Dream for your Future

In the last few days, there have been questions about where I see myself in the next 5 years. I came across a post from blog that I follow. From Hey Amber Rae, she shared a post about dreams, as a reflection of where you see yourself in 5 years, and what will you do now that will help get you there.

This question was proposed – “Based on your 5 year story, what are your to-do’s? And what’s one thing you can do today to get started?”

So I sat down with my notebook and pen and scribbled down the statement below:

"It is the middle of November 2017, and I’ve just turned 32. I’ve just completed five years of eye-opening experiences: travel, life, love, and company and community-building. I feel calm, present, thankful, happy, and energized. I am sitting in a cozy room with my wife, listening to music...enjoying life. My home is where my family is, and we travel as often as we can. I’ve helped many people and companies excel to live their lives with Impact."

This five-minute exercise left me feeling energized, optimistic, and calm. It provided a clear picture of my priorities.

So I created a To-Do list that would help me realize this future life.

· Seek out opportunities for more responsibility in my work – management/business development.
· Develop travel plans – 2013
· Build online relationships with friends – Twitter
· Continue writing for kielholliday [dot] com

Pray for God to prepare me for a loving relationship, listen to my intuition, and trust the process.

Thank you to Amber Rae for inspiring my thoughts on this subject.

Strengths for Change

"The question is - what scares you now? What’s intimidating? What’s the great unknown? I keep using that question to guide my next move." - Derek Sivers

I think at some point in our lives we all want to find out whats next.  Or it might be that thing that you read about from a website or Facebook page that hits so close to home, that you say, “What the heck am I doing”? That is the starting point for change; catalysts that can push us in the direction of our greatest potential. 

I read this somewhere a few weeks ago “the written word can spark more inspiration than you know what to do with!”

Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about what do I want to do next.  Then I remembered the book: StrengthFinders 2.0    It had you go through and fill out a questionnaire that then spit out 5 strengths that pertained to me.

1. Relator
2. Responsibility
3. Intellection
4. Futuristic
5. Learner

Each of the provided an insight into how I see things.  With each having significant meaning at the moment.

I want to use my strengths to challenge myself to always grow. 

Maybe it is time I take my own advice

My brand from my perspective

(pic by 365q)

There is this idea that just a resume will help you succeed in your job search.  While that may be true, you have to be willing to stick your neck out for people and converse with them.  My brand, while I have sought to grow it, is new.  I want to pick up and do more to set up my brand image on the Internet and in the real world.

I have been following this social media trend which has really gotten me thinking about the certain image that I am portraying all over the Internet.  There are a lot of things that I am not doing which I should be doing to help further my brand awareness and allow other people to see me.  Soon, I intend on incorporating some video posts on my blog and reference them when I give presentations.  Business cards are next with a URL going to my site, complete with a short 30 second video resume.

My personal brand has given me the ability to understand exactly what I want to say and share with those willing to listen.  Sharing my growing knowledge of the Internet and social media as it relates to college students is very important to me right now as I seek to understand this branding space.  Professionally, I believe that my brand can and will help me, but I have hardly touched the surface of personal branding.  In regards to my personal life, I am using Facebook and Twitter to post things that I feel are important enough to share with the people that follow me or are friends with me on Facebook.

I believe that for millennials like myself, it has to be understood that you are your brand.  The eyeballs are on you.  Who you are and what you do on the Internet is imperative to the personal brand that you must set up. It constantly must be monitored to see what is being said about you.   I am constantly working on my personal brand and hope that I can put more into my brand by setting up an Ignite conference.

Seek to challenge

(photo by 365q)

Something struck me the other day, at a point of my view of the present and my own view of how I saw my future.  Now I know that I cannot foresee my own future, but it brought about this idea of setting a few challenges for myself.  Challenges that make me defy limitations and the strive for seeking beyond the status quo.

I want these to push my own boundaries and try new and exciting opportunities.  What those might be, might surprise even myself.  Move into other jobs outside the support realm of technology.  Challenge myself to talk less and say/share more.  Putting on an Ignite event is going to be interesting to provide such a challenge.  Growth to take that leap of faith and do things that make me nervous and uncomfortable.  

There may times where I succeed and times were I might fail, but not trying is even worse. We all want to grow beyond our limits, but how many of us actually do something about it.  I want to say yes to a new challenge and excel at many things.  Asking myself “Why not” and “Here goes nothing”.  

I am reminded of a Steve Jobs quote
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Starting with these challenges is my first step to change the way I want to see my life and go beyond what the world says I should do.

Creative

The creativity is within us. You just have to fight to let it out.