(no title)

The Key Elements of a Personal Development Plan

Write the vision and make it plain. Habakkuk 2:2

It is not enough to say that you want to change, you actually have to commit to it. One of the best ways to adapt to change is to begin with the end in mind. What you may be saying is how would I know the end if I am just starting? Creating an individualized personal development plan is your blueprint for designing the life you want to live. Getting started may be intimidating so before you quit before experiencing a transformation do these four things.

Decide what you want by creating your personal vision: Think about what you want and how you plan to get there. The goals you begin to set for yourself today will guide your life in the beginning stages of identifying your true self. You start small with what you can accomplish today, then move into what you can get done in a month. The stepping stone goals lead into bigger things as you establish your good habits that lead into you understanding your strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes you are so reliant on your strengths that you hinder yourself from experiencing real growth because you are operating in your comfort zone. You are here now because you have hit a plateau and recognize that it is time to do something different. So now it is a matter of figuring out your direction in life so that you align your goals and vision to make your personal development impactful.

Identify your opportunities to grow: There is no such thing as too much focus on your skillset because ultimately that is what you use everyday as a part of your daily routine. Each year, or even each day for that matter should be an opportunity to reflect on how you spend your time. You already know how to operate in your strengths but sometimes you neglect the work you need to do to become more well-rounded. There are some external factors that are out of your control that present barriers to your growth. However, dealing with your internal factors is the work you have to do when you know you are not performing at your highest potential. Speaking in the positive about your weaknesses leads to you acknowledging what you need to do to create opportunities to grow that will eliminate threats to your continued progress. You have to be willing to be uncomfortable to experience growth and that is the missing link sometimes when you are complacent.

Create your action plan: Once you have adjusted your mindset to your impending change you must then get specific about what you want. The buzz word is SMART goals but what does that look like? Set your BIG THREE GOALS for the week because this helps you accomplish smaller tasks each day that take priority in your life. Your action plan must speak to your ultimate destination in life with specific steps you will take to begin to check things off of your list. Get an accountability partner that believes in your transformation and will offer you encouragement along the way. Realistically, facing your shortcomings was the push behind your change in the first place. You create this plan with the understanding that even when you feel like giving up, you have to stay the course to change the trajectory of your life to really maximize your skills and talents.

Remember that your plan can be adjusted: From week one to week 12, a full quarter of work is enough time to examine your progress. Do you need to regroup and redirect your energy? If you find that the plan you initially created for yourself is not getting you the desired results, it is perfectly fine to redo your plan. You may even find that what you initially thought you wanted to do is no longer of interest to you. Get yourself unstuck when you find that your personal development plan is not serving you any purpose. Your timeline may get shortened or extended depending on your productivity and after all the goal is to grow and truly take up space in your life differently than you have before. When your skills strengthen and your interests change, so should your plan of action.

Last note, remember things may change, but when you work on one goal at a time, you’ll be pleased to look back on where you started and realize that you have been putting in the work and it’s only up from here.

~LaTilya

5 Principles of Personal Transformation

Once you have identified your path of personal transformation there are limiting beliefs that you have to work through in order to experience a full transformation. What you believe begins to translate into every part of your life and those beliefs slowly become the principles you stand on exhibit daily. Your identity hinges on your goals and capabilities, as well as celebrating progress along the way and accepting that transformation is a process. The principles you are about to read will resonate with you from this day forward and become part of your mindset.

1. Appreciate Your Success

There is no need to rush your success or not celebrate your small steps. Every step towards your ultimate goal should be celebrated because not only will you be motivated to do more but you’ll be so glad that you didn’t give up on yourself. Your love and adoration for yourself has to be stronger than the love and adoration you may receive from others. You have to be your biggest cheerleader and pump yourself up because when you begin to transform you may lose some people along the way. If others are not celebrating when you begin to live for you, then they never were rooting for you in the first place so you have to be okay with that.

Appreciating yourself is not arrogance. It’s self-love and understanding your worth. Once you begin to experience the happiness you deserve in your life, everyday will become an appreciation of your growth.

2. Learn Your Lessons

First and foremost, remember that it’s not how you start but how you finish and that is a lesson in itself. You are not working this hard to be in the same place next year or tomorrow for that matter. The lessons that you learn are tough and stripping because as you increase your awareness of what you know, the more vulnerable you become. Wear your vulnerability as a badge of honor because it takes guts to face yourself and learn from your mistakes. Everything will not go always as planned and some ideas in your life will be a complete bust, but understand that there is learning in failure. You have to learn to be okay with disappointment because failure is a part of life. Take from each situation that you experience what you can, and try not to dwell on things that are out of your control. You can correct your mistakes, regroup, and try again. That applies to everything in life, good or bad.

3. Adjust Your Limiting Beliefs

Wishful thinking is out of the door when it comes to chasing your dreams. You have to be bold about what you are pursuing and work diligently to change your current position. You have to speak life into your goals and not run from them at the first sign of trouble. Every step you take in the direction of your ambition will not be smooth sailing and you may even second guess your decision, but limiting yourself from trying will keep you in the cycle of giving up.

You owe it to yourself to do something different if you seek different results from the goals you set. You are capable of doing anything you set your mind to doing, but that is not to be confused with getting involved with things just because you can. You have the knowledge, expertise, years of experience, and skillset to adjust what you believe and fuel your passion. So stop settling for mediocrity.

4. Live Your Values

You have to have a full shift in your mindset and be honest with yourself about what you want to change. Your personal values become your guiding principles as you conduct business, get promoted throughout your career, and for your overall growth as you begin to experience success by accomplishing your goals. You tell your family and friends about your experiences each day and they watch the excitement in your eyes. Don’t hold yourself back by censoring your thoughts because everyone does not value the same things as you. So to be clear, you should do a brain dump that highlights the joy that you experience in your life with your business, work, or personal endeavours.

5. Set and Track Your Top 5 Goals

Once you get real about the path you are on and the journey it takes to get you to your highest level of productivity, you’ll be more driven to set goals and work towards them. Every goal you set is a stepping stone towards your destiny and will only encourage you to strive for more. Being smart about the next top five things you want to accomplish will take extreme focus and dedication because at this point in your life you have decided that you want to experience change. See, when you set your new goals, your next step is a continuous plan of action to see everything through and staying true to what you desire.

It feels good when you are on top and being more productive than busy. Share your journey with me at @getrightwithdoc@latilyarashon.com or leave a comment.

3 Active Practices that Will Make Your Life Better

You may feel like life is not happening to you right now with everything that is going on around you, but I guarantee you that it is. Looking over the past year there has been a lot of uncertainty but you have made it this far and I want to encourage you along.

See I learned a long time ago that it’s not how you start but how you finish and that applies to every endeavor you take on. So as you wrap up 2020 here are three things that will help make 2021 the year of manifestation and personal growth.

The first active practice you need to adopt is goal setting. You can not get by in life just winging it and hoping for success. You have to decide that you are tired of getting the same results and begin to be intentional with your time and focus. You have to say that I want more in life and set small stepping stone goals to push you into the direction of your dreams. That sounds like a lofty idea, but being specific but about what you truly want out of life is how you get not only what you want but also what you need. You can begin to take small steps each day to map out the ultimate plan for your life but you also have to commit to the goals you set for yourself.

It won’t be easy as you begin to shed the layers off of your comfort zone but it will be worth it as you see the realistic value goal setting brings to your life.

The second active practice you should consider is speaking affirmations. The Bible tells us that, “Life or death is in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21) Whether you believe in a higher being, one thing is for sure, you must speak life into your dreams. Your self-talk sets the atmosphere for you to program your mind towards progress and not focusing on the mistakes.

By no means am I suggesting that you will not see difficult times. I’m merely saying that you have to allow your mind to be stronger than your feelings when you run into issues. Tell yourself that:

I am worthy.

I am enough.

I have the power to change your story.

I can create the life of your dreams.

I deserve a beautiful life.

Reset yourself each day with your words. Walk it like you talk it. Speak it as if you already have it.

This may all seem like common sense but unless you already practice these things, this is a scary awakening to someone getting started.

Lastly, you should begin to practice daily gratitude. Self-reflection is a positive attribute to add to your arsenal when you are fighting against staying stagnant. It is easy to beat yourself up when things are going wrong and your plans do not go off without a hitch. However, it is possible to find the silver lining and be grateful for your progress. See if you never begin, you’ll never look back and see how far you have come.

I say this often in real life, “If you want better, you’ll do better. And when you know better, you do better.” Again, this is common knowledge but if you lacked in your goal setting abilities, now is the time to stop putting off until tomorrow what you can do today. Wake up each day and speak life to affirm your dreams. I want you to see how your growth impacts your life and be grateful for your challenges because as long as you are trying, the results will begin to pay off.

~LaTilya

3 Paths to Personal Transformation

When you think about your personal transformation, do not limit that idea to your physical appearance. Oftentimes we get caught up with what it looks like on the outside that we forget to do some work on the inside. I say this time and time again but focusing on the areas of improvement in your life takes courage, and doing the work takes strength. So where do we begin?

Path 1: Goals

You must decide that you want better and the only way to decide which direction you want to take with your life is to set some attainable and realistic goals. Examining the areas of your life that you feel most vulnerable is the best place to start and you set a goal that will exercise your individual skills and strengths. Being highly capable to complete tasks, lead, and be a team player can be used to your advantage with the right push.

Think about how you go to the store and find the things that you like, you must do the same thing with your skills and talents in order to create opportunities to grow. If your goal is a stepping stone to bigger and better things, then so be it. Ultimately, you work up to short and long term goals, then finally goals of a lifetime. However you have to pick a starting point before reaching your final destination and even then you will continue to make adjustments.

Path 2: Capability

You have probably heard the saying, “Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.”

This can be applied to a lot of situations in your life and you have to be careful about what you say you can do because even though you are capable, is IT aligned with your purpose? Imposter syndrome is real! I’m not talking about being inspired by others, I’m talking about people going out and doing the exact thing as someone else. Don’t let that be you.

You become capable of completing different tasks when you apply your skills and will, but you have to have heart for what you take on in your personal life. Avoid doing things and being an empty vessel just because you are capable of doing so. Do things within your capability that will share who you are with others, and help them in the process.

Path 3: Self-Identity

The advantage you have is the ability to reinvent your business, career, and personal life when your goals are not aligned with your newly found purpose. Who you are at different stages in your life matters because experience shapes your belief systems and core values.

In your business if you have one, you are the creator and that is an attribute to your self-identity. In your career, your duties and responsibility identify your skill set and competitive position in the workplace, however in your personal life, expectations you have for yourself and what others often see in you become a part of your self-identity as well. So use each business and career decision to boost productiveness in your personal life and continue to evolve.

The three paths do not come or change in any particular order but they are the push to transforming into a better you. Opening yourself up to change is challenging yet rewarding and worth it when you begin to experience life in a different way. The journey is personal but a necessity.

~LaTilya

Why Identifying Your Purpose Is So Important

I get asked all of the time what keeps me going. Compassion and dedication are part of my personal drive. Everyday will definitely not be perfect and in the many seasons of your life you have to decide are you more dedicated to succeed or fail. I hope you choose success.

Choosing success in your life is why identifying your purpose is so important.

When you make the conscious decision to examine where you have placed your effort and energy it changes how you approach your life. The things you can decidedly brag about that make your life worth living is the manifestation of your compassion. For example, your family, career, education, goals and aspirations play a major role in the growth you experience in life. Avoiding contentment keeps your life full because you recognize that you have plenty to brag for your personal affirmation and growth, not so much as to throw it in anyone’s face that you are doing good for yourself.

As you reflect on your identity which is a part of your personal brand in your business, career, and personal life; people accept you for who you authentically are and you don’t have anything else to prove. This includes the places you’ve been, your education and accomplishments, as well as the help you are to the people around you.

Your compassion for life and dedication to living life to the fullest helps you take a stand for what you believe in and where you want to put your effort and energy.

For the women that have dealt with divorce and depression, I can relate.

For business minded women that have ideas but need clear direction on how to start, I can relate.

For aspiring authors that want to write and struggle with getting their ideas on paper; just start writing because finished is better than perfect. I can tell you all about that journey of ebooks and my dissertation, so start WRITING!

For those with the fear of speaking, you have a story to tell, so open your mouth and start talking because your story will help somebody heal and find their purpose in life.

For the doubter because life has dealt you a bad hand from time to time; keep believing in yourself because your time will surely come.

Now if you have a hard time with committing to the work, I have a class specifically geared towards you unlocking your mind and deciding that you want to enhance your life and build it around the things you are passionate about.

We’re approaching a new year and while 2020 was not all bad you should choose now 2021 will be better. Once you unlock your mind and begin to operate in your power, you will stop wasting time on things that do not enhance your growth.

If you want this course and the templates that will jumpstart your 2021, click here for details.

~LaTilya