A friend recently told me that for the past few years, I’ve started the New Year with something new. Most recently, a new car for 2019 and a new job for 2020. In fact, I think January has always been kind to me, starting in 2011, when my little angel was born.

2020, the year of 20/20 vision! I am taking on a new challenge and journey in pursuit of my ultimate goals and aspirations.  

The year was 2013, on January 7th. I had started my first managerial job, a real nose-dive into operationalizing the concept of a nonprofit entity. Two years in [January to be exact], and it was doing very well; and even expanded its services to include an entrepreneurial, innovative and client-servicing venture which led to unprecedented growth for the company. After seven (7) years, I felt as though I had mastered it. Even though I felt overwhelmed, the role was no longer challenging and mundane. It may even be rhetoric to say, I was too comfortable! I am way too young [and poor] to be comfortable!

So I decided it was time to pursue another challenge in an area of interest that would require me to pool all the skillset learned over the past decade in a new venture. A move that will undoubtedly widen my portfolio, skills, and knowledge to propel me to the next stage of growth.

I am all for that! I am a strong proponent of taking baby steps, achieving short-term goals, and mini-victories en route to achieving one’s “ultimate” success, whatever it may be.

The Inspiration to Welcome Change 

Last October, I attended a leadership summit and I was inspired by all the presenters who shared their stories with the audience about finding one’s passion and living in one’s purpose. The presenter that had the greatest impact on me was Liz Forkin Bohannon, author of the book Beginner’s Pluck: 14 Principles to Build Your Life of Purpose.

In her presentation, Liz highlighted her screwups and advances on her journey to starting a fashion business that created educational and economic opportunities for women. A great woman empowerment initiative that showcased her choice of growth over comfort. But something she said, has been a recurring thought in my mind; something that’s even more applicable today. The idea of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone into a venture, not knowing what the outcome will be. There is this notion that if you succeed at a venture and fail at subsequent one(s); then your initial success was likely as a result of beginner’s luck. For someone who went straight from administration to management overseeing the buildout of a successful nonprofit; it begs me to question whether or not, it was all beginner’s luck.

Then I reflected on four of the fourteen principles put forth by Liz in her book; and I’m quite confident that my drive, persistence, diligence and continued quest for greatness has always resulted in my rewards of success. So today, I want to share those four principles with you and hope you can apply them to your lives.

Own Your Average

Being average is perfectly normal! You are who you are. You are unique and have the ability to make a significant impact on your friends, your clients, your family, and the world! Own your strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities; but most importantly, own your average.

Choose Curiosity over Criticism

They say curiosity is an important feature of a genius. Being curious makes one observant, open-minded and brings a lot of excitement to the possibilities of life. Cultivate a mindset of curiosity and that will help you make a step towards learning something new or even working on something that will result in a change for the better.

Find & Replace 

Stop fearing failure and appreciate the lessons from each experience. Replace the fear of failure with a sense of gratitude for wisdom and channel that intentionally into whatever goal you are trying to achieve.

Surprise Yourself

Be open to the possibility of doing something you never imagined yourself doing. Often times, when we embark into the unknown with an open-mind we surprise ourselves having attained either what we had hoped to, or an alternate outcome that is even more rewarding.

On that note, I step forward into 2020 with purpose. Not only engaging a new challenge but pacing myself in taking more small steps in rolling out the plans I have for myself.

Like I’ve done before, I will continue to surprise myself!

xoxo, cheers!