My Journey to Me – The Discovery – Page 14 – Discovering Who You Are

November 6, 2011November 7, 2011 My Journey to Me-The Discovery

It is a new month so I thought I would start something new on my blog and on Twitter. I have written before about the value of reading, and listening to, self-improvement, motivational books and tapes. That is why I have a list of books on personal development on this blog. So to motivate you to read, once a month, beginning this month, I will highlight a book from my list and tell you why I recommend you read it. Now, I am not a book critic so don’t expect to read about the pros and cons of the book. This endeavor into reading will be called the Reading for Champions Book Club!

I know from my experience, as well as the experience of others, that consistently taking in positive information will help you develop into a better person. But I also know it is easy to come up with excuses why you can’t read. Let me address those excuses because there are bogus and are holding you back from greatness.

1. I don’t have time – Yes, you do. 30 minutes a day is sufficient; 15 in the morning and 15 in the evening. Try reading during your lunch hour or your daily commute. Or be radical – get an audio book and put it on your Ipod. You can download books at Audible.com.

2. I don’t have the money to buy books. – There is a place in this country where you can get books to read for free. It’s called a public library. Use it.

If you follow me on Twitter, http://twitter.com/SharmansJourney (or @SharmansJourney), you will see tweets with the hashtag #reading4champions when I reference the book for the month. (If you are not familiar with Twitter, a hashtag in front of a topic will put all the tweets with the hashtag into one file and make a topic popular among other Tweeters. For example, #followfriday and #quotes are popular Twitter topics). If the author has a Twitter account, I will give you his/her link so you can follow. I follow quite a few of the authors of the books on my personal development book list and they all share valuable information in 140 characters (like texting, Twitter has max characters). My goal, in using the hashtag, is to create a book club via Twitter that extends well beyond the readers of my blog into the entire world. My goal is to create a world of champions through reading.

I hope you are excited about the Reading for Champions book club as I am! Look for the post about the first book before this week is out and every first week of the month thereafter By the way, I will still do a weekly post on my self-improvement. In the meantime, I want to leave you with this thought:

“The great ones have a world view that says happiness is learning, growing and becoming. School is never out for champions.” Steve Siebold, 177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class.

Question for Comment: Since you graduated from high school, do you read books? How often and what kind of books do you read?

(originally posted September 2, 2010)

Anointed Women In Christ

Another Blog- Anointed Women In Christ

November 6, 2011November 13, 2011 My Journey to Me-The Discovery

I can’t believe I have been writing this blog for over a year! When I explained what I write about to an acquaintance, she broke it down like this: thoughts I have now that the noise of a workplace and of an employer are no longer in my head. Perfect! I want to thank you for reading my thoughts. I want to also thank you for your patience when I didn’t post every week as I had planned (had no thoughts to share!), for your feedback to posts, for joining the Reading4Champions Book Club started in November, for following @SharmansJourney on Twitter and for being a fan of My Journey to Me Facebook Page. Without you, my efforts would have been useless.

If you will remember, one of the reasons I started this blog was to put down my thoughts and experiences to add value to others. Well, since I started writing in May 2009, a dream I once had came back to my recollection. Once upon a time I wanted to write a book that inspired and encouraged women. And it seems that since I started this blog, I have moving down the path to do just that.

It is with great pleasure and honor that I inform you I was recently asked to blog and manage the social media for a website for women which I gladly accepted. Now, you can also read my thoughts on http://anointedwomeninchrist.wordpress.com. Anointed Women in Christ (AWIC) ministries was founded by Ms. Chris Allen in 2010 with a goal of teaching women how much God loves and values them. My postings on AWIC will be messages designed for women based upon and citing scriptures from the Bible. If you like, you can subscribe to the blog and get updates via email. There are two messages posted already: A Cheerful Receiver and Are You Resource-full? You can follow AWIC on Twitter @awic4christ and become a fan of Anointed Women in Christ on Facebook.

Getting Better, Procrastination

Watch Your Mouth!

November 4, 2011November 4, 2011 My Journey to Me-The Discovery

I am writing today about a pet peeve of mine. Anyone who knows me will be vigorously nodding their heads because 9 times out of 10, I have already called them on it. What am I talking about? What you say out of your mouth.

From childhood, we know the saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” and we used it to steel ourselves against playground teasing. Did it work? NO! Why? Because words can kill. They can cut deep into our spirit, our psyche, and cause us deep psychological wounds that sometimes never heal. In elementary school, I was teased for knowing the answers in class and being an A student. In high school, I’ll never forget when my history teacher, after distributing a list of extra credit assignments that could be done, announced in front of the class that I was not allowed to do extra credit because my grade was already high. Can we say embarrassed? Continue reading “Watch Your Mouth!” →

Getting Better, Leadership

Leadership Defined

November 4, 2011January 13, 2013 My Journey to Me-The Discovery

The other day, I was reading a Facebook post praising a mentor of mine. I agreed wholeheartedly with the post and wanted to add my two cents. I began to compose a comment saying how I learned more from watching what he did than from what he told me to do. And it hit me…..a leader is someone who models behavior that people follow. And it hit me again…..I am a leader.

You see, my definition of leader was narrow. To me, a leader was a person who had been to a place or achieved a goal he was leading people to. The old “I’ve been to the top of Mt. Everest so I know the terrain and can lead you there” definition. Since I have goals I have not achieved, I didn’t see myself as a leader. After all, what “terrain” did I know? Why would people follow me down a road I know nothing about? Continue reading “Leadership Defined” →

Encouragement

Thanking and Giving

November 4, 2011October 25, 2015 My Journey to Me-The Discovery

Each year, between November 1st and December 31, people focus on thanking and giving…… just in time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Thinking of others is good, but thanking and giving are not relegated to a season. Thanking and giving are for everyday.

The Bible says:

“[i]n everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1Thessalonians 5:18

Think you have no one to thank or no reason to thank everyday? Well, for a moment, sit back and see yourself standing on a street corner with nothing but the clothes you have on right now. Imagine you have no home, no possessions, no job, no money, no family and no friends. Continue reading “Thanking and Giving” →

Motivation

Look Up!

November 3, 2011 My Journey to Me-The Discovery

It’s Monday morning. The alarm goes off, you jump out of bed and the race begins. You race through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday doing job things and family things without looking up. Saturday and Sunday come and you race around doing chores and other weekend stuff without looking up. Monday morning comes, the alarm goes off, you jump out of bed and off you go. Week after week, month after month, year after year, without looking up. LOOK UP!

Now I know if you are an adult, you have bills to pay and responsibilities to handle, but life is not just about paying bills and handling responsibilities. I am not saying to forget them. What I am saying is life is a gift so, on purpose, look up and take in all you can.

A few years ago, I set a personal goal to do at least one new thing every year, some thing I had never done before. Continue reading “Look Up!” →