A Plan

As I look back at the last 18 months that I have been working towards my bachelor’s degree, I can’t help but ask, “Now what am I going to do with it?”  I have been extremely blessed in my professional life thus far.  When I was twenty years old I was hired as a contractor and given the opportunity to work at Amway Corporation.  When I interviewed for the position I asked about career advancement and was ensured that there was room for me to grow at Amway.  You have to remember I was a contractor (or a “consultant” as my employer liked to call it) so to actually become an Amway employee I would need to either get offered a job, or apply and interview for a job.  I was hoping for an offer, but last fall was excited to apply for the exact job I had been doing for two years (maybe not the exact job but close enough to call it that!).

I was not offered a job but I was given the opportunity to apply and interview which I still consider a good opportunity because remember, at this point I do not have a Bachelor’s degree.  If you have ever worked for or interviewed at a large corporation such as Amway, you understand the politics involved.  (If you don’t understand, consider yourself lucky, you are not missing out on anything)!  So there I was with a great job that suddenly had an end date; my employer literally told me, “Your contract is up on December 31, 2009.”  I wasn’t being fired, let go or laid off, my contract was ending.  Done.  Period.  What about my mortgage?  My car insurance?  Not to mention about $3,000 in credit card debt to deal with.  So began this adventure to land my first “real job”….

Long story short, I got that job but the entire process really put a lot of things into perspective for me and I realized that I needed a plan.  I am responsible for myself and I cannot depend on Amway (or anyone for that matter) to give me the life I want and deserve.  It is up to me to make that happen for myself.  A great job might give me the confidence or the resources to put my plan to action but the execution is up to me. 

So deep down inside, what do I want?  What is my plan?  I guess you will have to stay tuned to hear more about my big plan and how you can go about creating a plan for yourself!

Ciao Ciao for now…

Focus Inward

I have always been a high-energy person; I also tend to be quite impatient so I am not surprised that as I am nearing graduation I find myself asking, “What’s next?” I have this fiery energy and a strong will to do big things with my life, but what? How do I make a difference? And most of all, what do I do with all this energy?

First of all I am realizing that I need to slow my roll!  Here I am trying to figure out how the whole world works when that is really out of my control.  So what I need is a solid plan; a vision, and a mission to guide me (I am still working on this part, but it is not as easy as one would think!). I am learning that impatience and intolerance are obstacles that I can overcome if I focus my energy to do so. Once you remove limitations and fear from your life, you end up with extreme amounts of courage and the inspiration to face the unknown!

So I challenge you to remove those limitations that you have placed on yourself.  Break down some walls today and open yourself to endless opportunities.  Be creative with it.  Remember that it took a long time to build those walls and limitations and that they won’t come down in a day.  Take that energy you once used on limiting yourself, and focus it inward, deep down inside, and practice patience, listen, observe, and learn from it.

Deep Down Inside

Every so often I get this fantastic idea: “I should start a blog!”  What happens after that is just ridiculous!  I rack my brain and ponder over the many many things that I could blog about, and then I CHICKEN OUT!  Yup.  Every time.  And then I never (still to this day) have ever written a blog! So deep down inside I have always wanted to be a blogger, and now I have finally written a blog!  Cheers!  And may it be the start to many more! Now that I actually have a blog, I have to think of more things to blog about!  Stay tuned!