Vision Board or Craft Project?

As 2014 approaches are you creating a vision board or developing resolutions for the New Year? I am asking this because I have been reading posts, tweets and text messages about how people are excited to put 2013 in their rear view mirror and begin to look ahead at all 2014 has to offer. It made me wonder for the people who did create a vision board or developed resolutions this year have they looked back at it? Did any of the goals they wanted to accomplish manifest?  My vision board is an accomplishment board, because many of the things that I envisioned, have come to realization. 

I believe that creating a vision board is only the first step in making your dreams a reality.  I know many of you get together with friends, family and other new year resolution hopefuls at vision board parties to change the fate on they upcoming year.  These parties are tons of fun, because everyone is in great spirits eating, drinking and inspiring each other as they design boards that highlight their hopes and dreams.  The problem with most of these boards is that they are not the end of your vision but the beginning and without action these boards are just a craft project.  A collage that gathers dust after the excitement wears off.  I discussed the success of my vision board with one of my accountability partners and I came up with 5 D’s to make a cool craft project into successful vision board...

1. Design a Vision Board  - Create a vision board that showcases your goals for the upcoming year (this does not have to be January 1, you can do this at any time of the year). This board can be developed with magazine cut outs, hand written thoughts or anything your want to put on the board.  Make sure your board highlights your vision and not what others may want for you.
2. Display the Board - Your goals and dreams need to be in front of you every day.  If you travel a lot for business like I do, take a picture of the board and carry it with you, so you are constantly reminded what you are working towards. You can even make your vision board your screen saver, so that you see it everyday.
3. Devise a Plan/ Timeline - Develop a plan to help make your vision board become an accomplishment board.  A timeline with specific dates will keep you on track of making your visions come to fruition.
4. Designate an Accountability Partner  - Find someone to hold you accountable for your plans and goals.  This person must know your plans, have seen your board and will hold you liable if you veer from the plans.  You do not need a yes partner (someone that will let you slide when life gets tough), you need someone that will push you when you are ready to give up and remind you of everything you want to accomplish.
5. Decide to Act – There is not point in creating a vision board, developing a plan, asking someone to hold you accountable if you are not actively pursing your goals.   
6. 

I know many people believe that by creating a vision board you are putting in the atmosphere the things that you want to accomplish and the universe (or as I believe - GOD) will help you attain them.  However, I believe that creating a vision board is the first step and when you act on the things that you want, God will help you bring your dream/vision to reality.  It is like exercise…In order to lose weight or have a tone body you have to exercise, believing you will have the body you want will not make it happen.

Start the New Year off right by following the 5 D’s which will make your vision board come to Life faster.   You and your accountability partner will be excited to look at you board at the end of next year and see all of the things that you have accomplished.

God Bless

A. Mayartis J

Branding Babies for Success

Is it wrong for parents to start preparing their kids for success before they can talk, walk or decide what they want to do in life? This question popped into my head, when I started thinking about the process of developing a personal brand for student athletes. If we can begin branding high school students we certainly can brand junior high students and even younger.  Think about it, if you develop a personal brand for each of your children, it will give them an advantage over their peers, IF, it is done the right way.  I definitely want my children to have as many advantages as possible and if creating a brand for them will help them to be the best they can be in life and in their chosen profession…. Then let the kiddie branding begin.

But what exactly is baby branding and how do you get started? 

I recall watching a Will and Jada Smith interview on Oprah several years ago when they were discussing their family business plan and I thought to myself… that is ingenious.  What better way to get your family started on the right track, then to write your family’s goals down and then create a family (business) plan.  This does a few things… It starts an incredibly important discussion on what each of you (meaning the parents) wants for your individual and family’s future.  It ensures that both of you are starting out on the same page as it pertains to your future.  As you continue to update your plan(s) it gives develops important checks and balances that show that you are both still a cohesive unit moving in the same direction.  Obviously your family plan will evolve when your first bundle of joy arrives.  Your current plan(s) could drastically change depending on your off springs talents, health, personality and so on… but as the children grow you can determine what their plans are as a family.  I am an advocate for setting up a great foundation for the future, but please allow your kids to enjoy their childhood, remember they only get one.  The brand you create for your child must be organic and specifically for them.

There are several things you can do to start branding your child before they can even walk and none of them have anything to do with putting up cute sometimes embarrassing pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any the other social media sites. I understand that the social media sites are a place to share photos with family and friends that do not live close, but please remember that things entered on the internet are there FOREVER. So that cute photo that you have up now may not be so cute when he/she is running for president.  Secondly remember that photos can be taken off of your sites and used for others personal use…Please protect your children.

Baby Branding tips

1. MyBabysname.com: When a child is born one thing that you can do is reserve their domain name, so if they need it when they get older you already have it for them.  Some experts say check the domain name before naming your child.  I disagree… Name your child and then find a domain name that works, because your child’s name should have some emotional value to you.  You can also create Facebook, Twitter or any other social media sites, however the social media landscape changes so fast that those sites, may not be valid when your child is able to use them

2. Genius Boot camp – Children begin to show their personalities, talents and traits at a young age, so your job as parents is to discover and then nurture these abilities and provide avenues for them to continue to expand.   Remember it is not for you to live your dreams through them… It is time for them to live their dreams.

***Although some children may show their talents early, other children may not exhibit their talents until later in life.  Do not push them to decide.  Continue to introduce them to new things, activities, and let them enjoy their childhood.

3. Website Brag Page: Instead of flooding social media sites with pictures, why not design a website that will allow you to share their talents with the world.  A site that will continue to evolve as the child grows and their desires change.  Developing a site together would be a great way to work with your child on maintaining a positive online image.

4. Plan-it – After you have determined what their goals are help them to develop a personal plan to make them happen.  Incorporate your child’s plan into your families business plan.  Revise the plan often to accommodate the changes that constantly happen in your lives

5. Have Fun – It is great to have a plan, but it is extremely important to enjoy every moment that you have with your child, because it goes so fast.

God Bless

A. Mayartis J.

Stop Looking Back

I love the phrase “you cannot unscrambled scrambled eggs,” because it reminds me that you cannot reverse an unintentional mistake, an unexpected accident or even a harmful word spoken.  After the error is made there are two options:  find a way to live with it or put it behind you… or as I like to say put it in your rear-view mirror.   If you analyze a car you will notice that the rear-view mirror and side mirrors are really tiny in comparison to the massive front windshield. These mirrors are crucial because they allow the driver to see all they need to see in order to safely move forward. Additionally, as you continue to move forward your view of the objects behind you, become smaller and smaller until they disappears.  In comparison, the front windshield is huge allowing you to see all of the greatness that is in store for you. If you decided to live with the situation at least look at it with fresh eyes… forgive yourself or person/group who made the error and then release it, although you may never forget it.

Often times we allow issues in life to be a setback instead of looking at is a set up for a bigger and better purpose.  

Last year Kevin Ware a guard on the Louisville college basketball team landed awkwardly after trying to block a three-point shot attempt and suffered a compound fracture to his right leg, during the final four. Players and coaches on both teams were visibly shaken at the sight of the injury, but one of his teammates came over immediately and prayed, which helped Kevin collect his thoughts.  He knew that although he was injured he had to be strong for his teammates, so instead of crying he began motivating his players to go and win the game.  Kevin went to the hospital and his teammates won the game in his honor.

 A few months later while recuperating with 2 metal rods and a metal plate in his leg, Kevin stated in an interview that he had never seen the video of the accident.  He made it clear that he had no plans on EVER watching the video.  He felt that watching the accident would put him in the wrong mental state, which would not be beneficial in helping him move forward with his basketball career. 

When asked how he could move forward Kevin said,  “This is another obstacle I had to face... God does not let anything happen that he doesn’t want to happen this was another situation that was going to mature me and get me to a better mindset”

Had Kevin not put the accident in his rear-view mirror he would not have been able to sink a 3-pointer at the Cardinals' exhibition game against Pikeville on November 6,2013.  This was Kevin’s first shot attempt in a game since fracturing his right leg last March.  Kevin went on to rack up six points and four rebounds in his 10 minutes on the court

We all need to take a page from Kevin’s Ware’s life… stay positive during your adversity and the only time you should be looking back it is to see how far you have come and/or see where you do not want to return.

It is imperative that you let go of your past so you can experience your future and so you will know you’re on the right track when you become uninterested in looking back.

God Bless,

A. Mayartis J

A Goal Mentality

Last week I discussed the odds of high school students getting into the NBA, so this week I thought I would follow it up by discussing how we can help student athletes find their innate talents and create goals to beat the NBA odds.  We have seen great athletes excel on the court with little guidance because they have a deep desire to be the best they can be without anyone pressuring them.  Being the best on the court is not enough in today’s society, we need to instill in our kids that they are more than an athlete.  We need to help them create a healthy mentality that will last a life.  As parents, mentors, coaches, family members and teachers we must help them develop a goal oriented multi-talented mindset… make them believe that they can do anything they set their minds to with hard work, perseverance and a plan.

5 steps that will help our youth develop a goal centered healthy mentality:

1. Discover Talents – All of our children are talented!  Often athletic skills are revealed at an early age without any work, however some of their other gifts may need a little nudge to be exposed.  Talents are usually discover via trial/error in school, extracurricular activities and most importantly being attentive to our children’s likes and dislikes. When a child finds something they are good at and passionate about it is our duty to help them nurture these talents.  Remember their gift(s) could be the catalyst to build a legacy that is even bigger than their basketball career.

 2. Define Goals – After we have unearthed the hidden talents of our kids it is time to develop them.  What better way to do that then creating measurable goals that will give them an incentive to be the best.  A great idea is to work with them on creating a vision board that will highlight their goals.  Showcase the vision board in a place that they can refer to often and see if they have met any of their goals.  Over time they will have to redefine these goals, because a goal chosen at age 10 may change at age 20 or age 30.  If your child is not a visual person or opposed to a vision board they can also create a list of goals and hang them up instead.  The point of the exercise is to develop a conversation about goals and  create a plan for the future that is fun and productive.

3. Write a Plan – If athletes do not plan and have laser focus, they will fall short of their goals, so it is important to sit down and design a work-in-progress plan or a timeline.  Like the goals discussed above a plan will give them an outline for the future.  It is really important that this plan is attainable to build their confidence in achieving their goals.  It is also essential that these plans take into consideration that they are kids and they need to enjoy their childhood before it is gone.  A plan could consist of fun and educating camps they can attend to cultivate their talent, classes to expand their gift, talking to successful people in that field or joining organizations to help them network with other kids like themselves.

4. Athletic college scholarship are tickets to achieving your goals - Although these scholarships are a passport into a great school to play basketball, students need to take their education seriously, so they can be learn the skills needed to bring their goals to reality.  Getting a degree in a field that you demonstrate talents in, will help you develop a career if their basketball goal is finished after collage or shortly after you enter the NBA.  College is also a great place to network with non-athletes that are working in the field that they are interested in, because they may be the needed career catalyst later on in life.

5. Give back – Everyone has a purpose in life, but one key element of that purpose is to give back to your community.  We need to teach our kids from an early age to always leave their community better than when they arrived.  It is amazing the lessons learned from giving to others in need.  Giving will also develop a purposeful mindset that will aid in them considering how to serve others and especially how they can use their gifts to benefit the lives of others.

God Bless

A. Mayartis J.

Beating the NBA Odds

“I am going to be a football player, basketball player or baseball player”,

 is the response I received from several little boys, when asked what they are going to do when they grew up, so I though as the NBA gears up for their new season, wouldn’t it be quite interesting to find out what percentage of male high school basketball players make it into the NBA?  After a little research I found out that in the United States alone, the number is very small… a mere .02%.

In delving deeper into this question I found that the quest to play in the NBA starts at the tender age of 5 or 6, where parents introduce their kids to the game of basketball by watching it on TV and/or taking them to a game.  Parents then enroll their kids on a basketball team to keep them busy, increase their weekly exercise or help them to learn how to play with a team, all in the hopes that they will play in the NBA.  Parents encourage their kids to play on various intramural teams, sign them up for basketball camps and enroll them in agility gyms at great financial strain in hopes that they will continue honing in on their skills and becoming adept at the game, so they can make it to the NBA.

In High School only the best players make it onto the varsity basketball team.  The competition is so strong that when these players who have been playing basketball all their lives enter high school, not many of them make it onto the team, because the weaning out process (or numbers game) begins. This is a very crucial time, because college scouts begin to look for extraordinary players for their teams and athletes in their junior year initiate their search for the elusive athletic college scholarship.  Even getting a scholarship is a numbers game.  There are approximately 15 players on a varsity high school basketball team and there is normally one scholarship given to play college basketball.  That means only 1 player out of 5-7 teams or 1 out of 90 players receive a college basketball scholarship.  Although it is not necessary to get a basketball scholarship in order to play on a college team, these statistics show the initial odds of just receiving one.

The pool of possible athletes making it into the NBA becomes even smaller at the college level.  If you are fortunate enough to receive an athletic scholarship to play basketball, you have beaten some of the odds, now you have to figure out how to transition to the NBA?  There are over 250 college basketball teams that contain 12 Players on each team, which means there are 3000 male athletes playing college basketball in total. Every year 60 elite athletes are chosen in the NBA draft.  Additionally, 15-20 standout athletes will make it onto an NBA team by impressing scouts in the NBA Summer League, so the that is a grand total of 80 players making it to the NBA

The end result is not favorable for those who wish to become professional basketball players, because only 1 out of 5000 male basketball players who make their high school team will transition to the NBA.  These statistics are quite daunting, but we (parents, teachers, coaches) should not be focusing on just helping our children make it, but helping them create a mindset of  “I have many goals and although making it to the NBA is one of my goals it does not define me, I can and will beat the NBA odds.”

Magic Johnson is a perfect example of an NBA player that beat the NBA odds.  Yes, he made it into the NBA and excelled as well as broke records during his tenure, but when he left the NBA, he made a bigger name for himself and a legacy for future generations.  Magic Johnson redefined his himself by founding and running these entities: 

    Magic Johnson Enterprises

            Magic Johnson Productions – (A promotional company)

            Magic Johnson Theaters

            Magic Johnson Entertainment (Movie Studio)

            Magic Card (prepaid credit card)

Magic Johnson is also part owner of Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Dodgers

Magic Johnson’s life underscores the point that NBA is a goal, but it should not the only goal.  Your mind is your only limitation.  Shoot for the stars and you will reach them.

God Bless,
A. Mayartis J

It Starts With...

A creative thought molded into an award winning idea

A dream transformed into a legacy

A vision seen as a now reality

A passion burning to revolutionize the world

A purpose so driven it cannot be contained

A life changing step building confidence again

A Faith unshaken no matter the circumstance 

A belief so deep that winning is a given

An action changing a community

A job that is no more

A full-fledged Entrepreneur you are!

God Bless,

A. Mayartis J.

My Purpose... 7 steps to discovering you

Have you ever asked yourself: why am I here, what is my purpose or am I doing all I can do? At one time or another we have all questioned our reason for living, the questions usually come up during a transition or difficult time in our lives.  We have either sought out answers or filled our lives with “life,” hoping “life” will satisfy us or make us forget about the questions. It is rare that these questions disappear until we answer them.

I believe that we are all put on this earth for a specific reason, but only a small percentage of us take the time to find out exactly what that reason is and an even smaller percentage of us take a step to make it happen.  It is amazing how many people go to work every day unhappy in their careers and most of the time it is because they are not fulfilling their purpose.  When we take a deeper look into their unhappiness at their job, we often discover that they are not searching for other employment opportunities to change their happiness because they are:

•        Content with their financial situation.  
•        Scared to leave because of the unknown.
•        Assume that this is their life … A Grin and bear it mentality.  

Although all of aforementioned reasons (or as I like to call them excuses) are somewhat valid, admit it ...you are settling.  IF you discovered your purpose you could have a fulfilling occupation that could possibly pay you more AND positively impact the lives of the people in your community.   Whether you are happy or not in your current occupation aren’t you curious to find out what your purpose is on this earth?

Oprah often tells the story of how she knew she was meant for more… Her grandmother was hanging out the laundry and told Oprah to watch because she would have to do this soon.   Oprah did as she was told, but a still, small voice inside her, “really more a feeling than a voice, said, 

"This will not be your life. Your life will be more than hanging clothes on a line.""  

I am sure we all hear that small voice, but do we listen?

The process of ascertaining your purpose can be a short one if you have already completed a thorough self-examination and are in-tuned with where you are or where you are going in your life.  The enlightening journey to find your purpose could possibly take a while, because it means you have to become transparent if you are not already and be completely honest with yourself.   Unfortunately, most of us are not ready for the quick reveal.  We need the Band-Aid to be ripped off slowly, revealing our insecurities and secrets bit by bit.  We are not prepared to discover that what we should be doing is so far out of our every day realm that it would scare us and fear will stop us from acting on our newfound purpose.   

I believe it is more beneficial to begin creating a mindset of deeper self-awareness, which will in-turn help you discover your purpose.  In considering the bigger picture, instead of giving you steps on how to reveal your purpose, below are 7 steps that will help you delve into who you are? These steps can be done by yourself or with an honest accountability partner, however you want to do it, as long as you do it. Don’t delay begin your discovery today…

My Purpose... 7 steps to discovering you

1. Discover Your Passion(s) – What do you love to do

• Make a list of all the things you really like to do.  Close your eyes and imagine if you had no responsibilities, what would make you happy to wake every day and do?

2. Unearth Your Talent(s) – What are you good at?

• Create a list of things that you naturally do well without much effort.

3. Be Honest With Your Dislikes - What do you hate doing?

•  Devise a list of things you despise doing. It maybe things you currently do at work, home, church and/or school. We all have something, even if we do not want to admit it.

4. Consistent Compliments  - What do people give you kudos for?

• Compile a kudos list. What thing(s) do you do that always receive rave reviews? Cooking, Singing, Organizing, Painting, Construction, Yard Work, Make Up…

 5. Examine your Downtime – What do you enjoy doing in your downtime?

• Develop a list of me-time activities.  This could be a key indicator of what your purpose is, because a lot of times the things you spend your time doing, dreaming or talking about are what your are meant to do.

6. Never Stop Learning – What kinds of things peak your interest?

• Write down all of the types of things you like to read.  If you had to read a book, magazine or a blog, what types of things are you drawn too?

 7. Create a journal  - Are you documenting your journey to revealing your purpose?

• Finding your purpose can open doors to so many things in your life.  Document the entire process, so you can look back and see how far you have come and all of the great things that have been reveled to you. 

After you have finished all 7 steps spend some time with each list.  If you feel comfortable enough, have your accountability partner read your list and then discuss each list with you.  Remember this is a discovery process and it is meant to make you transparent, so be honest and finish it; Do NOT let FEAR stop you from finding YOU!  We will be discussing steps to find your purpose in a later blog and my forth coming book, but right now continue to discover YOU.

God Bless,

A. Mayartis J.