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December 2016

3 Things 2016 Taught Me: #3 – Perfecting the Art of Wearing Patience Pants

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a positive attitude while waiting”

Lesson #3 – Perfecting the Art of Wearing Patience Pants

This year I set a professional goal of obtaining my first nationally recognized procurement certification. I wanted to take the test in May, but due to the demands of the musical production I mentioned in a previous post, I concluded it was best that I did not.

Sub-lesson one: The art of balance and being realistic.

I was a bit bummed that I would have to wait all the way until October, but I am convinced if I would have attempted to take the test and perform in the musical, I was going to lose in one or the other area. Being able to take that decision from past experiences was a great move for me. In August I applied to sit for the exam. I was accepted and began the studying process. Was I excited about studying? Yes and no. Yes because I knew it was going to get me closer to obtaining the certification. No because I had not been required to study for a test in the last 5 years.

Sub-lesson two: Do what is required even if it is uncomfortable. 

After approximately 3 months of studying at least 8 hours per week, October came and I took the 3.5 hour long test. Finally the hard part was over. Or so I thought. See, with my type A personality, waiting is not my best strong suit. I probably consider being patient as one of my areas of improvement. The hardest part of the entire 3 month experience was waiting 6-8 weeks to receive my test results. Yes, that is right, it took approximately 6-8 weeks before I was able to know the outcome of my test.

Sub-lesson three: Patience is an art form exists to test our ability to be faithful and trusting of the process. 

So, for 6-8 weeks I worked on the art of wearing patience pants. Being patient must be apart of your natural abilities. The saying good things come to those who wait is true. I waited and waited. I, at some point before the 6th week, figured out a way not to even think about the results. When the 6th week came however, I made a point to visit my mailbox every single day (sometimes twice a day)uppcc to see if my results had been delivered. The significance in that is that I usually check my mailbox about every 3 weeks (sad but true). The end of the 7th week had come. The only day I did not check my mailbox in the 6th or 7th week was on a Saturday because it was raining cats and dogs and I did not feel up to bearing the weather. I simply said, “I’ll wait until tomorrow to check the box.” And so I did. Sunday morning came and as I stood in front of my bathroom mirror preparing for church I thought to myself, “The results are going to be in the mailbox today.” As I was leaving out I casually went to the mailbox and there sat a lonely white envelope. I pulled it out, read the return address and became screaming and hollering. I opened the envelope in less than 3.9 seconds and lo and behold I read: Congratulations! I stopped right there and began screaming even louder and louder in excitement. I was officially a Certified Professional Public Buyer.

Was I patient in the waiting process? Yes. Could I have been more patient? Absolutely. Rome was not built in a day. However, as stated before, patience is an art. I was proud of myself for staying positive while I waited. I was glad that I was able to be realistic in what I was able to take on when I did. I was glad that I could purposefully put myself in an uncomfortable situation and come out comfortable at the end. I did not doubt my reward. I had a level of faith knowing that I would receive the ‘congratulations‘. I just needed to see it on paper. I will have to continue working on it. But the process itself taught me so much on what reward feels like after being patient. The build up and the outcome together made me appreciate the entire 5 month process mean that much more to me. In life greatness may be delayed, but will happen all the same. The key is to patiently and productively wait for it, all while keeping a positive attitude. I have made a promise to myself that I will learn to be more patience and appreciate delayed gratification more. I want to be able to look back and know that I wear patience very well.

As you move into 2017, know that your rewards will come with the requirement of patience, but the key is that the rewards will come!

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3 Things 2016 Taught Me: #2 – Leap! Leap! And Leap Again!

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2016 NIGP Young Professional Scholarship Recipients

2016 was a year full of lessons for me. Every time I looked around I was learning something new or having something re-iterated to me in a different way. I would even say that I possibly just wanted to pay closer attention to what was happening in my life. Thus, the lessons just meant that much more.

So, let me give you a little background on the 2nd lesson 2016 taught me. I am an undergraduate and graduate school alumni. And like most Americans I paid for it on my own. Unfortunately, I never applied for scholarships to assist me. I should have, but I did not. I have a laundry list long of reasons that I never did, but to keep it short, I know that I should have. Fast forward to 2015, I ran across a scholarship for young professionals in the field of procurement. The qualifications were simple. Candidates were to be under 40! That was me. Or they had to have less than 3 years experience in the field of government procurement. That was not me, but I met the first criteria, so I closed my eyes and leaped. Applying for a scholarship was unchartered waters for me, but I leaped anyway. I submitted my application and with much anticipation, my application was declined. The scholarship would have been so helpful. It would have afforded me the opportunity to attend one of the largest national government procurement conferences. Without the scholarship, my chances in attending were slim to none since my company’s budget is not always plush enough for such expenditures. I read the rejection letter with disappointment, but I was convinced I would try again the next year.

March of 2016, I saw the enrollment period online for the scholarship. I again completed the application, submitted, and waited for the response. I took another leap. Not much changed from 2015 to 2016, but clearly it was my time and I was awarded the all expense paid scholarship. Talk about elated! I was much more than elated. I was grateful. Thankful. I was also aware of the lesson that came from it.

Life will ALWAYS have some moments of let down or disappointment. Things will not go your way 100% of the time. The key is our reactions to those moments. When I did not get the scholarship in 2015, I did not get pissed off and damn the entire scholarship agency to Pluto. I regrouped and thought about what I needed to do differently. In this instance, I needed to just be patient and get ready to take the next leap. In 2017, know that there will be areas that may not be favorable in your eyes, but the bigger picture is that you must continue to leap. It’s the unchartered territory that we are sometimes required to travel in order to see our goals come to fruition. You must continue to take strides towards whatever the goals are that you set forth. I leaped from 2015 right into 2016 right into my scholarship! I will continue to leap and I encourage you to do the same!

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3 Things 2016 Taught Me: #1 – Expect the Unexpected & Show Out

To honor my growth from 2016, I wanted to share some of the nuggets that I gathered. So, starting today, I will share 3 Things 2016 Taught Me. You can check back every day to see this and 2 other life changing lessons 2016 made evident to me.

Lesson #1 – Expect the Unexpected & Show Out

It was January 1, 2016 and my daughter and I had been prepping for at least a week prior for her audition in the ultra classic and infamous The Wiz produced by Hattiloo Theatre. My daughter has been acting for almost 4 years now and our daily prepping was nothing out of the norm, as I believe practice makes perfect and leads to success. As we sat in the living room going over her potential monologue, song, and choreography she simply said, “Ma! You should try out for it too!”

I was definitely flattered that she would even think I would be capable. I responded with a smile and said, “Me? You really think I should?”

With big bright eyes and an even bigger smile, she replied, “Yeah!”

“We shall see,” I responded. “Now, let’s get back to your monologue.”

We continued her practice for the remainder of the night and nothing else was mentioned of her suggestion.

On January 2, 2016, we headed to her audition, signed in and patiently waited for her number to be called. I gazed around the room looking at the hundreds of dreamers waiting to have their number called as well. Before I knew it, I began wondering and dreaming about what it would be like for me to be in the room my daughter and all the others would enter, stand before a panel of directors and production managers, and perform with all my heart. Up to that moment, as an adult, auditioning for ANYTHING was completely out of my comfort zone, more importantly, I’d never done it before. Without a whole lot of thought, I walked over to the sign-in table, picked up the pen and wrote my name down. I was officially auditioning for The Wiz. A little anxiety came over me, but not a lot because I did not think I’d be in the running to be cast. My daughter was called in. She performed a song and came back out and sat with me. What felt like an hour later, my number was called and I entered the open space with 12 eyes on me. They looked at me, smiled, and asked that I sing. And I did. I sang, what I felt was the best I’d done in a long time. That or the acoustics in the room were to die for. I finished my song, felt my heart jump back in place and thanked each of them for their time. The director then said, “Can you come back this evening for the choreography piece?” I was stunned for two reasons. One, because they wanted me to come back. I must’ve done something right. Two, because I am nothing close to a dancer and can’t be believe they thought I was. Either way, I was ecstatic inside and really started to feel the pressure.

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Me and my mini me as Evillene

I returned for the choreography audition and just as I knew it, I can not dance (at least not to be apart of a musical production). I was proud of myself for trying, left for the evening and thought nothing more of the experience. Later that evening, scrolling through my email, I saw that both my daughter and I received a call back for casting. Whew. We both screamed with joy and were pleased with the outcome. After the happiness and screaming died down I felt my heart jump out again. Reality started to set in. I thought to myself, “I could actually be cast in this production.” I became a bit nervous, but the way my type A personality is set up, I had no choice but to attempt to rise to the occasion. And so to hurry to the end of this story, I did just that. After call backs, I secured the role of Evillene and spent the next 3 months, including 30 shows, transforming into what had become my most unique challenge to date.

See, if you had asked me in 2015 if I were going to be in a major production and cast as a principle character, I surely would have laughed before I swiftly answered, “Who me? Nah.” The point is, I UNEXPECTEDLY found myself in a new realm; a world unknown to me. It was a world in which I was unsure if I was capable of matching the expectations of the directors, choreographers and ultimately the thousands of audience members that came out for 30 shows. What did I learn from my time as Evillene? Besides the fact that I was much more talented than even I knew or the fact that I was capable of receiving kudos and applause from reviews with absolutely no stock in me, I was more impressed that I was able to actualize the art of expecting the unexpected. This was not my first unexpected situation in life, yet it was the first that during the entire journey I was aware of what was happening. I was aware of the fact that life will throw all types of scenarios at us. Some of those scenarios good. Others much less desirable than what we could even wish on our greatest enemies. Yet, in either of those instances, we are fully equipped to rise to the occasion; to somehow be prepared or quick thinking, quick reacting, and secure in the act of trying. I further understand the art of performing with all my heart. It is a matter of being prepared to give your all regardless of a situation being planned or unplanned; being prepared to SHOW OUT!

As you enter into 2017, know that it will come with unexpected situations, people, and things. The unexpected is the inevitable. The unexpected may try to knock you up or down, but keep the mindset that overcoming and rising to the occasion is the only option you have at hand. Remember SHOW OUT in 2017!

 

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Focus & Aim: A Guide to a Productive 2017

Imagine you are standing center court at the tip of the free throw line ready to make the biggest shot of your life. The shot clearly determines your ability to move forward in life. It impacts how successful you will be beyond that very moment; everything depends on the shot. If you do not have a clear focus on your aim, it is highly possible that making the shot will not happen. If you do have a focused aim, it is likely that you will hit nothing but net and you will surely be ready to stake claim to all the success you have envisioned.

calendar

Your life and its successes is the distinct efforts in your ability to focus and have good aim. The focus being your clearly defined plans that you set forth. The good aim being your capacity to take action as precisely as possible; the form you use. As you prepare to move into 2017, it is important that you start taking evaluation in the way in which you will choose to focus and the aims you will make. Consider all of this when developing your New Year’s resolutions. Below are some formulated steps you can take for your focus and aim to help make 2017 as productive and successful as possible.

focusFocus

The key to the focus portion of developing your resolution is to be realistic and write down each goal. Be sure that the resources required to achieve the goals are attainable. Be honest in what you want to achieve. Do not set goals that satisfy someone else’s desires. They must be your own. Also, writing the goals down is like making a contractual agreement with yourself that you will do everything you can to actually achieve each one. Without them being written down it is easy to get off track and forget what you wanted to achieve. You can better hold yourself accountable with realistic and written goals.

  1. Review the goals you set for 2016. Did you succeed at all of them? Did some of the goals have to be modified, delayed, or even eliminated? If you have any unmet goals from 2016, determine if they should become goals for 2017. If you want to achieve those unmet goals, write each one of them down.
  2. Define the new goals you want to set for 2017. Who do you want to become? Where do you see yourself by mid-year? Where do you want to go? Think about every aspect of what 2017 looks like for you and write each of those goals down.
  3. Categorize each goal into the different areas of life. Aligning each goal with the similar life impact can increase the perspective of their importance. Write each goal under the respective category.
  4. You should now have an inclusive written and realistic list of all the goals you would like to achieve for 2017. For each goal you have established, now organize them by priority. Which are the most important to you? Which ones are you absolutely not ok with not achieving in 2017? Which ones are there consequences for not achieving? These are the goals that you want to put at the top of your list. The goals with less meaning to you or less impact should be placed at the bottom of your list.

Aim

The strategy behind the aim is knowing exactly how you will make each goal happen. If you have set a goal, there should be an action or actions required to implement the goal.aim

  1. Review your prioritized list and write a detailed action plan for each. What is the first step? What is the last step? What steps in between will make the goal achieved? If your goal is to begin a trade school program, then your steps should begin with researching schools that have your trade available and their requirements for enrollment. Then you would begin the application process, and so on until you have enrolled and begin classes. There is no such thing as wanting something and not putting in the work. Your action plan helps to start the work. It helps you to better visualize what is required and serves as a road map to completion.
  2. Assign deadlines to each goal. Some goals take longer than others to achieve. Just like writing a goal down, if you do not assign a deadline, it is likely that the road to achieving it could be never-ending. Determine if the goals should end during a particular month or quarter or even on a specific date.
  3. Be positive, believe in yourself and just shoot! There is no way you can achieve any goal with an unhealthy outlook. The road to achieving anything will come with some level of challenge, so a healthy and positive attitude is the ultimate counter action. As you work on each goal, be sure to keep things in perspective.
  4. As the year goes on, be sure to celebrate and recognize all of the milestones and completions of any goals that you set. Check the achieved goals off of your list. Doing so, enhances your ability to be positive in knowing that your goals and those you are still working on are achievable!

With the right focus and aim, your New Year’s resolutions have a greater chance of ensuring that you look back in the coming December feeling accomplished and complete; having hit nothing but net!

 

 

 

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Dressing the Part

Life can be a big stage. A large production that includes several different roles with stage settings changing from scene to scene; requiring quite a bit of preparation to pull off the end result. It can be a huge mass of opportunity to take on many, many characters throughout your lifetime. Thus, there are many goals that I have set for myself for the big stage of life. In some respect, there are many roles that I desire to carry out. As a teenager I learned an invaluable lesson about becoming each of those roles.

Rich 'N' Skinny
Photo does not belong to author

My daddy always told me to dress for the part I wanted in life well before I even got the part. I used to ponder his advice; almost thinking it was a simple, non-complex group of words that simply meant to wear what defined where I was headed. From a blouse, to pants, to shoes, even my jewelry, I would consume myself with wanting each of them to be on point. I wanted each of them to make a statement that I was becoming exactly what I was wearing. I would ensure that if an executive position was what I wanted in the future that I dressed accordingly and consistently as my money could buy me. I did it for years and continue to do so. However, before my father passed it hit me as to what he really meant. My initial comprehension was not complete. I have learned that dressing the part on the outside was only a tenth of the calculation he spoke of.

His advice meant seeing the part, thinking the part, acting out the part, and then looking the part. Each of these components brought together the entire role that I desired to be cast.

  1. Seeing the Part – Being who I want to be, even ten years from now, means that I have to envision myself in my desired role. If I want to be an executive or nationally recognized author, then I needed to actually see myself in those roles. Essentially, I have to choose to become a visionary of my own life. For everyone, if can not see yourself in a particular space in life, getting there or becoming that role is less likely to happen. How is it possible to see yourself in a role? It is easier said than done, this is true, but take a moment, close your eyes, and see what you look like carrying out the role you want to be cast. Be it a designer, business owner, fortune 500 company exec, or even a professor; whatever it is, visually put yourself in the shoes of that role or roles. What does the role do? How does the role carry out its responsibilities? How did role develop? What does the role require for dress? What behavior is required for the role? What thought process is required for the role? How does the role interact with others? All of these questions can help you see how you will actually become the character.
  2. Thinking the Part – After I could see, then I could start thinking in terms of achieving the roles that I set out to become; believing that the role or roles were attainable. If the saying ‘your altitude is determined by your attitude‘ is not true, then I do not know what is. My attitude towards the roles I want out of life means everything. If I am negative or slow to be optimistic about a situation, nine times out of ten, the outcome of what I wanted does not happen. When I am positive, the outcome is more acceptable even if it does not happen exactly as planned. Once my thought process became the thoughts of who I was to become my father’s advice made that much more sense and my actions that followed aligned accordingly. Do not fall victim to blocking your own desires by becoming your worst enemy. Believe that you are capable of becoming whoever it is you want to become and that the process may include both desirable and undesirable moments that must be embraced to move forward. Think according to the role you are looking to be cast and be positive in that process.
  3. Acting Out the Part – Your best foot forward should always be your daily choice. So what you have not become the well-known actress, company exec, or world-renowned chef, JUST YET? You still have to act as though you are. If your hopes are to become a company exec and currently you are an intern, every day act as though you are already the company exec. If you know there is a certain level of skill, management technique, integrity, decision-making required to be a company exec, start sharpening those skills today. Acting out the part prepares you for the day that you will actually carry out the role. It is a way to truly develop your potential. it is an intentional way to go after what you want. That is what I try to do every day. Every single day, I consider myself stepping onto a stage; a platform ready for dress rehearsal; practicing for the moment that I see coming in my future. It is a dress rehearsal that will eventually lead to opening night.
  4. Looking the Part – Finally, or so I thought, I was able to do the easiest part of dressing for the part I wanted. It was necessary to see, have the right attitude, and carry out the part before I was able to actually focus on the blouse, pants, shoes, or jewelry. Who cares about the attire, if you do not believe in yourself, have the right attitude, or are not equipped to carry out the role? But get this, just recently, ‘looking the part’ became even more expansive in meaning to me. Looking the part also includes seeking out individuals and resources around you that help you eventually become the part. Mentors, industry leaders and experts, supportive friends, and helpful associates are key to pulling off the role. Know that these individuals will not necessarily fall in your lap. They will not come running to you to help you. Research, ask around, seek out those close to you that you admire and have made great choices in their industry. Get their advice. Get their feedback. Incorporate their choices into your rehearsals. Those individuals will develop help pull your role together. You have to be intentional in looking the part.

The caveat to each of these steps is that while you are busy believing, thinking, acting, and looking the part, the brick and mortar or production set is being stabilized for what is to come for you. If you keep yourself busy working on each of these steps, one day you will look up and find yourself actually cast into the role. Before I became an author, I once saw, thought, acted, and looked like an author. Before I became a business professional, I once saw, thought, acted and looked like a business professional. And before I knew it, without a lot anxiety and impatience, I became each of those roles. The dress rehearsals became opening night, every day of my life. Dressing the part is much more than just wearing the right blouse, pants, and shoes. It is about the total package required to play the lead character in life’s production!

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Concerned Visionary for Your Life

Quick post alert:

It is that time of year again for me and my daughter. December is always our time to reflect and really begin digging into the goals for the next year. By now I have already revisited my ‘written’ (cause that’s key) annual and long term goals several times throughout the year. I used to throw my vision boards away but three years ago I decided to start keeping them. It has become a great way to hold myself accountable but also to help me stay on course and keep a good perspective on what I have achieved, am achieving, and will achieve. Some people call it corny, I call it being a ‘concerned visionary for my life’. Whether you choose to try it out for the first time or maybe you have done them in the past and have plans for doing one for 2017, do it with the intentional thought that everything you dream can be achieved. Sometimes its just a matter of seeing it before you see it!

Happy Vision Board season!

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