Greetings and Happy New Year! As 2011 concludes, those of you who subscribe to the adage “out with the old and in with the new” are cleaning house, cars, contacts, even Facebook friends and Twitter followers as the New Year peaks on the horizon. The end of one year gives rise to reflection on the year that was and thought to what we want the upcoming year to be.
To me 2011 will forever be remembered as a year of growth and prosperity in every facet in my life. I lost one of the true loves of my life in the form of my grandmother but I gained another in the form of my fiancé. I had some opportunities slip through my fingers and I’ve also managed to hold on to some pretty good ones. I travelled, I loved, I lost, I won, I grew, became stronger, wiser and much better and now as we’re a few hours away from the start of a new year I can that I’m blessed.
I’m thankful for everything 2011 had to offer, both good and bad, and in no way regret the trips to the valley that came with it. The journey to the mountaintop is greatest when we have to ascend from our lowest point. Our experience in the valley allows us to appreciate being on the mountaintop so much more. It’s given me wisdom and lessons I can use in my life and share with others that I otherwise would not have. It’s given me a different perspective I can use to be more successful in the future, depth, character and a story to tell. While I can’t say I was experiencing any joy in the midst of my trials and tribulations, I can say that the highs and joys of today, feel even better because of them.
As 2012 looms over us, I’ve been tasked with setting a few goals for myself in the upcoming year. I’m super excited about the prospects for 2012, with new love, new experiences, great friends and family, and bigger and better opportunities. I came up with 5 goals for 2012, which I will share with you for inspirational and accountability purposes. As is the case every year, there are a million and one other things I’d like to see done and would like to improve on in the upcoming year. However, these 5 are at the top of my list and are in no particular order:
Goal # 1 More Charitable Events
This past year saw me do more speaking engagements and charitable events than I’ve done in a while and I missed it. As good it felt talking to those kids, youth groups, and instilling messages of hope, I know I can do more. So my goal is to do more next year. I want to do more speaking engagements, more community service projects, more charitable contributions.
Goal #2 Grow My Business
With the choice of whether to barbecue or mildew, I’ve finally decided to barbecue. So instead of joining another person’s company, or forcing myself to comply or fit within someone else’s vision, I’ve decided to follow my own and plant a seed. So I’m in the process of starting of my own Sports and Entertainment Management group with a good friend and business partner.
Goal #3 Grow Spiritually
Regardless of your religion, denomination, or lack thereof, I think we all should strive to have a better understanding of self and our purpose in this world. For me, because I’m Christian, that means having a closer walk with God and a better understanding of His purpose in my life. I think I’m on the right path (I hope) but I’d be lying if I said I was doing all I could do. So in 2012 my goal is to do better.
Goal #4 More Fiscally Responsible
Everyone who knows me knows I like to shop and spend money. Aside from working out and watching football, my favorite past time is spending money. The bills always get paid, but with the decision to grow a business, get married, and start a family it’s probably a good idea to rein that in a little. At least until the big bucks start rolling in and I can ball even harder. LOL!
Goal #5 Compartmentalize Better
One of the greatest critiques my friends and family have of me is my inability to compartmentalize. I’m a workaholic. It’s a gift and a curse. It’s a gift in a sense that I have an uncanny fervor to press through any number of circumstances and situations to achieve completion of a particular goal no matter what the cost. It’s a curse because at times, other things and people will suffer because of it. Plus what good are wealth and possessions if you don’t have anyone to share them with? My goal this year is not to work less, but to work smarter and more efficient.
In closing, 2011 has been great to me and with the prospects of new endeavors, new relationships and renewed vigor, I’m hopeful 2012 will be even better. Here’s hoping that the best of our todays, will be the best of our tomorrows, and that 2012 is our best year yet. Until next year, Stay Up and Be Blessed!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Tis The Season
“Tis the season…”
Greetings folks and Happy Holidays! Most of us associate this time year as being joyful, promising and reflective, and as we should. The winter holidays are an opportunity for us to gather with family and friends, give gifts, show our gratitude for nearly a year of God’s favor, and reflect on all the things that make life worth living. However, this isn’t true for everyone. For every person that has their choice of houses to stop at, there’s someone who doesn’t have any. For everyone who has a tree full of presents, there’s someone who won’t get any. It’s easy to look at our lives and our prosperity and assume that most people, if not all, enjoy the same comforts as us. Perception is reality. Well the reality is, is there are a lot of men, women, and children, who celebrate the holidays alone, with no gifts, no food, and no bells to jingle.
For some, the holidays are a reminder of grief, suffering, and heartache. Imagine having broken up with your long-term partner and having to spend the holidays alone for the first time in forever. Imagine having lost a loved-one around the holidays, this time last year, or a previous year. Imagine, being homeless, depressed, hungry and unable to share in the joy.
I’m not going to put up the face of some homeless person or hungry kid and ask you to donate $9.95 a month to help feed them. I’m just trying to make you aware of something you may have otherwise been ignorant to. If this moves you to give a dollar to a homeless man on the street or buy a hungry person a sandwich, more power to you.
My true goal is to get you to think about your contacts, friends, and family who, for one reason or another, may have a rough holiday season. Maybe they lost their job, a loved one, are depressed, or are angry the Lakers didn’t sign CP3. Whatever their issue may be, take the time to call, text, email, or stop by and say hey, because you never know just how big of an impact you may be making.
Well, I hope everyone enjoys their holidays and get to spend some quality time with their friends and family. Merry ChristmasHannuKwanzaa! Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!
Greetings folks and Happy Holidays! Most of us associate this time year as being joyful, promising and reflective, and as we should. The winter holidays are an opportunity for us to gather with family and friends, give gifts, show our gratitude for nearly a year of God’s favor, and reflect on all the things that make life worth living. However, this isn’t true for everyone. For every person that has their choice of houses to stop at, there’s someone who doesn’t have any. For everyone who has a tree full of presents, there’s someone who won’t get any. It’s easy to look at our lives and our prosperity and assume that most people, if not all, enjoy the same comforts as us. Perception is reality. Well the reality is, is there are a lot of men, women, and children, who celebrate the holidays alone, with no gifts, no food, and no bells to jingle.
For some, the holidays are a reminder of grief, suffering, and heartache. Imagine having broken up with your long-term partner and having to spend the holidays alone for the first time in forever. Imagine having lost a loved-one around the holidays, this time last year, or a previous year. Imagine, being homeless, depressed, hungry and unable to share in the joy.
I’m not going to put up the face of some homeless person or hungry kid and ask you to donate $9.95 a month to help feed them. I’m just trying to make you aware of something you may have otherwise been ignorant to. If this moves you to give a dollar to a homeless man on the street or buy a hungry person a sandwich, more power to you.
My true goal is to get you to think about your contacts, friends, and family who, for one reason or another, may have a rough holiday season. Maybe they lost their job, a loved one, are depressed, or are angry the Lakers didn’t sign CP3. Whatever their issue may be, take the time to call, text, email, or stop by and say hey, because you never know just how big of an impact you may be making.
Well, I hope everyone enjoys their holidays and get to spend some quality time with their friends and family. Merry ChristmasHannuKwanzaa! Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
#Winning
Since I will not lose, they try to help him cheat
But I will not lose, for even in defeat
There's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens it up for me
Jay-Z “Blueprint 2”
Greetings folks! Losing sucks! No matter how you slice it, it does. Who likes coming in second? Who enjoys watching the winner celebrate and enjoy the spoils of war? No one. I’ve tasted losing before and it tastes like something you’d see on Fear Factor. If I could help it, I would prefer never to taste it again. Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are as likely as the Dolphins winning the Super Bowl this year. I’d much rather have a nice warm, cold, lukewarm, heaping dish of victory. This post is inspired by a couple of losses I’ve experienced as of late.
A few weeks ago I was nominated for Rookie Teacher of the Year for my school. When I was notified of the honor, I was flattered and figured the nomination was as far as it would go. The other faculty members that were nominated are phenomenal and I just knew either one of them would win over the young, distant, law magnet teacher. Little did I know, I would be proven wrong. I won the nomination and was bestowed the honor of being Miami Carol City Senior High’s Rookie Teacher of the Year. It didn’t come with a plaque, or a check, or my name in the paper. What it did come with is the respect of my colleagues, a sense that my work is not in vain, and a desire to work even harder to live up to the honor. It also came along with an application for the district-wide competition that was due a few days after I won the school’s honor.
When I submitted my completed application for the district competition, I knew that it was a long shot that I would even be named a finalist, let alone win. So initially I didn’t care about winning. Seriously, I had made up in my mind that I wouldn’t be touched if I didn’t win and that winning the honor of representing my school was enough for me. However, as time went on, the competitive nature in me wouldn’t allow me to settle for just winning the school wide award. I wanted to be named a finalist and I wanted to win. I began to feel like being “comfortable” with the school honor was like being ok with just making it to the playoffs.
Well it is with sadness that I say, last week I found out that I wasn’t a finalist. And while I’m still perfectly ok with representing my school, it kind of sucked to lose. I know you’re thinking that I shouldn’t look at it as losing, because in fact I did win something. I did lose. I lost the chance to be a finalist, so screw you and the horse you rode in, because I wanted more.
Some of you may know that I’m part Jamaican. So when I’m not teaching I’m working any number of my other 5 jobs, one of which is my actual law practice. A week after I failed to qualify as a finalist, I was working on landing a client I had been courting for quite some time. I built a team of well qualified professionals to assist in the recruiting and proposal and felt like we had a really great plan for success. There were other suitors as well, but none that could really offer the combination of experience, personal attention, care, concern, competence and hunger. After a week full of meetings, phone calls, presentations, texts, emails, long days, short nights, Starbucks and Red Bulls, we lost. For the second time in a month I’d lost. And again, it sucked.
Losing is an infrequent occurrence for me and I’d like to keep it that way. However, for it to have come twice in a month hurt; a lot. As strong as most people, me included, think I am, I have my moments of weakness. And every time I suffer a lost or setback, I view it as exposure of a chink or weak point in my armor.
I’ve won and lost a lot in my life and while winning feels great, it’s the losing that’s always taught me the most. While I’d rather not ever experience it again, I know inevitably I will. And when I do, I know that I’m really not losing “for even in defeat there's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens it up for me”-Jay-Z.
One of the things losing has taught me is how to win more. Because I HATE losing I prepare more to lessen the likelihood of defeat. Victory loves preparation. I love victory (and Cap’n Crunch) so I work hard to always be prepared and so should you. Loss leads to finding one’s self. It’s after a loss that you find out the true mettle of a team. It’s after defeat you find out the extent of a person’s mental toughness. It’s after you’ve fallen flat on your face, bust your lip and scraped your knee, and you’re faced with the decision of getting back on the bike or just walking it back home, where you find out what kind of person you are.
There’s nothing neither you nor I can do to take away the sting of losing, or not successfully completing a goal or task. It’s a certainty of life, like death and taxes. What’s not certain, and is left up to you to decide, is how you respond to adversity. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pressure will do one of two things: (1) bust pipes; or (2) create diamonds. So you have to decide whether you’re going to call the plumber or the jeweler when the pressure is on. Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!
But I will not lose, for even in defeat
There's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens it up for me
Jay-Z “Blueprint 2”
Greetings folks! Losing sucks! No matter how you slice it, it does. Who likes coming in second? Who enjoys watching the winner celebrate and enjoy the spoils of war? No one. I’ve tasted losing before and it tastes like something you’d see on Fear Factor. If I could help it, I would prefer never to taste it again. Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are as likely as the Dolphins winning the Super Bowl this year. I’d much rather have a nice warm, cold, lukewarm, heaping dish of victory. This post is inspired by a couple of losses I’ve experienced as of late.
A few weeks ago I was nominated for Rookie Teacher of the Year for my school. When I was notified of the honor, I was flattered and figured the nomination was as far as it would go. The other faculty members that were nominated are phenomenal and I just knew either one of them would win over the young, distant, law magnet teacher. Little did I know, I would be proven wrong. I won the nomination and was bestowed the honor of being Miami Carol City Senior High’s Rookie Teacher of the Year. It didn’t come with a plaque, or a check, or my name in the paper. What it did come with is the respect of my colleagues, a sense that my work is not in vain, and a desire to work even harder to live up to the honor. It also came along with an application for the district-wide competition that was due a few days after I won the school’s honor.
When I submitted my completed application for the district competition, I knew that it was a long shot that I would even be named a finalist, let alone win. So initially I didn’t care about winning. Seriously, I had made up in my mind that I wouldn’t be touched if I didn’t win and that winning the honor of representing my school was enough for me. However, as time went on, the competitive nature in me wouldn’t allow me to settle for just winning the school wide award. I wanted to be named a finalist and I wanted to win. I began to feel like being “comfortable” with the school honor was like being ok with just making it to the playoffs.
Well it is with sadness that I say, last week I found out that I wasn’t a finalist. And while I’m still perfectly ok with representing my school, it kind of sucked to lose. I know you’re thinking that I shouldn’t look at it as losing, because in fact I did win something. I did lose. I lost the chance to be a finalist, so screw you and the horse you rode in, because I wanted more.
Some of you may know that I’m part Jamaican. So when I’m not teaching I’m working any number of my other 5 jobs, one of which is my actual law practice. A week after I failed to qualify as a finalist, I was working on landing a client I had been courting for quite some time. I built a team of well qualified professionals to assist in the recruiting and proposal and felt like we had a really great plan for success. There were other suitors as well, but none that could really offer the combination of experience, personal attention, care, concern, competence and hunger. After a week full of meetings, phone calls, presentations, texts, emails, long days, short nights, Starbucks and Red Bulls, we lost. For the second time in a month I’d lost. And again, it sucked.
Losing is an infrequent occurrence for me and I’d like to keep it that way. However, for it to have come twice in a month hurt; a lot. As strong as most people, me included, think I am, I have my moments of weakness. And every time I suffer a lost or setback, I view it as exposure of a chink or weak point in my armor.
I’ve won and lost a lot in my life and while winning feels great, it’s the losing that’s always taught me the most. While I’d rather not ever experience it again, I know inevitably I will. And when I do, I know that I’m really not losing “for even in defeat there's a valuable lesson learned, so it evens it up for me”-Jay-Z.
One of the things losing has taught me is how to win more. Because I HATE losing I prepare more to lessen the likelihood of defeat. Victory loves preparation. I love victory (and Cap’n Crunch) so I work hard to always be prepared and so should you. Loss leads to finding one’s self. It’s after a loss that you find out the true mettle of a team. It’s after defeat you find out the extent of a person’s mental toughness. It’s after you’ve fallen flat on your face, bust your lip and scraped your knee, and you’re faced with the decision of getting back on the bike or just walking it back home, where you find out what kind of person you are.
There’s nothing neither you nor I can do to take away the sting of losing, or not successfully completing a goal or task. It’s a certainty of life, like death and taxes. What’s not certain, and is left up to you to decide, is how you respond to adversity. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pressure will do one of two things: (1) bust pipes; or (2) create diamonds. So you have to decide whether you’re going to call the plumber or the jeweler when the pressure is on. Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Fear and Loathing
“Courage is resistance of fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” –Mark Twain
Greetings folks! Many of us have differing views of courage. Some of us see it as something we’ll pick up along the way on the yellow brick road. Some of us think courage is lions, tigers, bears and masculinity. Some of us don’t know how to define it, but know what it looks like when we see it. Before I found this quote by Mark Twain, my definition of fear was all of these together, covered with a Kevlar vest, with a superman “S” on top. But since I like Twain’s quote better I’m going to go with his as a starting point for today’s post.
Since I was 4 I’ve been performing in plays, talent competitions, sports, hell even class. And despite the fact that I’ve had my share of performances between now and then, one thing that remains the same is that uneasiness that churns in my stomach before I perform. No matter how much I prepared, no matter how sure I was that I had my lines down, and no matter how confident I was that I would have a good game, I still got nervous. And to this day, I still do. This nervousness is a result of my fear of failure.
Anyone who knows me knows I hate losing. Excuse me, I meant to say HATE losing. I will do whatever it takes, within the rules of course, to win. In an attempt to prevent myself from losing and from feeling the “pre-game jitters” I began to prepare harder and more feverishly before each endeavor. If my routine was to pray an hour before the game, I’d pray 2. If my ritual was to rehearse my lines for two hours a day, I bumped it up to 3, and so on and so forth. Whatever it was that I did before, I increased it in an effort to eradicate my fear.
Unfortunately, after countless plays, competitions and speaking engagements, that fear never went away. I soon realized that it never would dissipate and that I was stuck with this fear presumably for the rest of my life. However, when I found this quote, I was put at ease. My campaign to “stomp out fear” was a fruitless endeavor and was a race I would never win. So I then turned my focus to mastering my fear, resisting it, controlling it and not letting it control me.
We all have things that scare of us. To say that you don’t would mean you’re lying to yourself. For some of us that fear is of failure, or being alone, or losing our jobs, or not living up to others’ expectations. But that’s fine, it’s normal, it’s expected. The problem comes when we allow that fear to overtake us and control us as opposed to us controlling it. When fear controls your life, you do things differently, you talk differently. If you’re scared of failing with your start up company, fear prevents you from ever submitting the proposal. If you’re fearful of messing up your lines at a play, fear prevents you from ever auditioning. If you’re fearful that you’ll stumble out of the blocks or get tackled before you reach the goal line, fear keeps you from ever stepping on the track or field.
Don’t let fear control you. Understand that it’s there and will always be there, then use it as a form of energy to power your dreams. Use it as motivation to work harder, longer, and smarter. Use it as motivation not to take “no” for an answer and not to give up in the face of adversity. Use your fear as a means to an end, rather than an excuse not to ever begin. Resist it, Master it, Conquer it! Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!
Greetings folks! Many of us have differing views of courage. Some of us see it as something we’ll pick up along the way on the yellow brick road. Some of us think courage is lions, tigers, bears and masculinity. Some of us don’t know how to define it, but know what it looks like when we see it. Before I found this quote by Mark Twain, my definition of fear was all of these together, covered with a Kevlar vest, with a superman “S” on top. But since I like Twain’s quote better I’m going to go with his as a starting point for today’s post.
Since I was 4 I’ve been performing in plays, talent competitions, sports, hell even class. And despite the fact that I’ve had my share of performances between now and then, one thing that remains the same is that uneasiness that churns in my stomach before I perform. No matter how much I prepared, no matter how sure I was that I had my lines down, and no matter how confident I was that I would have a good game, I still got nervous. And to this day, I still do. This nervousness is a result of my fear of failure.
Anyone who knows me knows I hate losing. Excuse me, I meant to say HATE losing. I will do whatever it takes, within the rules of course, to win. In an attempt to prevent myself from losing and from feeling the “pre-game jitters” I began to prepare harder and more feverishly before each endeavor. If my routine was to pray an hour before the game, I’d pray 2. If my ritual was to rehearse my lines for two hours a day, I bumped it up to 3, and so on and so forth. Whatever it was that I did before, I increased it in an effort to eradicate my fear.
Unfortunately, after countless plays, competitions and speaking engagements, that fear never went away. I soon realized that it never would dissipate and that I was stuck with this fear presumably for the rest of my life. However, when I found this quote, I was put at ease. My campaign to “stomp out fear” was a fruitless endeavor and was a race I would never win. So I then turned my focus to mastering my fear, resisting it, controlling it and not letting it control me.
We all have things that scare of us. To say that you don’t would mean you’re lying to yourself. For some of us that fear is of failure, or being alone, or losing our jobs, or not living up to others’ expectations. But that’s fine, it’s normal, it’s expected. The problem comes when we allow that fear to overtake us and control us as opposed to us controlling it. When fear controls your life, you do things differently, you talk differently. If you’re scared of failing with your start up company, fear prevents you from ever submitting the proposal. If you’re fearful of messing up your lines at a play, fear prevents you from ever auditioning. If you’re fearful that you’ll stumble out of the blocks or get tackled before you reach the goal line, fear keeps you from ever stepping on the track or field.
Don’t let fear control you. Understand that it’s there and will always be there, then use it as a form of energy to power your dreams. Use it as motivation to work harder, longer, and smarter. Use it as motivation not to take “no” for an answer and not to give up in the face of adversity. Use your fear as a means to an end, rather than an excuse not to ever begin. Resist it, Master it, Conquer it! Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!
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