Countertop Confessions and the Strangest Secret

Last Monday I posted about saying daily affirmations!  I know to some people it sounds a little hokey, but I honestly believe it works!  I know you may be thinking that little Jessica is cute and kids are less reserved with it comes to spilling their every thought into the mirror and then doing a cute little dance afterwards, but we are adults and thus must act accordingly.
The one thing I've learned having worked with children quite often over the past 10 years is that they have no ceiling on their dreams.  They dream and they dream big and they aren't afraid to tell anyone!  I LOVE it!  I wish I could be more like that.

So yesterday, I did something very uncharacteristic of me.  I acted like a big kid!  I got up on the bathroom sink countertop and realized that I'm too tall to stand so I'll have to sit.  The night before I had written down ten affirmations.  These affirmations are things that I want to grow up to be or grow up to accomplish or things I am accomplishing right now.  I say "grow" because in order to accomplish these goals, I'll have to grow in some areas that I've always wanted to blossom in.  I looked into the future but wrote them down in the present tense.  So yesterday I sat on the countertop and said my affirmations out loud, staring myself straight in the eyes...and I started to cry.  It was tears of joy!  I had finally reached a turning point and I am not turning back!

I have been told about affirmations for almost 4 years now.  Affirmations are a big thing in Mary Kay and I always thought they were a little silly.  However, I could never look myself in the mirror and say an affirmation either.  Silly or not, I couldn't muster up the courage to do it.  Truth be told, it isn't silly; it's intimidating...to someone like me.  Not only was I afraid of being successful, I was afraid of telling myself I was successful and acting like I was successful.

The reason affirmations have moved to the forefront of my mind is because I have been on some conference calls with successful people that basically said, you HAVE to do this in order to be successful.  Then my Director gave me a CD called the Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale.  I have listened to it a lot over the past few weeks and it has been very motivating!

Basically the gist of the Strangest Secret is 5 out of every 100 people will be "successful" so how do you become one of those 5?  You have to have a goal or purpose in mind that you are working towards daily.  Then you have to write it down and think positively about it.  We are suffocated by so much negativity these days that having a positive attitude about something is hard.  However, what you think about you bring about.  So if you are thinking negative thoughts, you will have a negative outcome.

I have the habit of thinking positive thoughts and then thinking a million other negative thoughts right afterwards, which basically voids out the positive thought.  William Shakespeare wrote: "Our doubts are traitors, and make use lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."  And the Bible states "As ye sew, so shall ye reap."  

If you have a goal in life to be successful, whether it's at your job, as a parent or child, in your community or church, stand (or sit) on the countertop and look in the mirror and plant a seed of success with positive thoughts every day!  

Manic Monday Motivation

Every Monday seems manic to me.  Adam works 40 hours in 4 days so the first of the week is INSANE!  Thankfully, he has a 3 day weekend so we get to play catch up with family time on the weekends!  I think Mondays are in part so manic for Ryne and I because Adam is here all weekend and we have so much fun, and then Monday morning, he's gone for 13 hours.  So it's just me and Ryne.  I think Ryne gets tired of looking at me by the end of the day on Monday!
Monday is also manic because it's the beginning of the work week for me, even though I work from home. I've found that the more work I get done at the beginning of the week, the more likely the work actually gets done!  If I put it off for another day, it may be another week before it gets done (or another month - oopse!).  It's hard to get motivated on Monday.  I wake up begrudging Monday, which is starting off on the wrong foot!
Recently, I have been working on affirmations!  Affirmations are so important in my business because I work for myself!  I have to keep myself motivated.  I have not requirements for my job, so there's no one to tell me to do my job or I'm fired.  It's easy to become lax about things, which in turns makes it easy to lose motivation and lose sight of what you are working for.

I really think that more people would be more successful if they just let their hair down, jumped up on the counter top and let it all out!  Like this little girl:

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