success

Being Motivated

IMG_3841 This morning I watched a video about some women who have worked so hard at perfecting their martial art skills that their abilities were simply amazing. Personally, I have struggled lately to find my drive. There is a place inside all of us where our motivation, our drive and our will to succeed lives. Through the daily grind that life gives us, we sometimes lose that place. It’s still there we just forget to tap into it’s power.

When you start utilizing that force inside yourself, you begin to work like a well oil machine. Nothing can get in your way, you are unstoppable. I need to tap back into my own force and stop making all those excuses I tell myself that today isn’t the day, maybe tomorrow.

You know the old saying, “There’s no time like the present!”. Oh man, this means a lot of work is in store for me. I can handle it, I just have to want to handle it. So here I am, before all of you, saying: “I can handle this! I got this! I will do it!”

Ready set go!

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

Making Progress
click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Late last night as I was getting ready for bed when this thought came to mind: Progress is not measured by money made or by title given but by feeling good about the path you walk each day.

We cannot measure our progress or success  merely by a bank balance or by a title inscribed on a name tag or door plate. When you lay your head down at night… do you feel good about the life you lived that very day? If that answer is yes then give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done and continue that journey. If the answer is no… well then.. there is always tomorrow. Let go of what went wrong and make it right the next chance you get.

We cannot dwell in the past, we can only focus on the road before us and make changes as we move forward. Progress is measured step by step.

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

The Measure of Success

toast 2012I was talking with an artist friend of mine yesterday and the conversation went into the direction of one’s idea of their own success. He felt that he wouldn’t be success until he reached a particular income level. My idea of my own success was a bit different. I’ll share with you the thoughts of how I measure my own successes:

Instead of having one singular goal I have many and I never really plan them.. I just enjoy them as they come along.  Here are a few of them so you can understand what I mean:

  • The moment I sold my first piece.
  • My first custom order.
  • Repeat customers.
  • Creating something just how I imagined it.
  • Being happy with the end result of any project.
  • Getting into a real art gallery.
  • Being asked to participate in shows.
  • Positive feedback from customers.
  • Positive feedback from anyone!
  • Hearing how others relate to my work.
  • Shipping my work all over the world.
  • Winning Toast of Music City 🙂
  • Looking back at all the pieces I successfully finished.
  • Touching the lives of others.
  • Knowing someone liked my art enough to buy it and hang it in their home, becoming a part of their everyday life.
  • Knowing that pieces of me will live much longer than I… hopefully touching the lives of others for many years after I’m gone.

These are the type of things that I measure my success by.  If I measured only by how much money I make.. I may or may not ever see that goal. There is no way of knowing … so in the mean time … I enjoy all the other successes that come my way.

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

Daily Insight – Courage

son of fireToday’s card is Son of Fire – He represents courage, creativity, passion and vitality. 

The message: You must not be afraid to go after your dream, goals and ambitions. Like a young man who sees himself indestructible… he fears nothing… he goes after what he wants… he believes he will achieve whatever he sets his mind to. With this kind of vital force, he will achieve whatever he sets out to conquer.

No matter the subject you wish to conquer … be it overcoming fears, going after a career, learning something new or a million other things that may be on your list… go for it. Don’t sit idle and wish your life away …. take initiative and take those necessary steps forward to achieving whatever it is that sets your heart and soul on fire. YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL!

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

Getting Back Up

seagullIt is born inside us, the drive to get back up after we have fallen.

Watch as a baby first begins to to learn how to crawl. They push themselves up by their arms and one knee at a time they raise up… and then the inevitable slip of a knee happens and they find themselves back on their tummy. A baby doesn’t just give up at that moment… something inside them says “I can do this” and they try again and again until they master crawling. It begins again when they try to walk for the first time. And again as they learn to speak.. to read .. etc.

We were born knowing “WE CAN” … it isn’t within us that idea of giving up… that is something we tell ourselves when we are afraid to succeed.

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

What’s Stopping You?

What’s stopping you from succeeding?

What excuses do you allow to keep you from doing?

We all make them when we really don’t want to do something. Some excuses are pretty good.. and then there are those that are just that.. excuses!

If we have a vision in our mind of what we want to manifest, complete, bring to life… then we must take on the work that goes along with making that happen.

Waiting for things to just come to us is a fantasy… it just doesn’t happen.

Do you think Mark Zuckerberg just sat down one night and coded facebook… ok so nearly but still.. to make it what it is today he had hours upon hours of work put into it… and once it came to be he didn’t just stop there. His vision continued and so did his work. He probably entered numerous lines of code that didn’t work before he came upon the ones that did. What he didn’t do was allow himself excuses.

Let’s go back even further .. Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, the Wright Brothers… How many times do you think they failed before finding the one thing that worked??? They had an idea, a goal and they worked toward that goal until they got the results they were looking for.

Here’s an excuse I hear every day: “I don’t know how.”

Really? You are going to say this today and settle for that answer? Are you not going to at least try and find out? Umm Google, Youtube, this thing called the internet!!!! AMAZING resource for just about anything in the world you wish to learn. But that’s ok.. YOU DON’T KNOW HOW.

Sigh….. I’m certainly glad the great inventors of the world didn’t just settle for “I don’t know how”

We’d still be without lights, electricity, cars, computers,  internet, refrigeration, facebook (Oh God the horror!!) LOL.. just think about it.

I’m not saying you have to take on the task of being the next big thing .. I’m just saying that if you want something then you have to WORK to get it! Stop allowing excuses and get out there and start DOING to make those dreams a reality.

Many Blessings,
Raventalker

The Long and Winding Road

IMG_5029Remember that we are each born with everything we need to succeed.

Not saying it won’t be a battle… and certainly not saying it will be a smooth and easy road

The road to success lies before us and it’s a long, treacherous road with lots of hills and valleys, with loose rock and sink holes….

How we maneuver down that road makes all the difference….

We must keep our ultimate goal in mind and continue walking in that direction no matter what obstacles come before us.

We must not give up … the goal is there … we just have to keep walking toward it.

Know that you have what it takes to reach that goal and push forward! YOU WILL GET THERE!

Many Blessings,
Raventalker