Write | Inspire | Dream
Selflove and gratitude have been a hot topic of 2020; in fact, they have been topics of importance for the last several years. I believe that to enjoy your life and live it “fully” means to continue challenging yourself daily to be the best you. Living your best life doesn’t come from putting in zero effort, no energy, and no time; your dreams are achieved by your motivation to never give up and your passion to succeed. So, when I say it’s time to challenge yourself daily to create an Intentional Life, I mean, it’s time to create challenges that promote progress to achieve your dreams.
Setting Deadlines & Accountability
People, including myself, so often (even too often) make the excuse for themselves that they can “Do it tomorrow…” and yes, if you think about it, that’s probably true. But I have something to tell you, tomorrow is not always certain, and your dreams aren’t going to wait around for you to achieve them. So, the next time you’re telling yourself you can put something off, or wait, just remember that life is always going to get in the way, something will always come up, and there will always be reasons for you not to do something. So, NOW is the time to put in the work, now is the time to set goals and deadlines, don’t be afraid of the process, embrace the challenges, and get to work.
When I began diving into creating the blog, I understood what all of the surface level work would be; but I had no idea the number of tedious tasks I would have to complete to reach this point. Once I was a few weeks into the creative and building process, I knew it was time to set a deadline to launch La.Rue and share it with you. During this process, not only was I setting small and large deadlines for myself, but I had someone working with me who was there to hold me accountable. Unfortunately, when you’re 
building goals and working towards your dreams, things don’t just happen overnight. You have to create a process and a timeline that will keep you moving forward and hold you accountable to your success.
Dreams are your Selfish Love…
We all know that success takes time, but that’s not what I want to stress to you in this post. I believe that achieving your dreams also requires a great amount of selfishness. Of course, I appreciate the drive to succeed to help others. Perhaps you’re a parent, and you want to build a life for your children, or you have parents that you want to provide for, trust me, I understand. But something I have learned throughout friendships and relationships and maturing is your dreams require you to be selfish. The help that you’re providing for other people has to be a bonus. Your dreams are only for you, and your success must be something you want for yourself before you can pass it on to others.
Let’s put this into perspective. Think about the amount of time and effort you dedicate to something you do just for yourself that has no effect on others. It doesn’t have to be anything significant or dramatic; for example, I dedicate about 3-4 hours a week to working out, including going to the gym, riding my bike, doing yoga, etc. Now, think about this, since I started creating La.Rue, I have been putting in anywhere from 30 to 50 hours a week over the last four months to develop my dream and bring it to life. YOUR DREAM will take time to achieve, and in this time, it is so important to be selfish and make choices for yourself that benefit you and better you towards that achievement so that you may eventually succeed and share your success with others. If I hadn’t been selfish and taken that time and my time now to create La.Rue, it would never be successful, and now that I have, it’s growing into the dream brand I have always wanted.
The Challenge
1. Make your goals clear & concise – you cannot achieve your dreams if you don’t know what they are. Take a pen to paper or your hands to the keys and start typing away.
Get a clear picture of what you want to achieve and, more importantly, understand HOW you’re going to reach that success.
2. Set Smaller Goals & Deadlines – you can plan, write, and create forever, but you will never succeed if you don’t set deadlines to put your work or yourself out there. You will have more confidence and a stronger drive to achieve your dreams when you see success in reaching smaller goals. Set these goals and give them deadlines; when you see the progress over time, the success means so much more.
3. Accountability & Feedback – Find a mentor, a friend, a coach, a business partner, someone who will hold you accountable to these deadlines. When you have someone else relying on you to see progress, the motivation to complete the work becomes so much greater than doing it for yourself because you won’t exceed those deadlines. This accountability partner will also be there to give feedback. Often, we put so much time and effort into our work that, in the end, we’re not able to make objective opinions on its overall quality. This person will be there to offer feedback and objectivity when you’re too clouded to see what potential changes may add to the value of what you’re creating.
4. Never Give Up on yourself – Your dreams are your dreams for a reason. There are reasons or moments in your life that made you want the things you do. Don’t ever devalue yourself or your dreams because you fear what other people might think of you. Remember what I said about being selfish? This is the most critical time to do so because following your dreams is for you and no one else, so outside judgment has no effect on your success.
Your success will happen when you devote your time and your love to creating the life that you want for yourself. Never give up on that dream. As always, you’re a goddess.
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