle.' What's your hustle?

What's your hustle?


The urban dictionary defines hustling as 'doing anything to make money even if it is a bit shady or illegal.' I'm not talking about illegal hustling. Let's make that clear. 

Hustling is nothing new to Anguilla's context but it seems that more people are adopting the 'hustle' mentality.

I seem to be hearing this word a lot more lately. Most times when I hear it though, I am pretty confident that the hustling to be done is not illegal or shady. In many cases, the hustle is something positive.

Everyone wants to do more and earn a dollar or an additional dollar. What I admire about 'the hustle' is the entrepreneurial spirit it evokes in many. I have noted more persons are using innate talents and skills whether it is singing, dancing, playing an instrument, drawing, designing etc. to make a dollar. There are more small businesses opening, more events being planned and more energy in and about the island. Kudos, to all the persons who have found a way to make an honest dollar. Just do it right.  Ensure you have the correct licenses and permission and continue to do your thing. Dream big!

I have noticed also there is another hustle going on. This hustle slowed down during the 'cold' months but now everyone is back on their 'hustle.' Yes I am talking about exercise.

The roads are buzzing, the gyms are packed and the 'Biggest Loser competitions ' and 'Boot Camps' have no shortage of participants.

I just want to remind everyone who is striving for a summer body, that proper diet and exercise should be a year round activity for our general well-being. Keep doing your thing and don't stop exercising after Carnival.

There are a lot more trainers and persons who exercise year round so even if your friends don't want to 'hustle' in December to March when it is dark and cold, don't let that stop you.

I want to shout out to our small group of year round fitness 'hustlers.' You can find us on the park three days a week from 5:30am whether it is dark without a moon or sunshiny bright like it is currently.

If you are looking for a small group to get your fitness 'hustle' on with, do send me a message.

Today, get your fitness and entrepreneurial 'hustle' on.

Don't forget to check out my website My Anguilla Experience for more interesting stories on what's going on with me in Anguilla.

Remembering 2012 and seriously getting excited about 2013

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

I am excited. Personally 2012 was a spectacular year. So many wonderful things happened during the year and I give infinite thanks.

Highlights of my year included celebrating another birth year, getting engaged (see photo below), home ownership, watching my sister graduate, fantastic vacations, teaching the Personal and Professional Development course at the Comprehensive Learning Centre to fabulous students, Presidency of the Optimist Club of Anguilla which was a great learning and growing experience and so much more.

When I asked Nash what the highlights of his year were his answer made me smile. He said they were the simple moments like 'seeing me smile, talking to his brother, waking up each day... this is why I love this man.

Photo credit - Signature7602 Studios

 

But I digress ... if you know me at all, you will know that I also get excited about something, anything big or small at least twice a day. You might hear me say

‘I am so excited to eat lunch’ or I am excited for a friend starting something new in his or her life or I am excited just because my love dropped by the office. I don’t ever want to lose my child like enthusiasm for what most would consider the mundane things in life.

So yes, even though 2012 was so spectacular, I don’t mind saying goodbye to it because I am excited about what lies ahead in 2013. If it is God’s will, I will celebrate my 30^th in 2013 (woo hoo – can we say 30 and fabulousJ. I will also marry the love of my life -I am so excited! Can anyone tell how many times I said excited or some version of this word in this blog?

How about you? What makes you excited? It is the season to be jolly so don’t be a scrooge. Get excited! Get happy. I certainly am. Say Yes to getting excited today.

Let me take this opportunity to say a very WARM THANK YOU to those who have subscribed to or read my blog. I hope this blog has inspired you in some way or at the very least made you chuckle :).  To my readers in North, South and Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and of course Anguilla please do continue to read  and share in 2013 and look out for a new blog coming soon!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year or Season Greetings from 'Say Yes to Today!'

Plant a seed (2012) – Let it grow (2013)

Hi everyone

I had a fantastic vacation and I am back to Anguilla refreshed and rejuvenated. Congratulations to my sister on her graduation. Your future looks bright.

You will remember me talking about my pumpkins sometime last year.  Without any effort from me or my mother other than throwing out some pumpkin seeds our ‘garden’ produced a large number of beautiful pumpkins late last year. During that time I enjoyed pumpkin soup and pie and other pumpkin recipes and even sold a few pumpkins to the supermarket. Not surprisingly though as the dry season approached my pumpkin vine started to wither and almost died.

I am certain that many of us planted seeds during this year. We planted spiritual, emotional, social, educational, financial and even fitness seeds. We would have watched our seeds/goals/resolution start to grow. The questions now are

1)    Did our seeds grow past the initial seedling stage?

2)    Did we remember to water and fertilize our seeds/goals?

3)    Did our seeds/goals grow to full size or come to fruition because of loving care and attention?

4)    Did our seeds/goals wither or die?

As for me, there are many seeds which I planted which have flourished but there are others which barely grew past the seedling stage. Let us take a minute now though to celebrate our successes during the past year regardless of how big or small they may be (loud cheers and applause).

We also must take a moment though to reflect on the things we were unable to achieve this year. They are not failures but rather only delayed success stories. As we prepare to start another year, we should once again think about the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Result oriented, Time based) goals that we would like to achieve and start making plans to make them a reality.

Let your success stories of 2012 energize and fuel your passion. Say yes to a strong closure of 2012 strong and an even stronger start of 2013.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

To Move Forward or to Stand Still - That is the question

Hi guys

I want to first congratulate my friend Haneen on achieving her doctorate. I am so proud of you.

Over my life, I have spent much time contemplating the lines in Robert Frost’s poem especially the last two lines which are

‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference’  (excerpt from poem by Robert Frost)

There have been numerous interpretations of this poem which I will not go into as this poem may mean something different to everyone. What we can agree on is that in life we often face crossroads (two roads which diverge). If you choose to go down one road it usually means you can’t go down another at the same time.

For some people, the fear of choosing a road, that is, making a decision on moving forward paralyses them. Some decisions are easy and others much harder. I totally agree that making decisions especially life changing decisions can be scary. I think not making a decision is scarier though. When you put off making a decision and instead you are forced into a decision, or allow others to decide for you or simply compromise or ignore a situation or opportunity because it is the ‘easier’ thing to do, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

Instead seize the opportunity to make a decision. It is your life. You have to live with the decisions you or anyone else make. So therefore in my mind, it makes sense for you to make and own your decisions. There may always be naysayers and those who disagree or think you are making a foolish choice. There will be those who might be jealous you are moving forward or doing something different (crab in the bucket mentality). Who cares? Follow your heart and follow your dreams and that is what will make the difference.

To all the people who had the courage to make often difficult decisions...I tip my hat to you.

·        Those who made a decision to give up ‘stable jobs’ and followed or will follow their dream to start a business

·        Those who made calculated (well thought out) decisions to buy or build a home in a difficult economy

·        Those who made a decision to marry who they love even when others tried to discourage them or those who moved far away to follow their love

·        Those who made and stuck with decisions to lose weight and take control of their lives and health

·        Those who chose to walk away from abusive relationships and stand strong and tall because they know their worth

These are real examples of real people I know who made decisions often choosing to take the road less travelled by. These are people I know who are happy with the road they have chosen to travel.

What about you? Are you at a cross road? Is there a decision that you have been struggling with or putting off making? Have you stopped to pray about it?  If not, do so now. It’s true that prayer and faith changes things. I know.

Say Yes to making those decisions you have been putting off today. I am.

 

 

3 Month Challenge: I DARE YOU!

I am inspired!

Incredible stories of perseverance never cease to amaze and encourage others, even more so when these stories are witnessed in our daily life. I have a great friend who has lost over 100 pounds. I am so proud of her. Her determination, her hard work and her faith show that we can truly do anything we set our mind to. I will write a blog telling her story in the near future.

By now, you all know that I am a goal setter. Goals are dreams with a deadline. I would like you to join me in my three month challenge. I will set some goals and you will set some goals. We will check on the progress of our goals each month. So here we go! These are some of my goals for the next three months.

Goal 1 - Physical

 Develop and implement a weekly weight lifting, resistance training and strength building routine. The result should be more toned arms and increased strength and flexibility at the end of three months.

As we age, women lose muscle mass particularly if we are not active. Women are encouraged to do light weight lifting or its equivalent to build muscle.

Goal 2 - Spiritual

Engage in daily devotions. I am positive that for many of us we have the intention of doing daily devotions but somehow life gets in the way. I am so thankful for this wonderful life that I have and I need to ensure that I give God the recognition and thanks for that.

Goal 3 - Financial – Make and save X dollars over the next three months (really guys? I can’t share everything with you J)

Finances - the dreaded ‘F’ word. These days when most people talk about finances, it is to mourn and groan and complain. Yes, we do make less and yes, food prices are ridiculous. However, we do still have some control over what we spend, where we spend and on whom we spend. Take a long hard look at ‘how’ you spend and I am sure you will find there is some potential for you to save and build up that savings account.

Goal 4 - Intellectual

1)    Recruit students and complete at least two classes for my Personal and Professional Development courses.

2)    Develop and market a new course

Goal 5 - Relational

Reach out and build stronger relationships during this period to Optimist members and friends who I may not have had much contact with so far for 2012.

So there you have it guys. I have put myself and some of my goals for the next three months out here on my blog for the world to see. Please note that even though I have set a three month time limit, this does not mean that I will stop pursuing these goals after three months. That is just my initial deadline.

The three months starts on March 15^th 2012 and ends on June 15^th 2012.

You can choose to share your own goals with me too by posting a comment below.  Even if you don’t, do join me in my three month challenge. I DARE YOU to Say YES to this challenge today!

Wish me luck! Best of luck to you too!!! You will be great.

Why fit in when you can stand out! 5 Surprising ways you can stand out from the crowd.

Hi everyone

I actually stole this topic from my sister’s BB and Facebook page. She was talking about her store but I thought this would work fabulously as a blog entry. Thanks Sis.  She owns a trendy store in East End called Hottest Selections. If you haven’t checked it out...Please do!

Read on for some great tips on how you can stand out from the crowd.

1)    Dress up when everyone is dressing down. Go ahead and wear those fabulous heels.  Yes, persons will talk about you because you look great! That is the objective right.

2)    Things will not always go your way and that’s ok. How you deal with things when they go wrong will determine if you just fit in or if you stand out. There are lot more people in this world who are negative than those who are positive. Which category do you want to fall into?

3)    Be an original. Facebook, blogs, twitter, youtube etc. have given all of us a platform and if we choose to, we can be ourselves or we can be a copy of someone else. Have and share your own opinions. Show off your own skills. Remember, the original is always better than the copy.

4)    Don’t be afraid to lead. You may not be a natural leader but you can develop and enhance your leadership skills. When you demonstrate the willingness or the ability to lead you immediately stand out from the crowd.

5)    Try something new! We all have things we would like to do but it may be a bit too far from our ‘comfort zone.’ Maybe you want to start a YouTube channel or join a band or start a small business. What’s holding you back? There is nothing sadder than ‘I wish I had.’ I personally prefer ‘I did.’ Don’t you?

UPDATE

My mango tree is still alive. The leaves are definitely more green than brown, kind of like my lifeJ.  My pumpkin patch has numerous pumpkins which we have been enjoying and sharing with family and friends. By the way, my mom makes a fabulous pumpkin pie. Another totally useless titbit...the hen that made a nest in my yard had her chicks...aren’t they the cutest!

Hope this blog entry was useful and at the very least I hope it made you smile. Have a great weekend!

Do share any comments below.

How to make a choice to stay positive

Hi everyone

Do you agree that life is all about choices? I certainly do. We make choices daily. Should I wear heels or should I wear flats? Should I wake up at 5:30am to exercise or should I sleep in until 7am? Should I attend a class, seminar or workshop or should I stay home and watch Operation Repo or Real Housewives of New Jersey?  Sounds familiar?

We all make these and many more choices daily and the choices we make shape our lives and impact our future. Many times we create our own problems, our own drama, our own negative situations but too many times we don’t want to take responsibility for our choices and our actions.

Blaming others will get you nowhere. I always loved the saying, ‘if you are not part of the solution; you are the part of the problem’. Many of us are our own worst enemy and accepting that fact is an important step to allow us to move forward daily.

So what about trying to change your mindset, the way you think? Yes, with the recession, things are hard. Yes, you have bills and children to take care of. Yes, dreaming big can be scary. These things are all true but dare to dream big and have a vision. Then translate your dream into reality by taking small steps or big steps to get you to where you want to be.  Seek to improve yourself in some way every day!

I look around me and I see persons who are striving for success despite the recession. I see these persons when I attend youth ambassador meetings and leadership training sessions. I see them at places like the National Conference on Youth and Development and I see them taking classes and seminars like my Personal and Professional Development Course and many others.

There is tremendous value in investing in you and there are so many opportunities to do that around us. So decide to get fit, decide to take a class, decide to get involved and decide to change your attitude towards your life and your future. Do it today.

How to choose a path for success

As I exited the bank the other day, some tourists pulled up beside me and asked for directions to a grocery story. I gave them clear directions using words like ‘left’ and ‘right’ which I was positive if followed correctly would take them to their intended destination.

Life, however does not work this way. I recently read a book entitled ‘More than a Dream’ – Prescriptions for Success.’ It was a feel good, simple book with lots of anecdotes and inspiring quotations…so I read it...now what?  Well apply these prescriptions to your life and you will be successful of course….I am not convinced.

We all define success in different ways and success means different things at different stages in our lives. For some of us success is synonymous with having strong familial relationships, for others it means reaching some pinnacle in your career and yet for others it might mean taking that first step when you were told by doctors that you would never walk again.

There are no clear prescriptions for our lives. There are no directions to show us how to get to that place we want to be, how to reach that goal we want to reach. There are of course many books, videos, inspirational speakers who can give advice about how to proceed but for each of us the road to success will be different.

I think that makes life interesting. Don’t you? Today take that first step towards success (you know within you what it is)…left, right, up, down…you choose.

Balance or Rebalance

A walk on the beach

I am from a beautiful Caribbean island called Anguilla. I am blessed to have 33 beautiful beaches a few minutes away from my doorstep. I love to take walks on the beach or simply sit on the sand and watch the sea.  It relaxes and balances me. I can meditate, I can pray, I can write.

I have another friend who sings to relax. Fortunately she has a beautiful voice. Unfortunately, I do not.

With all the turmoil in the world, or even in your little portion of the world, it is important to have that safe place – that activity, that thing you do which helps you to relax and to unwind.

Even while we strive for success, we have to always remember to enjoy the little and big joys life has to offer.  Reaching some defined pinnacle in your career and owning material items is important for many of us but always be wary of the cost financially, emotionally, spiritually. Those who are most happy lead balanced lives.

I am going to take my walk on the beach today. What are you going to do?

I have Today!

Yesterday is gone.             

A line in the Optimist Creed reads ‘Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future’  At a recent Optimist International Conference, it was debated whether or not to change the words ‘Forget the mistakes’ to ‘Learn from the mistakes.’ In the end it was decided that the original wording would remain.

Whether your strategy for dealing with the past is learning from it or simply forgetting about it...the fact remains – yesterday is gone, we cannot change what happened but the good news is each of us has today.

And today I have made a choice to start a blog because I have something to say. What choice did you make today? You got out of bed. Congratulations. Now what? Did you get out of bed with a positive attitude? Did you stick to your fitness regimen of diet and exercise? Did you read that book you have been meaning to read for the last week, month, and year?

If you got out of bed and did something worthwhile – something which would change or positively impact your life or the life of others around you….Congratulations!’ You are well on your way to embracing the concept ‘I have today’.