Why You’re Not Making a Fortune

by desing | Faith & Purpose

If your job told you that you had to come in 3 hours earlier for the next month because of an extra workload from a new international client, what would you do? Most of us may complain about it at first only to end up doing as we’re told because all of us want to “do a good job.”

Performing well at your job is “supposed” to bring financial security. But sometimes you can work harder and harder at your job and it seems like you’re still not progressing at the pace you expected. You still have the same bills, you’re still in the same income bracket and you still aren’t the millionaire that you’d thought you’d be by now.

Here’s why: “If you work hard on your job, you’ll make a living but if you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune” – Jim Rohn.

2016 is where the “getting by” lifestyle stops. Your capacity to make more money and experience the prosperity that you desire doesn’t lie in working harder at your job, it’s about working harder on yourself. We’re taught that if we excel in school then we’ll be able to secure a job that will promise us a “happy life” but that’s not the truth. In order for your environment to change, you have to change. In order for you to be successful, you have to become successful within yourself because private practice determines public performance.

When you start to work hard on yourself, you’re increasing your value to the marketplace. Most people graduate from college and think that the learning is over for life. Be someone who is committed to become better every day that you have on this earth. Successful people have successful habits and how successful you’ll become is indicated in your daily routine. This concept of working on yourself is called personal development and there are things you can begin changing now to see the change in your world.

One of those things include having goals that are written down which you review daily.  

Instead of just having some goals in your mind, do better for yourself and write your goals down with deadlines. Make sure that they are specific, measurable, action-oriented and realistic. No longer accept mediocrity in your goal-setting by not being specific because “making more money” or “get in shape” is not a specific goal. You should be able to measure each of your goals. I encourage you to write down your top 10 goals for the next 12 months. Instead of writing down the list and never looking at them again, take time each day to read over your list of goals out loud.  Instead of “make more money”, you should declare -“I’m making my desired income of $70,000 in 2016.” A study showed that only 3% of the population had goals written down which they reviewed daily – all of these people were millionaires.

Another daily habit that you can start to incorporate in your schedule is to wake up early! Take some time in the morning to work on your personal development by perhaps working out before you get your day started or spend some time in prayer. You can use that time to work on your personal goals if you feel that “you don’t have time in the day” – this is a perfect opportunity to make time. If your job asked you to come in earlier, you would. Therefore, wake-up earlier for your success, not your jobs. You can listen to faith-building messages, pack a healthy lunch, work on writing your new book or watch a personal development video series.

Instead of spending your lunch break scrolling through social media, try to read a book that’s going to help you grow in personal development. Did you know that 88% of wealthy people read 30 minutes or more each day?

Average people do average things and live average lifestyles. Success is a lifestyle which includes small daily successes that are followed by large successes so it’s time to switch your habits!

My daily personal development routine includes exercise, prayer, reading a personal development book, reading out my goals out load every morning, speaking out positive and faith-based declarations over my life, listening to messages that will build my faith muscles and I’ve recently included radically decreasing the amount of time I spend on social media. I use that time to meditate and it’s made such a difference for me! I think clearly, I’m focused and I have opportunities coming my way like never before.

So stop going so hard for your job and start going hard for you and embrace the change!

XOXO,

Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy

Release the Baggage of Worrying

by desing | Faith & Purpose

I’m sure that you’ve probably heard of the saying, “Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but gets you nowhere.” It can be a challenge not to worry about your finances, your job, your future, your family or achieving your goals because you may think that if you’re not worried about it then that means that you don’t care. That’s not true.

As you mature as a woman, especially if you’re a woman who walks in faith, you’re going to realize that there are certain things in this life that you can’t control. Most people who are “control freaks” are usually people who struggle with fear. If you fear not seeing your desired circumstances, you’re going to try everything in your power to have everything work out in your favor. You may try to control your boyfriend, children, co-workers, friends or siblings and although you may have good intentions – that’s not the way to go about seeing the change that you want to see.

You can’t control other people, even though you may love them dearly. You can’t control whether or not you’ll get laid off from your job, you can’t control if it’s going to rain next week, and you can’t control traffic on your way to work. You can’t control when you’re going to get married, you can’t control whether or not you’ll get that new job or when all your life-long dreams will happen.

Trying to control everything around you brings worry because you end up thinking about it over and over again. You start to think of new ways to get your desired outcome when you want it, you’re up at night thinking about it and you keep working harder and harder trying to get that promotion, secure that book deal, get more clients for your business or make your husband change his stubborn ways.

Have you ever noticed that the harder you try at something the worse it may get? And the moment you stop worrying about, is the moment you get what you wanted? Here’s is the secret to that: once you release all those worries that you have and replace them with a confident trust in God, you allow Him to come in and work on your behalf.

I don’t know about you but I’d rather have the creator of the universe and His power do the impossible on my behalf instead of my trying to figure it out all of the time. When I release my faith in God, it brings such a peace that allows me to think clearly and to enjoy my life. You don’t have to have all things going perfectly in your life to enjoy it. God doesn’t want you to worry because you’re His child. Would you want to see your child worrying about something that you knew you had the power to change?

I’m not telling you to lose hope or to let go of your faith or to stop working diligently for what you want because that would be silly! I’m telling you to stop worrying about it. There are several things that I’m believing God to do and restore in my life right now and I noticed that I had a worrying problem so trust me when I say that I know how it feels to worry and it doesn’t feel good.

Something inside of you has to become more powerful than your worrying; for me its faith and trust in God. Sometimes you’ll have to actively go after your peace by speaking out positive declarations or a promise of God every time a thought of worry comes or taking your mind off your problems by helping someone else or doing something nice for yourself.

I believe with every fiber of my being that if you’ve been dealing with an issue (maybe in your family, finances, career or relationships) that God is about to restore your situation seven times better than you were before. That’s the beauty of God! If you lost your job, you’re going to get a better one making more money. If you went through a bad breakup, you’re about to meet the man of your dreams. If your family has been experiencing tension, relationships are going to be miraculously restored. If your business is struggling, you’re going to see an accelerated increase in clients.

The latter days in your life will be better than your former days so make a commitment not to worry and give each and every one of your cares to God because He cares for you. He didn’t bring the pain into your life but He’ll surely use it to work out for your good in the end.

You may not know what the future holds but you know Who holds it. No more worries!

XOXO,

Maria I. Melendez|
@embraceherlegacy

Think Like a Queen

by desing | Faith & Purpose

How you feel (your emotions) are always tied to what you are thinking about. And did you know that thinking toxic thoughts can actually change the physical structure of your brain and influence the DNA that you pass down to the generations to come?

I started reading Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book, Switch On Your Brain and your thoughts are the most crucial key to your success. It’s time to be a thinking queen who is switches your thoughts to work for you and not against you. When you think positive thoughts, it produces positive components in your brain; your brain increases the quality of your thinking and vice versa for negative thoughts.

This scientific fact is proven in the proverb, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Whatever you’re thinking about is directing how you act and feel which will impact your character and lead you into your destiny.

You don’t have to be a victim to your thoughts because the greatest battlefield in your life is the battlefield of your mind. Fear, worry and doubt all begin in how you think and so does success, prosperity and change. You can’t choose what happens to you but you can choose how you respond to it with the power of your thoughts.

Your past hurts don’t have to define you; you can choose to think like a victim or a victor. Before you can become a millionaire, you have to think like one and you have to believe that you will become a millionaire. Before you become a wife, you have to embrace the thoughts of a wife. Before you have a prosperous career, you must expect to get that promotion and believe that you have the power inside of you to become successful at anything you do.

Your environment and your thoughts are directly associated with various diseases. You have to take control over what you’re choosing to think about. What you’re exposing yourself to also has a direct impact on how you think.

If you can’t see it in your mind, you can’t have it in your hand. Therefore, you have to think thoughts of love, power and of a sound mind because you were not created to fear. The opposite of fear is love. When you focus on being love and God’s eternal love for you, your fear will be crushed. Love is far more powerful than fear!

I want you to become a thinking queen and I want to challenge your thinking capacity. First off, as much as we love social media, take some time off of social media or at least decrease the amount of time you’re spending on it daily. You want to be able to think your own clear thoughts and social media is definitely affecting your ability to think your own powerful thoughts.

Second, filter what you watch and read. You cannot expect to become successful and have God’s favor on your side if you only expose yourself to nonsense that has nothing to do with what you want to achieve. Make it your mission to watch and read things that are going to grow you in character, vision and success.

Finally, take 5-15 minutes every day to have a “thinking like a queen” session. Direct your thoughts to focus on your hopes, dreams and desires manifesting. Turn off all distractions, sit in silence and make your vision real in your mind. I like to focus on God’s promises while I do this so that I don’t limit my thoughts. God is able to do infinitely more than I can imagine and I know that my faith is a key to unlock his power, therefore, I’m learning to go into my “thinking like a queen” sessions without any limits on my thoughts. If you’re sick, focus on being healed. If you’re broke, focus on being in abundance, if you’re lonely, focus on being with someone you love.

You’ll begin to feel differently in your body and your mind when you start to apply these principles. When you wake up in the morning, focus your thoughts on having something good happening to you and then start to declare that for your day. Speak out loud what you want to see, ask God for His favor and expect it to happen!

Hopeful thoughts lead to having an attitude of expectancy. You’re not going to get the job if you don’t expect it, you’re not going to have more than enough money if you don’t expect it, and you’re not going win if you expect to lose.

Being a queen starts with thinking like one.

XOXO,

Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy