Be Productive During This Time

Happy Friday! For those that are working, I know you are excited that this day has come. To those who are home with pay or just at home, this blog is for you. I go back to work on Monday ( from home), but I am a little mad at myself that I wasted 2 whole days watching YouTube and sleeping, lol. Granted I am getting over being sick, but I could have more productive. How, you ask? Well, I have so many books that I need to finish writing and finish reading.  If you read yesterday’s blog, you know I want to blog every day! I’m proud to have stuck to day 2 of consistency.  Nonetheless, my point is to take the time to do some things that you didn’t have time to do because you were working.

If you wanted to start a business, now is your chance! Want to write that book that you’ve been putting off? Do that to. We can’t allow this situation to put fear in us from continued living. I’m going to continue writing and figure out how I can be paid to do just that as a side hustle. Learning is re-learning. Always remain teachable  and the sky is the limit. Taking action steps to do the unthinkable shows not only character, but that you don’t give up. Tell me, what is one thing that you enjoy doing that you would do it for free if it still brings you joy? Whatever that is, figure out how to bring in income doing just that. It just maybe your calling. I know I am. Be Productive. Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Having More Than One Dream, Is It Possible?

Good morning, readers! It is about 7:45am and my day started at 7. I have a new schedule at work that I’m not fond of, but we are here. I am grateful for the little things so that I can be blessed with bigger! Yesterday, I was watching a church sermon from Bethany Baptist church! If you guys are not familar, check them out on Facebook every Sunday, they go live. One of the messages that stood out to me was, ”  figure out what you want to change in the world and focus on that.” The Bishop said that is where your passion lies. Now, my 18 year old self had SO many things that I wanted to contribute to the world and I’m thinking about that as my 35 year old self! Speaking of, I’m REALLY 35. Like, where did the time go? I mean, I remember graduating high school and taking my senior pictures. Anywho, the statement really had me thinking because there are only two things that come to mind. Writing and Finance. Which brings me to our topic today. Is it possible to have more than one dream? Of course!!  Why not? I follow Kumiko aka The  Budget Mom and she said something that was SO profound. She said, ” Let’s stop leaving the big dreams to millionaires!”

There is nothing wrong with have more than one passion. We are gifted in so many things. I’ve been told that I’d make a great counselor, accountant, writer, even speaker. Believe it or not, I am not fond of speaking in front of crowd’s. But, who knows I may have a passion for it later in life. If you see something that you quickly develop a knack for or it comes easy to you, look deeper into that. It maybe a new passion or gift. I love to write, but I have not been writing a lot. Dealing with the stress of student loan debt and figuring out how to pay it off with my small salary( at least not enough to really put a dent in my loans) was taking up so much in my mind. But, NO MORE! The debt will be there until it’s not. As long as I am making more than my minimum payment, that will suffice for now. Cinderella once said, ” A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you’re fast asleep.” There is truth to that! When I lay down at night, I dream about  budget coaching and helping people manage their finances. This is something that I want to do as a side hustle for now and continue my writing endeavors. But, when you become self employed, to me its’ hard to find people who will pay your services. I just need to look and find the people that will respect my craft and my passion and will actually want the services.

Having dreams is something that should not frustate, but it should excite you. Make a plan and then put action behind it. Do not allow anyone to tell you what is good for you and your life. If that dream is to become a chef, cook everyday. Start allowing people you don’t know to try your meals. Get an internship or a part time job at a resturant. As long as you are passionate about it, others will start to take notice, too. I’ve talked about my writing and my finance passions at work. It’s funny, I could see people judge or smirk from afar. One girl said, ” Well if you have done all of this and you like finance, why are you here?” I often get that question a lot! My answer is, ” Well, I have several streams of income and this just happens to be 1 of them.” Then she got quiet. In a sense, I’m not lying, lol. I do get royalties from my books when they sell and I will try to make a way to get money from this blog as well. See, potential revunue for your work! But, this goes to show, you can not tell everyone your passion and dreams. Just like that girl who asked, ” well why are you here and the other looks I got.” They are not happy that I have more than one dream or even income. They are called ” haters”. With haters you have to erase them from your mind and keep going. She could have simply said, ” That’s great that you do more than one thing or how does this job that we do correlate with your passions?” It could have been many questions asked. But, yet, she thinks I’m lying about my other income streams because I’m working their full time. But, here’s the thing. We are not responsible for what other people think about us. It’s simply none of our business. Now that I know how she is, I will just not speak anymore on the subject matter. Once you know your dreams, take the time and patience to see them through.

Dare To D.R.E.A.M?

Often times we dream of what we want? If you’re a little girl, it most likely was what your wedding would be like. What style of gown would you wear? How many bridesmaids you’d have? Even down to the husband. I know I would tear out a picture of whatever celebrity I thought was cute at the time and paste his face into the groom’s picture of a wedding magazine. But, as you become an adult, your dreams may shift a bit. At least it should. i’m talking about the type of career you want to have.  I’ve heard many sayings like, ” hang around who you want to be like?” or ” successful people hang with other successful people. While this may be true, do we really listen to reason?

Dare to Dream. The way society is now these days it’s all about how someone looks or if they have money to spend it right away on the latest trend or fashion. Let me ask you, what does your dreams say about you now? My dream is to make a living writing. The more I think about it, I try to grasp what style of writing that maybe. A column? Successful blog? Articles? Novels? Screenplays? For me, the sky is the limit. Why do I have to put myself in a box of what society or others think I should do? My dreams are just that mine. Your dreams are yours. Never allow anyone to tell you not to dream, no matter how bizzaire others may think it is.

Recently, I’ve become part of a powerful movement that many strong women belong to. It’s called Clever Girl Finance. It’s a community founded by a woman named Bola ( check her out on YouTube) or her website at CleverGirlFinance.com. She talks about living your dreams and making the best choices with your financies. Although, the scope or focal point is financies, I take some of these practices in other areas of my life. For example, there is a course on the website that I’m taking and it discucess career development and forward movement for what you want to do in a career. The acronym for DREAM really stuck out to me.

D- Development

R- Relationships

E- Engagement/Enviornment

A- Acknowledgement

M- Money

From a financial perspective, I loved what it meant. But, from a way of life, I saw the potential of what dreaming can do other people. It’s no secret that I’m at a point in my life where I’m ready to write for a living. The D ( development), made me really focus on the way I want my writing and tips to value others situation and perspective on their lives. The R, made me think about relationships that I’ve lost or have yet to build on my writing career. As a writer, there are SO many people who will think their way is better than yours or they offer better teachings. It doesn’t matter to me. As long I can help someone the relationship will continue to build. The E for me, really made me get out of my shell and realize I actually have to exist in the outside world. Being timid or shiy isn’t going to work with the plans that I have. My environment will be one of a positive one and only wisdom and knowledge are allowed. It shows me that I can remain teachable. A is to ackowledge that I have a gift and I can be successful with it. M encourages me to use my gift to not only help others, but I can make a profit and become successful with it.

Let me know below, what is your dream and what steps are you going to take to see it through?

 

 

 

Dear Writers

Dear Writers,

I know what you must be thinking, “ Who is this girl writing us with advice about writing?” Well, let me introduce myself, my name is Krystol. I’m 33 years old and I believe we have a few things in common. We love to write and probably read as well.  Our favorite thing to do on our spare time is to write and we feel weird when we are unable to. Am I right? So, I just wanted to give you some encouragement on this lonely journey that many of us take. You see, we are often misunderstood by our peers, family, and friends or just about anyone. I mean, most people think we can’t make a living at doing what we love. Eh, what do they know? But, what I know that YOU have a gift to share with the world. Okay, well maybe not the entire world at least not right away, but we have some things to get our chest.  I like to say that writing is the door to our heart. It’s where our stories lie and our words unite.  There are times when you don’t write a thing or life happens and our love is on the back burner. It’s okay, we are only human, born to make mistakes, (by the way that’s not my words, that is the group “ The Human League”, but you get my point. When we fall, because we will, we always do at some point in our lives, get back up and keep typing or writing ( if the notebook or journal is your thing).  No matter what way you prefer to write, continue to do it no matter what anyone says. If you are writing a novel, blog, or just something no one will ever read, don’t let other people stop you from putting the words down. Words are powerful when people tell us what not to pursue. But, you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone if they doubt you. We only get one life to live, so why not live it by doing what you love. I hope this can encourage you to keep writing following your dreams.

 

All The Best,

Krystol

Following Your Dreams: Nature or Nurture?

Lately, I have been watching a lot of Ted Talks and YouTube videos on how one finds their purpose and lives their fullest life. We are told at an early age in life that you can be whatever you want to be. In some ways I think this is true, but what happens when fear gets in the way of your dream. If you are like me there has been SEVERAL times where I had a lot of dreams or goals that I wanted to accomplish. I started to write when I was about 13 years old. First it was poetry, then I essay and I soon graduated to short stories and full on novels. It was a talent that I realized I had. I was someone who could tell amazing stories through words. Pretty fascinating stuff, right? When I turned 18, my dream was to be a nurse. I wanted to help people heal and get better. My mother went to school for nursing and I was inspired by her drive. It was short-lived because addiction became her focus. Then, I realized nursing wasn’t the way to go. Don’t get me wrong, I tried, I went to community college and took an anatomy and physiology class. It scared the crap out of me to learn that I had to memorize every bone in the body. That’s a lot of bones. I panicked and asked my mom for help. Not only did she know all of the bones, but she knew what bone helped what. Clearly, that was her dream and not mine. Then, later on I wanted to be a shrink. I was always told that I give great advice and that I was a trust worthy person. My mind was focused and I was a great listener. One of my professor’s  Ms. Brisel taught psychology 101 in a way that I had become fascinated and knew I was getting into the right field. So, what did I do? I got a bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science. Guess, what? Til this day I STILL don’t use it. I tried to find a job in that field, without experience, no one will give me a shot.

Now, I’m about 23 years old and I feel like the biggest failure known to man. I went to college, got the degree and couldn’t find a job in the field. My mind was starting to play tricks on me telling me I’m stupid and that I wasted money on a useless degree. I believed it. So, I did what any other person would do who was trying to find their way, I went back to school. First, I majored in Master’s in Social Work. I’m like yes, I am going to be a counselor! This is my time to shine and help people. Within the middle of the first semester, I put on academic probation and was flunking out. I had never told anyone that, until now. My life as I knew was in shambles. I had been a professional student for so long that I wasn’t able to find a secure job. Oh, did I mention I had just moved to North Carolina on a wing and a prayer? I had about eight thousand dollars saved and me and my friend just left. I wasn’t getting a job in Delaware so I figured I’d try my shot somewhere else. Somewhere where I wasn’t reminded of my failures within myself, my family, the friends I thought I had, the men that disappointed in life. I needed out. When the advisor told me I was flunking out of graduate school, I didn’t want to quit. I mean, I didn’t want to keep that major, but I didn’t want to quit. There I was sitting in my new 2 bedroom town house with no furniture or food, just electric, I started to write a new book, which was my third book. I did some research on new schools and found FullSail University. It was a film school that was located in Florida and I could go online. The options for majors were very long and then it found me. What was a release for me majority of my life was sitting there, it was creative writing.  I could get my MFA in Creative Writing. It was still my Master’s degree and I was still in school! Woo hoo! The phone meeting with an enrollment counselor went great. The program was for a year and I would be finished. The following year I had my Master’s in Creative Writing. Due to money issues, I was unable to go to the graduation, but I still passed. I learned to write everything, films, games, TV Pilot, Animation. I graduated with a 3.5.

Although I got my Master’s I still wasn’t able to find a job in the field. It seemed I had to relocate to California or New York in order to write. My advisor told I didn’t have to move, but yet, I still wasn’t finding THE job I wanted. I wanted to write for a company or network. But, in all honesty, I wasn’t able to find my niche. It’s that way still. I’m so versatile in my writing that I can’t stick to one genre. But, then again, why should I? I’ve dabbled in journalism, magazines, blogs and even proposals.

Now, it’s 2018 and I’m still not writing  for a company or network. I’m still trying to find my niche. But, in between that I’ve written several books and ghost wrote a few as well. I have written many screenplays, treatments for shows and TV Pilots. It’s all in what I call (the vault), saved on my computer and USB drive. I won’t give up. My dream is to work as a writer of some sort and I will do just that. Monday I start a new job working as a customer solutions specialist. I’m going to be the best employee that I can be until it’s time to work that dream job.

As I was thinking about my topic for today I thought about something DeVon Franklin said his book that I’m reading, ” The Hollywood Commandments A Spiritual Guide To Secular Success.” He said, ” You have to be able to carry the crown, before you can wear one.” It resonated with me because he talked about who he wanted to work in entertainment and every job that he had before he got his dream job and eventually starting his own company, prepared him to be where he is now in his life.  I believe this job I’m starting on Monday will do the same as well. Now, even though I am starting a different job, I still applied for writing jobs everywhere. I am thankful for my new job and I will serve there to the best of my ability. Who knows, I may even get to be a technical writer at my company, if something else doesn’t come along. DeVon states, ” you have to realize that you must start at the bottom in order to make it to the top. ” Or one must pay their dues. Another mentor that I’m following is Evan Michael and Laura Berman Fortgang. Evan said, ” Explore your options and find out what your purpose isn’t or what you like doing. It can only happen with experience.” He talked about trying snow boarding, salsa dancing and really enjoyed it. He said you won’t know what you don’t like to do if you don’t try it. It’s okay to explore because your purpose will find you. The bible says, ” Your gift will make room for you.” I wholeheartedly believe that. Laura said, ” A lot of people have a lot of ambition based on what they don’t want to be in their life i. e  their parents, a statistic.”  Career satisfaction doesn’t come from what you do, it comes from who you get to be while doing it. The beauty is who you get to be is the real you.”  The more I read these books by DeVon Franklin and watch videos like Evan Carmichael and Laura Fortgang, I realize that I am where I am supposed to be right now and I will be a writer because it is what I want to do. Dreams are what you make them to be. Some are born with them knowing what they want to do and some are learned by life’s experience. Is your dream nature or nurture?

Is It Wise To Dream Big?

Happy Monday!

Hey Readers! So, I was sitting here evaluating and thinking about life. I was thinking about my goals and things that I wanted to do with my life. We are often taught to set a goal and stick with it. Make sure that the goal is obtainable and we can try to reach it. Well, I have many goals. In fact, I think that I have too many goals that I try to reach at the same time. But, then I just realized that there is nothing wrong with having a lot of goals, but to do one thing at a time.  It’s funny, my writing mentor and many other people have told me that I try to do too much too fast. Lastly, I have to agree with them. With school, trying to find another job and attempt to write again, the world is in my face. Not in a sense that people are in my face, but that I have so many opportunities that I can grab. Then again, my focus is every where except for one place.

I had once read a book called, ” The Magic of Thinking Big” by Dr. John Swartz. This book really helped me with coming to terms that I have to make things happen in order to see success. Then it dawned on me I needed to get myself together. I had to start believing in my gifts and really utilize them. One thing that  I used to always do was tell people my ideas and my dreams. Some would think it was wise while others would say, ” Krystol, there is no way that you can do that or yea you and everyone else wish they could be that successful.” After talking to myself for what seemed liked hours, I decided to stop confiding in others about my life and my dreams. After all, it is all about me, right? Not in an egoistical kind of way, but just, about me in a sense that this is my world, my fate that I decide if things happen. Granted, I know that God works in mysterious ways, but faith without works is dead! People or those who were once like me, I have a message for you: Get off your lazy ass and get your shit together! So what someone tells you no, find someone who will say YES. Or better yet, create YES for yourself.

To Dream Big or Not Dream Big? That Is The Question

I say go for it. If people are not riding with you on that train, then kick them off. I have come to the realization that I need to kick people off. Start worrying about yourself and not  everyone else. This goes for co-workers, friends, family, and even foes. It’s funny how people on social media are so quick to blast their lives and things that they think are good. I can’t be like the rest. I have to be different. Different stands out and I want to stand out in a way that I am able to make it for myself. My mindset is that I am the acceptation to the rule. For those that actually really my blog posts this is for you. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot do what you want to do in life. Always have people in your corner who believe and want the best for you. Start saying no to leeches, users, fakes and phonies. If you have a dream(s) see it through. I recently read a writer’s blog I forget her name, but she wanted to live in Ireland. She had written a book that had Irish word usage, the town, etc. She had written the book about ten years ago and once she decided that she wanted to live in Ireland, she started to get prepared. In order to do so she started to save money  and became very frugal. It took her eighteen years, but she is now a homeowner to a cottage in Ireland and has moved there from Philadelphia. She had a dream and she went for it. Sure, there were obstacles along the way, but she never gave up on what she wanted to do. Her story really inspired me. I want to be a successful in all areas be it novels, films, and TV. My other goal is to be a researcher in educational psychology. It just dawned on me that I am really good with research. Quantitative research is not my favorite, I’d very much prefer Qualitative research, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers right? Today, I have taken an oath to do what is important to me and be selfish. I say no when I usually say yes and I have started to save money again. I maybe moving soon ( don’t know where) once I find a job so I have to be prepared. To answer my own question, Is it wise to dream big? Hell Yes! Go for it, reach for the stars!

Don’t stop chasing your dreams

Good afternoon, readers! 

I don’t know if it is the devil trying to deter me or what, but I am being questioned about my goals and dreams that I have. I know that some people mean well, but this is my life to live. Deciding to want to be a writer should not be looked down upon. I know that many writers get back lash from their peers, families, and so-called friends. Yes, I did just say that. I feel that if someone loves and cares for you as a friend, they should support your path no matter what it is. I guess that I am ranting a little bit today, but I have to get it off my chest. I am a writer. I am proud of it. I am not a perfect writer, but what I do write, some readers happen to enjoy it. Do I want to be successful, of course! Would I like Stephen King’s and James Patternson’s pay checks, who wouldn’t. My point is if you listen to what everyone tells you that you should not do, you will never know if you will make it.

As a writer…

I know that we have to start from the bottom. Sometimes writing for free or taking free internships just to prove ourselves worthy may be the case. There is nothing wrong with that. It just frustrates me a little when people have your life figured out for you according to their plan, when there life isn’t as extravagant. Writers, we do so much for the world, that if we didn’t exist, it would get more crazier than it already is. Why not give writers the respect they deserve? Okay my rant is over. If this bothered anyone, I’m sorry!

Closer to my dreams…

I want to be a successful writer as well work in the Human Services field. As some of you know, I am going to school for my PhD in Human Services. I want to give back to the community or be involved in a charity. Maybe even start my own non-profit. Even if I am helping someone as a writer of some sort that would be ideal. When it comes to writing, I don’t have just one medium. I write screenplays, novels, TV shows (pilots), treatments for reality TV shows and more. My goal is to make it in everything! Now, I know that I need to focus on one thing a time ( I am starting to realize that), but I do want to have different avenues to where I can make money. In order to achieve these goals, I am not looking for  job in the fields of writing and Human Services, entering screenwriting contests and competitions,  writing as much new material as I can. If I don’t make it, I would have at least tried. I don’t want to be one of those people who has a job they hate. I want a career that I will love. If that means starting from the bottom to work my way up, then so be it.