Forget About a Resolution. Just Make Progress.

January is coming to a close, and many of us have already given up on our New Year’s resolutions.  In the past, I’ve mentioned some “resolutions”, but this year I didn’t even consider it. I just know that I’m going to always take steps towards progress and setting myself up to be better each and every day.

I won’t beat myself up because I abandoned a resolution.

Instead, I will celebrate myself when I move towards my goals and accomplish them.
People used to see me on the University of Memphis campus walking to class, meetings, or events holding my young son’s hand. I always took at least 15 hours each semester and sometimes up to 18. I was a student leader in a number of organizations and had meetings throughout the day and a couple of evenings a week. And even meetings on the weekend. People knew I had an internship at Hilton where I worked at least 2o hours a week too.   And people knew that I was serious about my grades and it showed in the results.

Plus I was a full-time, sole mother. Not just a single mother, but the sole parent of my child. I didn’t even have family in town to help.
The question I ALWAYS got was, “How do you do it?”

My answer then was,“I don’t have time to think about it. I just do it.”

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had figured the key to success, for me at least. I had always focused on what I wanted to accomplish and the reason that I wanted to accomplish it much more than on how I would accomplish it. Because of that, I was making progress every single day.

If I had focused on the HOW more than the REASON, then I probably never would have pursued all the things that I can now call accomplishments. Why? Because thinking about how I would go away to college full time with a small child without a support system and have the nerve to work a job and be a student leader, I would have determined that I couldn’t do it.

But I did do it!

My focus was that I would get a college degree and make the most of my college experience. So I just started doing it and the “how’s” were answered as I went along my journey. I didn’t let not knowing the answers of how to keep me from pursuing my dream and creating the life my son and I deserved.

Yes, I am a firm believer in planning and goal-setting and would encourage you to do those things. I even teach classes on those topics, but let the REASON be your driving force and never let the hows hold you back.

More important than planning, is dreaming. I am an even firmer believer in dreaming big than taking action.  I learned that you don’t get results without work. And with action and work comes progress.

So what do you really want in 2015 and for your life? So NOW what are you going to do about it? Tomorrow can be better than yesterday. One phone call, one email, one step…progress.

Check out what Anthony Robbins says about progress and a New Year True You 2015.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqGLF55R3Jw

 

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I’m Summer Owens, and my passion is helping youth and young adults realize success no matter what obstacles they face. As an international resilience and leadership keynote speaker, author, S.O. What! Success Coach, and creator of the S.O. What! Literacy, Life Skills, and Character Education curriculum, I empower people to say, “So what!” to even their greatest challenges.  provide a framework to help people see past their challenges and focus on solutions using the S.O. What! Success System (Overcome Obstacles + Eliminate Excuses + Calculate Choices = S.O. What! Success). Through keynotes, workshops, books, online courses, and workbooks, I use life’s challenges and my own story of resilience as a rape survivor and teen mom success story to help others confidently pursue their dreams.

Looking for an inspiring college motivational speaker? A high school literacy curriculum? A middle school life skills workbook? A great example for teen mothers? A women’s empowerment or single mother’s conference speaker?  I’m your girl and will help any audience say, “S.O. What!”.

 

www.SummerOwens.com