009. Clarity over Confusion: How to Craft a Powerful Career Vision for 2024

Want to cast a powerful vision for 2024? In this episode, host Alejandra Thompson provides guided steps to help you create a strong and purpose-driven vision for your life & careers in 2024.

This episode delves into the power of self-reflection, aligning personal desires with purpose, setting achievable goals, identifying and overcoming obstacles, and building supportive networks. It's time to step out of your comfort zone and  outside and strive towards fulfilling their career aspirations.

Ready to get promoted into Leadership and increase your salary by 10k-30k?
Book a sales call with Alejandra: https://calendly.com/empowherchange/sales-call 

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Join Alejandra’s LinkedIn Community: www.linkedin.com/in/alethompson

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Intro Song: Cumbia No Frills Faster by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100275

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Transcript

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Hello. Welcome. You are listening to the Latinas in Leadership podcast, where we empower Latinas with the guidance, knowledge they need to get promoted into leadership, increase their salary, and step into their purpose. I'm your host, Alejandra Thompson, leadership coach and first gen Latina, on a mission to see more Latinas in leadership. Inside of my one on one coaching program, the Confident Latina Leader. I've helped Latinas increase their salary by 000, and even 40, 000. I've helped them get promoted into director level positions, quit toxic jobs, and change careers without taking a pay cut. In this podcast, you can count on me to share strategies, tools, and knowledge to help you break into the next level of your career. Let's go.

External Microphone: 0:53

Hello. Hello friends. Welcome back to the podcast and happy new year happy 2024. I hope that the end of the year was a beautiful time with your friends. Enjoying time with your family eating lots of good food. Nourishing yourself with. Connection and laughter and just all the deliciousness. I have been in Maryland for the past 10 days. And has been spending time with my family, enjoying the cold weather, going for really long walks with my dog. It's just been awesome. Awesome. Awesome. To be here. You know, I moved away from. My hometown a little over seven years ago. And so this is the longest amount of time I've been back to Maryland since I moved away. And it's been really nice to have this time to hang out and also just like not feel rushed. Not feel like I am trying to get to everyone within a 24 hour period. And I've been staying at my mom's and it's just been really, really nice and warm and cozy. You may hear some people in the background. You may hear my little cousin. He's three. He's the cutest cutest. And he actually came from Columbia. And so this is actually the first time I've met him. And. It's just been so nice to meet him and have him here in the house. He's like this ball of joy and he's so funny and he's learning English. And so he'll say, um, the ABCC has this toy that teaches them the ABC's. And he'll also like, if something's really exciting or like when he's getting presents and it's really exciting. He'll be like, oh my God. And so like he knows. That's something that you say when you're excited. And so it's just been a lot of fun to be with my family, my dog, my just like everyone that I love with all this delicious food and connection and so forth. And so I hope that you've been having a really good time. I hope that this. New year feels like a fresh start for you. I hope that you're feeling inspired and that you are ready to go for the goals that you have. And so. To go into today's podcast. What I'm going to be talking about is how to craft a powerful vision for your life in 2024. This is about getting out of. Confusion and getting into clarity, getting out of. I don't really know what I want, but I know that I don't want where I am right now. I know that I want to move away from where I am right now. But I don't really know what that looks like. And maybe there's just some confusion in your life and you want to be able to have clear vision. You want to be able to have a conviction in your heart about what you're doing with your life, even if you're just starting off with one step. And I think that first step is so critical. We just need to take it day by day and having a clear vision helps us go into the direction that we want to go in, versus just hoping that we will somehow change our life. By mere hope instead of having clear direction behind that clear actions behind that, that are going to steer us in a different direction than where we have been, because we know that's where we no longer want to be. And so this is really going to be a podcast about how you craft a powerful vision for your life. I'm going to go over seven steps that will help you in how you craft a powerful vision for your life. And I want you to really take this podcast. As a mini session for you to take notes, to really listen to this a couple of times, if you need to, to be able to digest this information and most importantly apply it because that's really where the transformation will always come from. It will always come from. Applying what it is that you learn. There's this concept or a quote that goes around on Instagram. And I agree with it a hundred percent where it says. Instead of trying to read. 12 books this year, one book per month. Why don't you read one book and apply it? For the rest of the 11 months that you have remaining. And I really love that because I think that knowledge is incredible for us to have, but if that knowledge is in applied, it's not actually going to transform our life. And so the application of knowledge, the application of the things that you learned through this podcast are going to be the things that transform your life. And so I really hope that you take this podcast as a little mini session, a mini class that you can take and take notes on to really support you. And. Creating a powerful vision for your life in 2024. And I'll talk about the seven steps. I will also talk about why it's important to have a vision. And then I'll do a little recap at the end. Like I always like to do for you all. So let's jump in. Why have a vision for your life? Why is that important? I think that when we don't have a vision, it can be really frustrating for us because we don't have a sense of direction, but we know that we want to shift out of where we are and that lack of vision will then breed a lack of motivation because when we are trying to change our lives, when you are trying to do something different in your career, you're trying to change careers. You're trying to get promoted. You're trying to get a raise. Whatever. It is within your career. Whenever you're trying to do something different, it's going to require discomfort. It's going to require for you to be courageous, to do things. When you are scared to do things you haven't done before. To take risks. And when that is required of you, it's really important to have a vision that's going to anchor you into why all of that's going to be worth it. Because by default, our brains do not like to do things outside of our comfort zone. Our brains actually prefer to preserve energy and stay within its comfort zone. It prefers to take shortcuts. It prefers to tell you, oh no, you shouldn't go for that promotion. Like, we're good here. Oh no, you shouldn't change careers. That's a lot. That's going to be really hard and you're going to have to start all over and you're not going to be able to make the same amount. And then you're not going to be able to pay your bills. It tells you all of this information. Because it prefers the status quo by default. Now the beautiful thing about our brains though, is that we have the ability to change the way that we think. There is whole neuroscience. I've talked about neuroplastic neuroplasticity, which is how we are able to change the way that we think and rewire our brain and to new neural pathways. And this is beautiful for us. This is amazing news that God has designed us with the ability to do this, but it requires our effort. It does not happen by default, just like you don't build muscles by default, by existing in your life. On the couch, watching TV. Getting in your car and driving to work. That is not how you build muscle. You build muscle by going to the gym by lifting weights, by doing resistance training, by having your muscles get sore and having that breakdown. And then through your sleep, having it be able to rebuild into stronger and bigger muscles. Similar type of thinking with our brain is when we apply resistance. When we do things that are hard when we do things that are different. When we take risk, we are able to train the way that we think, but by default, our brains don't do that. And so it's really important for us to have a vision so that we can anchor ourselves and our brain into something that's really important for us so that we can endure. So we can actually. Take the hard steps that are going to be required for the goals, the ambitious goals that you have for this year. And so thinking about that, that's number one. I really want you to know, like, why is it important for you to have a vision it's so important because it's not the, your ambitious goals. Are not going to be a walk in the park, but they are 100% worth it. I really want you to hear that your ambitious goals will not be a walk in the park, but they are 100% worth it. Just like being healthy and having a physically strong body is not a walk in the park. Literally, you can't just go for walks and stroll in the park, especially in Miami where we don't even have Hills, it's just, you're just chilling in Miami, flat as ever. You're not going to become strong that way. And so I really want you to think about that is like vision is really important to anchor yourself into. Why this is worth it, why this resistance that I'm going to go through is worth it because of the vision that I have. So let's go into it. Here are seven steps on how you can develop. Your powerful vision for yourself in 2024. Number one, if you haven't done so already reflect on the past year. This is, uh, I like to do this towards the end of the year. Like that Christmas going into the last two weeks, really, especially Christmas going into new years is reflecting on the past year. Make sure that you express gratitude. What are you praising God for this year? At the dinner table last night, we went around and the prompt was when I say last night is because I'm recording this on new year's day. It's the first right now. And so on new year's Eve dinner. I was with the family and we went around and the prompt was what are you grateful? To God for what are you praising God for in 2023. And what are you praying for? In 2024. So that was a prompt. And I want to you to think about in this step, one of reflecting on the past year, What do you want to praise God for? What do you celebrate? For 2023, anchor yourself into some gratitude because we can. It's very easy to go into the things that are going wrong. Maybe you have been trying to change careers all of 20, 23, and it hasn't happened and you feel really tired. You feel like it's never going to work for you. You kind of feel really frustrated and like it's a lost cause. And I know that it can feel so frustrating. And so anchor yourself into some gratitude on the things that you want to celebrate and praise God for. Gratitude for the year. You also want to think about reflecting on for step one? What goals did you have for 2023? Did you set any goals for 2023? It's okay. If you didn't, but if you did, that would be a good time. This would be a good time for you to reflect on it, because what can happen is we can set our goals and then forget them. We treat them like this really cool thing that we do at a certain time of the year. And then we. Look back and we're like, I totally forgot that. I said I was going to do that. And so we can set them at the beginning of the year and not revisit them. And that's a huge problem, a huge obstacle to actually achieving your goals. So reflect back on the goals that you had, if you didn't have goals, that's okay. But if you did reflect on them, see how did that go? What did you accomplish really reflect back on those goals? The other thing I want you to reflect on is values. So do you know your values? Like right now, if I asked you. Hey friend. What are your top three values? Would you be able to spit them out to me right now? Or would you be like, oh, well, you know, I've really. Hmm. Like, well, you know, I really appreciate like honesty and like my family. And like you start thinking at the top of your head or can you right now be like, oh no, My values are. Faith intimacy and nourishment. And you know, that there is something that, you know, And you revisit on a regular basis because this is not the podcast where I'm going to break down how you can come up with your values. I'll create that podcast later down the line. But knowing your values are really important. So I want you to reflect on that. Uh, reflect on what your values are, because if you want to establish your values, You will live by society's values. I really need that to land. If you don't establish your values, you will live by society's values. And guess what? Those are fear. Competition, always needing more money over everything. You're going to take. Society's values. Or cultures values. By default, if you don't establish your own. And I really don't want to butcher it, but I know that there's a quote by, I believe my Angelo who goes like, if. I don't define who I am. The world will. I'm totally butchering that, but there's definitely a quote out there like that. And I just it's that same type of concept that if you don't define your values, you will. Take on the cultures, you will take on societies. And so what are your values reflect on those? Because it's so important for you to know. What is your anchor? When you were trying to do difficult things, when you are trying to step into a new season into your life. When you're trying to change the way that you think about yourself or change the way you show up at work. So think about your values, reflect on your values. This is step one, reflect on the past year. And I broke down step one into three sub bullets, which is gratitude for the year. Reflect on that. Reflect on your goals for the year and then reflect on your values. All right. My values, by the way, are faith, intimacy, nourishment, courage, and curiosity. So those are my five and I don't think that they will always be that, like, I know, I believe that they can evolve and that's okay. But they're the ones that these are the ones that I bring myself back to. Over and over again, whenever I'm having a difficult time, I go back and go, okay. If I'm living by my values of faith, if I'm living by my values of nourishment, if I'm living by my values of intimacy of courage of curiosity, what would I do in this moment? Right. And so there are very practical ways that you can use your values to be able to remain aligned in your life and not sacrifice your values, not sacrifice what is actually meaningful to you for society's values. And that's how people wind up. For example, working a job that they hate that their mental health. Is deteriorating that they're not even spending time with their family because they didn't establish their values and be stern to their value. So they adopted what society's values, which is scarcity, which is fear, which is we need to make money, money, money, money, money, and we don't have enough. All right, so that's step one, step two. Purify your desires and align. With your purpose and values. These are going to build up on each other, as you can see. So what I mean by this, by purify your desires. Is when you think about your desires on what you want for the next year, when you're thinking about right now, what you want for the next year. Even for example, let's say you're like, okay. Yeah, I really want to change careers. Or I really want to leave this company. This company is whack. I'm tired of this company. I'm tired of this person. I'm ready to go reflect on what you're desiring for the next year. And I want you to reflect and really like journal. This is a great journaling exercise is why do you want that? Where is this coming from? Ease your disease. Is it your desire? Is this truly your desire? Or is it society's desire? And examine the source of your desires to get real with yourself about whether it's truly important to you. And I'll tell you a story. I had a client. Named Angelica who came to me. And she said that she wanted to get into a senior position. And when we spoke in the beginning, she said, yeah, I want to get into a senior position. I'm really frustrated because I got my master's and there are people from my peers, from my master's classes that are in higher level positions than me, and are doing way more than me and making more than me. And that's frustrating. Now, this is quite common, actually for a lot of the clients that I get because I work with Latinas. And so a lot of times that the units are underpaid and it's one of the things that actually infuriate me. And pushed me to do this work that I do. And so when I heard this, I was like, oh, okay. So you want to get promoted. You want to be able to have a title that is in a leadership position. And we started working together now, as we started working together, she started to do this step where she purified her desire. She started to really understand what is important to her. We did work on establishing her values. We did a lot of this type of. Understanding what is important to me and what goals I have and how do I make sure that I align my career with my values and my purpose. And when we did that work, she actually came to me in one of our sessions and she said, you know what? Alejandro. I actually don't want to be a manager. I don't want to manage other people. I don't like managing other people. I like being an independent worker. I like getting my work done and not having to manage someone else or have someone report to me or do performance plans or that stuff. Like I like the work that I do independently and working with other teams, cross collaborative club doing, sorry, doing cross collaboration. And that's that. And so it was a breakthrough moment for her to see. I was chasing something that I thought I needed because I was comparing myself to other people. She was comparing herself to her peers from her master's class and saying, well, they have that. Why don't I have that? Well, society says that I should have more and more and more, and I should keep climbing and climbing and climbing when really what she liked was spending time with her family, going for hikes, going for wineries, enjoying time on her weekends. And working. More independently. And so this is what I mean by purify your desires. As you may have some desires right now for 2024, and I really want you to consider. Where are they coming from? Are they your desires? Or is this a desire that it's your mom's and it has just been nagging over you. And so you think it's yours when it's really your moms. Or you think it's yours, but it's really societies. I really want you to consider that in purify your desire so that you're not choosing something that is actually really out of alignment for you. So, if you want to increase your salary, this is another poor. Here is like, if you want to increase your salary. I encourage you to align that desire with something that is meaningful to you. I am all about Latinas making more. That is my jam. I love it. And most of my clients. Get salary increases from 10 K 20 K 30 K. I had one of my clients get a 44 K raise. So this is the work that I love to do. Again, empowering Latinas to claim leadership positions and increase their salary and be able to have jobs that they feel proud of. However, if you want to increase your salary, I always encourage you to align that desire with something that's meaningful to you, to your values, what will increasing your salary allow you to do so these are questions that you can journal on. What will. Allowing yourself to go after the increase, the salary increase. What's that going to create for you in your life? Be more generous with charities. For example, give more to your local church. Help your mom buy a house so that you can grow roots with your family, travel more with your girlfriends and create memories that are going to last for life. Go to your favorite brunch. Like what is. Making more money going to do for you that is aligned with your values. That has something that is meaningful. I can't. Under state or overstate. How important this is because when you do not do this, when you do not align your desires, especially around money with something more soul aligned. We can. I get caught up in the rat race of more, more and more. We always need more money. It's not enough. I've had clients who have gotten$17,000 raises and been unsatisfied. When they literally could not even get a raise before we had started working together, because once we do not actually inker into something that is more meaningful about our salary raise, we can get stuck in the more and more and more and more and more. And that can be a trap for never being satisfied. And there's a Bible verse that I think is misunderstood. And I think it's because we actually spread it inaccurately. And that's one Timothy six, 10, where it says the Bible says that the. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. This scripture is oftentimes spread. Starting with the sentence or the word money is the root of all evil. Omitting the first four words. For the love of. Which really changes the way, the message behind this Bible verse. If we're talking about. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. That's different than money is a root. Of all kinds of evil. And I want to say this because I think that for us Latinas, we can get stuck in the feeling guilty about wanting more money. If the love of money itself is the thing that's driving. You. That can get you into a lot of trouble. Because money itself can not be the thing you crave because that's an empty hole that never fills. You will always crave more and more and more and more and more. And trust me, this is a thing that I have had to work through myself and continue to work through myself is how do I take my money or take my mind off of needing more and more money. And that that's the thing that's going to solve things and actually realize that there needs to be something more meaningful, something that's more soul aligned. Something that is aligned with God's purpose for my life. That is going to make money as a tool for me to be able to do good in this world, to be able to do the things that I think God has for me as well, to be a part of the way that I do my purpose here on earth. So I have to align it with something more important. And I, this is really important, I think because we find ourselves just craving more and never being satisfied. If all we're focused on is for the love of money for the craving of money for money is the thing that's going to solve all things for me. Really considering what's the actual soul aligned to purpose behind that. That's going to support you. So step two is purify your desires and align with your purpose and values. Step three. Paint the bigger picture. So now that we've reflected on the year. We have purified your desires. We want to start painting a vision for this year for 2024. Paint the bigger picture. You can start with bigger picture, vision things like what color, what images, what emotions, what words come up for you in 2024. Who do you wish to be? For example, I have a client Paula who is seeking to be more vulnerable and courageous. Or you may be someone who is a people pleaser, and that is keeping you from setting boundaries. So you can say things like words like outspoken and bold, if you want to get promoted, but you feel like you're not enough. But you don't feel like you're good enough. You can think of words like confident. So I really want you to talk. I really want you to think about what. Colors images words come up for you. Another thing you can think about with painting. The bigger picture is when you imagine yourself in a leadership role, How do you see yourself as a leader? Do you want to have weekly one-on-one meetings with your direct reports? Do you want to be a manager that people. Think about as a safe space or that people think about is really fun or really creative. What are the things that you imagine about yourself when you imagine yourself interviewing for your first manager role? What visuals come up for? You? Right now, I just want you to brain dump. So again, this is again great journaling exercises, brain dump. What comes to mind? What are the colors, images, emotions, and words that come up for you in 2024. I want you to paint the bigger picture. Step four. As I do want you to set some smart goals to help you go into that are going to help you step into the bigger picture. So once you start thinking about the bigger picture, let's say for you, bigger picture is bold, confident visuals that you're getting as you presenting in front of senior leaders. And. Doing it with a smile on your face and being able to answer questions from the executives without wanting to faint. Without wanting to throw up without feeling like you are doing an awful job, but they are able to do it confidently. Let's say the visuals that you're getting is these weekly one-on-one meetings with direct reports and being able to have a team that's working very well together and that's able to communicate through conflict and people are able to get along. Let's say these are the visuals you're having. You want to set smart goals to help you get to the bigger picture? Setting smart goals. If you haven't heard of this before smart is an acronym. And what smart stands for is S a specific, what exactly are you going to accomplish? M is measurable. How will you know, when you have accomplished this goal? A is achievable. Is this goal realistic with the effort and commitment that you can give? Do you have the resources or access to the resources to achieve this goal? If not, how will you get them? Are as relevant. Goals should move you in the direction of your values and God given purpose T is time bound. When will you achieve this goal? This is smart, smart goals. It takes your visionary goals and it puts them into action by making it specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. So you want to set goals according to your values and according to the images, emotions, words that you just did in the previous step. And according to the actual desires in your heart that are from God and not from society, not from culture. I want you to really start off with goals for the first three months. So. I don't know. I know some people want to do five-year plans or one-year things. What I like to do is I like to set up my clients with a very clear map on what are you doing in the first three months of this year? So it's January 1st as I record this. What are you doing in the first three months in January, February and March. I want you to think about the next three months. Where would you like to be? Whenever you're listening to this episode right now, I just want you to add three months. Where do I desire to be in three months? What goals have I accomplished in three months? Now, when it comes to goals, I'm talking about your powerful vision for 2020, for something as a side note that I do think is really important in this conversation is. I believe that we are much more effective in our goals. If we have a focus. I know, especially at the beginning of the year, we want to like change everything in our lives. We want to get our health together. We want to start going to the gym. We want to start this diet. We want to change careers. We want to repair that relationship with our friend. We want to do X and we want to do Z. We just want to do all the things we want to travel more. We want to learn a new language, you know, we want to do all the things. And so this is a really important note. Is have focus. I'm not saying don't pursue other things, but when it comes to goals, science is actually showing that we do much better when we focus on one. Primary goal when you make one thing you're focused versus when we have 10 different super ambitious goals. We tend to not actually complete them. And I'd rather you complete one goal than half-ass 10, excuse my language. So I really want you to take that note here that if career. Is your biggest thing for 2024. I have that be your priority and set smart goals for your career and have that be your priority. Have that be the majority of your effort that you put into is setting the bigger picture and these goals into that bigger picture for your career. And so here are some example of smart goals, goal number one. Could be, for example, I will overcome my fear of public speaking and present to workshops to a small group of 10 or less people by March 1st, 2024. The more I do this, the more comfortable I become sharing, valuable information that I know will be helpful to students that want to get into college. So, what I did here is I put together the smart I put together. The specific thing that I want to do is overcome my fear of public speaking. The measurable. I will know. I can measure it by knowing did I do two workshops? To a small group of 10 or less people. I put down here, if you want to talk about, is it achievable? Like, yes, I, I have to think. Do I know at least 10 people that I can bring together in order to do this workshop in front of. Now is it relevant to my values and goals? These are things that I thought about and say, yes, this is relevant for me. And by time bound, I put a time on it by March 1st. Something else that you may have heard here is I actually like to add that value in here, meaning how was this goal? Anchored into something that's bigger than me anchored into something that's important for me. And so what I put at the end is the more I do this, as the more comfortable I become sharing valuable information that I know will help students get into college. So this can be something that's very meaningful to someone. And that's part of that vision. It's part of that anchored into a value, something that's important for me that I'm building something bigger than me because their purpose is always bigger than ourselves. God's purpose for you is bigger than you. It's not just about you. It is about you and others. And I think that's actually something that fuels us and we, when we know when, especially less. As Latinos who are so community driven. When we know we are impacting people outside of ourselves, it helps us to stay motivated. And so. I like to add that value at the end. Another example of a smart goal will be. I will speak up in meetings to pitch my own solutions state when I'm unclear. And or disagree with a solution that's proposed five times over the next three months. As one of the only women in my team, I will be the trailblazer that inspires other women to join the team and speak up to. So this is another example of a smart goal, but the added portion at the end, which is how is this anchored into your values and something meaningful to you? That's all about smart goals there. Step four, step five, put together a vision board. So I did this with a couple of friends. I put together a vision board a few weeks ago and just had so much fun. I did it on Canva. I had a really good time doing it on Canva. I actually really enjoyed it because when you do it online and when you do it on something like Cannabix, you can just Google search or look on the images on Canva for the things that you're looking for. So there were specific things that I was thinking about in my head that I wanted to find that maybe I can't find in a magazine when I'm looking for it on my own, when I'm looking for it, flipping through magazines and I was able to find them online. So I put together a vision board, and this is a great place to put together the words, the Colors, the images that you did in the previous step. Putting this together, having a visual is really great for you to be able to remember what are the things that you are working towards now? Something, I will say in terms of having a visual, like a vision board is it's important for us to revisit the vision board to actually remember again, not like, not like do it and then just forget it. And it's sitting in our closet collecting dust. But to actually do it and be able to revisit it and see it. And remember the things that we're working towards. So something that can help you with that is let's say you do it online and you do it on canvas. Something that I did is I printed it out and I put it on a poster. What also is important though, is not that I just keep it on the same wall, because something that we do is whenever we have something that's in our visual, that's in the same place all the time, we just adapt and we overlook it. That's why people, I don't know if you've ever done this. I have, I put something on my screen saver to like, remind me it might be a Bible verse, or it might be like a quote or it might be a vision statement that I put together and you'll find that. I just stopped remembering that it's there. I just started to ignore it. Like my brain doesn't even recognize it anymore because I see it every single day. So we are very visually adaptable where, when something is repetitive and it's in the same place all the time, we just overlook it. We ignore it. And so other people have maybe put like a picture of them as a baby, on their phone as well, to kind of remember that inner child, remember them as a baby, being happy in those things. And it's really cute. I love the idea. I also did that myself, but just a reminder that when we ever, whenever we have something that's in the same place all the time, we just kind of overlook it. So if you are going to do a vision board, I think it's an amazing idea. I just recommend that you change it around that you put it on a poster on a physical poster and then you move it around. Like maybe one day it's in the kitchen, but. Then the other day, it's in your living room and the other day it's in your office and the other day it's in your bedroom, you can move it around and that way there's freshness to it. And you can continue to remember visually the things that you're working towards for your vision. And so I recommend Canva. I thought it was a really cool. Sponsored me to reach out to them. This is not sponsored by them. I had just, I just had a really good time doing it. And I think that it's a great way for us to have a visual. To remember what are the things that we're looking forward to and to generate those feelings that we can get from those images that we have. Okay. Step six. Identify what your obstacles are and address them. So look at your goals and look at your vision board and identify what obstacles are there going to be? What are limiting beliefs that you have? Limiting beliefs are literally just thoughts that you have about yourself. That holds you back. AKA limit you. That's what limiting beliefs are. Examples are I'm not qualified enough. I'm not good enough. My ideas aren't good. My ideas won't be good. I never stay consistent with anything. I just can never seem to. Actually finish anything, those types of thoughts that you have about yourself that hold you back. So you want to look back into previous experiences that you've had goals that you've had, what have stopped you up until this point, because self awareness. Is going to allow you to address these obstacles. And allow you to create solutions so that you don't fall into the same type of pattern. So you want to reflect on past challenges you want to consider, where have you stopped in the past. Do you notice that you have a pattern where maybe you get excited about something, you do it for a month and then you quit is that month, that kind of pattern that you have, then you can identify that and say, what am I going to add into my life at that one month mark, to help me make sure that I don't quit on myself. You want to identify patterns? Uh, reoccurring obstacles that may be, have prevented you from achieving your goals in the past. Dig deep into any limiting beliefs that might be holding you back. Really dig into where the, where you hear the most, when it pops up the most and challenge them with a more empowering perspective for you. You want to reflect on your strengths on your weaknesses, where do you Excel and where do you struggle? So this is a really great place for you to acknowledge areas for improvement and areas where you can leverage your strengths to overcome obstacles. If, for example, that you want to be able to expand your network and find a new opportunity, but you hate networking. They, you know that you have something you need to work on, that you struggle with networking. Maybe you struggle with public speaking and talking about what you do. So these are obstacles that you can identify and address them. You want to develop strategies to overcome your obstacles? This may involve you finding. Or identifying what type of skills do I need to develop? Changing your mindset adopting new habits. A lot of this is work that I do with my clients in terms, especially around changing habits. And changing mindset. And adding on new skills. It's like, how do we actually shift the way that we think about ourselves? Think about how, what we do on a day-to-day basis so that we can change the way that we think and change our behavior. So this is all about step six is all about identifying what your obstacles are and address them. And then step seven, we finally made it to step seven. Here is built a support system. This will be key for you and how you overcome obstacles to God did not place us on this earth to do things on our own. From the very beginning, he said it is not good for man to be alone. And I think we all learned that lesson in 2020, even the most extreme introverts were like, this is not good. We need to be with people. We need to be connected to people. God's purpose for you will not come to fruition by you trying to do it on your own. Uh, MIGA, hear me. God's purpose for you will not come to fruition by you trying to do it on your own. And I know as a first gen Latino myself, that when we are daughter of immigrant parents and we are in charge of making sure that our parents are filing their taxes and translating at the courts and translating at the doctors and figuring out our own FASFA and figuring out college applications and figuring out how to interview and figuring out how to negotiate all these different things that we've had to figure out on our own trained us in some ways to think that we need to do things on our own to survive. But you don't, we are not designed in that way. God's purpose for you will not come to fruition by trying to do things on your own. And God's purpose for you is not just for you. It is to impact other people and he has. Always said from the beginning that it is not good for us to be alone. There are people that he placed in your life to come and help you bring your purpose to life. And I pray that you find them. So I want you to build a support system, identify potential supporters. Recognize individuals in your life right now, who can contribute positively to your journey. Look for people with similar goals, mentors, friends, or family members who genuinely support your aspirations, share your vision, articulate your vision, share it with them, communicate it, tell them, ensuring that they understand the importance of these goals for you. Be open and honest about your challenges. Don't try to hide the things like be open and transparent about the places that you fall, the places where you quit, so that they can support you. Establish accountability, partnerships, establish boundaries. Find someone who's willing to be your accountability partner and have that be mutually beneficial because there are ways for you to be able to support that person to. Regularly chicken with each other, discuss progress, setbacks, offer encouragement. I seek mentorship. So consider this consider seeking mentorship from people who have been successful in navigating similar paths, learn from other people's experiences, leverage their guidance to overcome challenges more effectively. Hire a coach. If you need a coach, hire a coach and have the support that you need to get to the next step. We don't have to try to figure everything out on our own. That was never how we were meant to do things in life. We actually can not know everything. We were meant to be able to trade information, to support each other in the ways that we can. So seek mentorship, seek a coach. Engage in community or groups, join communities. This could be online or offline with that aligned with your goals and you can participate in discussions. You can share your experiences, you can gain insights and other places. From there. There are places that I really enjoyed. Like Latina professionals. We all grow Latina. You can follow me on LinkedIn. My name on LinkedIn is Alejandro Thompson. It's linkedin.com/i N slash a L E Thompson. You can find. Find me on there and there, you will often times find Latinas connecting with each other, where they are seeking to grow in their careers. So build a support system because you're going to need it. Amiga for this year, you're going to need it for the ambitious goals that you have. You're going to need it to step into the purpose that God has created you for. We need people. This is everything I got for you. We went through seven steps. I'm going to recap them for you right here. Step number one, reflect on the past year. Step number two, purify your desires and align them with your purpose and values. Step number three, paint the bigger picture. Step number four, set smart goals. To help you get to the bigger picture. Step five, put together a vision board. Step six. Identify what your obstacles are. Step seven, build a support system. This can be. The year that you make the type of changes you have been yearning to make, but maybe haven't been able to fulfill on for whatever obstacles have been in the way so far. This can be that year. It's going to require effort from you. It's going to require some discomfort, some risk, some boldness, some courage, some strength. And these are all things that you are capable of being able to gain for yourself to make the change that you want to make. Doing it aligned with the purpose that God gave you. I believe that in my heart truly. And so take these steps, apply them. Let me know how it goes for you along the way. Like I said, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. That's where I'm most active. I hope that this was helpful for you. And I really do pray that this is a powerful year for you a year where you know that you are walking in the purpose that God made you for, that you are taking the risks that you know are necessary to get to the next stage of your life and that you don't continue to let fear. Lack of confidence, imposter syndrome, confusion, excuses, stop you from stepping into that purpose. There are so many of us. That are stuck. Not in the purpose that we want, that we know there's something, there there's something we're missing. And that fear can be the thing that stops us from stepping into it. And most people won't step into it because of that fear. So I don't want you to be that person. And I know how hard it is to move out of that fear. And so I want you to take these steps and I hope that they're helpful for you. Okay. I know this was a little bit of a longer episode, but I just, I think the new year is such a special time. Where we can set intentions where we can set a plan where we can give it over to God and say, God, this is what I think you have for me. I'm praying over it. This is my plan guide, but I'm going to give it over to you and I'm going to take the action that I can, but at the end of the day I trust and I surrender it over to you.

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I hope that this was helpful for you. That is everything I got for you. Amiga. Reach out to me on LinkedIn connect with me linkedin.com/i N slash a L E T H O M P S O N. Dot com. And tell me how this lands for you. Happy 2024. And I'll talk to you next week.