goals

Rejection or Protection – It’s up to you

October 22, 2013 by cam

Rejection sucks. There’s no way of getting around it. It is no fun to want something or someone and get a big thumbs down thrown your way. We’ve all been there. Still, rejection is not something anyone wants to get used to.

The thing is, sometimes we have to get used to being denied. We just have to look for the lesson in it. For me, one lesson came when I moved to Los Angeles with the mission of working for the Style Network. I applied for months before moving to L.A. I continued to apply for every job I thought I was qualified for at the network once I moved here. For various reasons, I was told no. Denied. Rejected. Ouch. I tried to make sure I learned something form each closed door. It’s easier to see in hindsight. That’s when the dots start to connect. I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was to work in network TV. There were still some things I had to learn. Had I been hired for the jobs I had interviewed for, there wouldn’t have been time for me to get up to speed. It would have been a total hit the ground running type of thing. Lucky me that those didn’t pan out, I would have probably fell on my face.

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The thing is, I didn’t give up. I chose to see the denials as simply delays. I kept looking for things that I was suited for. As someone in love with all things fashion, beauty and style, I was determined to work for that network. Fast forward, two years later and my fourth interview with the network and I finally got the job! It was a perfect entry point for me to learn as I grew there. Here are a few lessons I learned from that experience:

If you want it, don’t give up I recently read a blog by a woman who was nervous about not getting into medical school – for the second time. It is her dream to be a doctor. She was beginning to feel like if it didn’t work out this time, that maybe she should move on to something else. By the end of the post she had convinced herself that this was what she wanted and there was no other dream. When you feel that strongly about what you want – DON’T GIVE UP!

Not now, doesn’t mean not ever Even when things aren’t happening on the timeline you expect, don’t trick yourself into believing that it will NEVER happen.

If you believe in it, be willing to wait for itIn my situation, two years was a long time to wait to work for a network I had dreamed of working for. It was worth the wait though. My determination paid off. There’s no reason to believe that what you want won’t happen. NONE. Keep working and give it time.

How do you deal with denial? What dreams are you thisclose to giving up on? Tell me in the comments.

Hey Ms. Perfect! What are you hiding?

October 8, 2013 by cam

I’ve been told that I’m a perfectionist. I do like things to be a certain way. I’ll keep working on something until I have it just right. It might take me a little longer than I’d like to finish things because I’m busy tinkering.

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What I know is that I can be a procrastinator. All of that tinkering and “perfecting” only delays progress. I’m working on it and I’ve gotten much better. I’m so much better about saying something and doing something without the lag time. I’ve been thinking a lot about being a perfectionist and what that means. People throw around the word perfectionist all of the time. It’ s usually said as a compliment and worn as a badge of honor. Here’s what I think. On our quest to get things just right, aren’t we all really just procrastinating? Is it the need for perfection that keeps us tinkering or is it the fear of just letting things go and getting our projects out there?

“Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough – that we should try again.” – Julia Cameron

With me, I really do think it’s a little bit of both. I tweak things because I want them to be just right. I don’t want to look at things later and think of all the things I could have done differently. On the other side of the coin, I know that all of my adjustments only delay things. That delay is the exact opposite of what I want. It only brings on guilt when I know I should be done with something but can’t stop “fixing” it. Here’s what we all need to remember:

“Perfection is overrated. Success is not.’ – Lauren Zalaznick {tweet this}

So, I’ve decided for me that perfectionism is actually glorified procrastination. Being a perfectionist can sometimes hide the doubts we have about ourselves or what we’re doing. Are you a perfectionist? What is your perfectionism hiding? Tell me about it in the comments!

Ahem, You ROCK!

September 24, 2013 by cam

I admit it, I’ve done it. I’ve set goals too big to wrap my arms around. Have you? While we work toward what we really want, the big Kahuna, things can seem like they’re moving in serious slow motion. With all that’s on your list of things to do, it can feel like you haven’t done anything when you’re checking them off one by one. Instead of looking at what you have left to do, make sure you make time to take in what you’ve done!

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If you’re trying to publish your first book, be proud of the outline you’ve created. That’s progress!

Starting a vegetable garden? Taking the step to get the dirt, and the seeds and the planters is part of the process. It’s the beginning of a delicious garden. Also known as progress!

Got a big goal? Don’t forget about the little things along the way. No need to wait until reaching the big goal to celebrate. The so-called small things count too. Celebrate! Every.Single.One.

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Here’s my view on it all. We all have to take baby steps to get o where we want to go. You need each and every small grain of sand to make a majestic sand castle. So no matter how small your steps are, keep walking. It will lead to something great, majestic even.

What goals are you working on? How do you make goals less overwhelming?