How to Make Your Impossible Goals Possible

by desing | Faith & Purpose

If there is any word that we should both be getting out of our vocabulary, it’s that word “impossible.”

When something is “impossible” in your mind, then the battle is already lost. You may have dreams, desires or goals living inside of your heart that you believe are “impossible.”

And I totally get it.

If you’re knee deep in debt, getting out of debt may appear to be impossible. If you’re currently making a salary of $30,000 a year then growing that salary to 6-figures is just too far out of your reach. If you’re overwhelmed with work, school or taking care of your home then finding time to really build that dream business is not realistic right now, so it’s best to just hold off for now.

I actually have a goal coaching client who dealt with this same frustration. We sat together for hours working on a strategic goal coaching session where we forecasted her 5-year vision and worked backwards to make those desires that she thought were impossible to a possible plan of making it happen. (Soon, I’m going to be teaching you how to do the same.)

She’s a custom fashion designer, fashion consultant and make-up artist with a desire to make a monthly income of $5,000. Now to her this was impossible. She was dealing with self-limiting beliefs telling her that she’s not worth it and how she priced her services expressed her beliefs. In her mind, she believed that she would have to sew dozens of dresses a month or book dozens of clients for her make-up services. Working harder and not smarter.

Until I proposed this idea.

I told her that her 5-year vision of making $5,000 a month was actually far more possible than she thought. I told her that if she wanted to make an income of $5,000 per month then that was only (5) $1,000 dresses for the month or (10) $500 dresses for the month. It’s easier to meet an income goal if you would raise your prices because you don’t have to worry about “catching a million fishes, you just have to create the right bait to catch the right fish.”

It’s much easier to get 5 clients than 10, and it’s easier to gain 10 clients than 50.

Her face lit up but then those self-limiting beliefs came up again and she still wasn’t convinced that she was worth charging $1,000 or $500 per custom design dress. Please note that I know this woman personally and her talent is definitely worth it but it’s ultimately up to her to believe it.

So I asked her what would make her feel worthy of increasing her rates. Essentially I asked, what do you need to do in order to be able to start charging that much? She immediately replied, “Going to the Fashion Institute of Technology so I can increase my knowledge and skill.”

Well you already know what we did after that. We mapped out her 1-year plan in order to meet the requirements, apply and get into FIT while also partaking in action steps to increase her skill in make-up artistry and increase her brand visibility online to make sure that she is prepared for the opportunities that she desires.
Now she is well on her way to not only meeting her income and business goals, but she has a clear step-by-step action plan to make it real.

I want to ask you, what desires or dreams do you have in your heart that you believe are impossible?

Instead of focusing on how impossible it is, I want you to think of what you need to do in order to make it possible. What skills, talent or education do you need? What support do you need? What can you do differently from any other time you tried?

Let’s say that you believe it’s “impossible” to find time to write your book. What if you spent 20 minutes a day writing before you went to sleep. Do you know that by the end of week that means you spent 2 hours and 20 minutes writing your new book! At the end of the month, it will be a little over 9 hours of writing!

You may think it’s impossible to make that 6-figure income from your business sales. Well what if you decided to become an expert in your field by spending 1 hour a day studying and researching so you can raise your coaching rates from $50 per hour to $150 per hour and your speaking rates from a $500 honorarium to a $2,500 honorarium?

What resources do you have access to make your impossible dreams possible? You may simply have to get uncomfortable for a season but that’s exactly what it is, a season. You want to save $5,000 this year, then break that goal down to what you need to save per month and per week and create an action plan.

I’m a firm believer that nothing is impossible with God. God is looking for your faith in Him to do what you can’t. You might not be able to save an additional $500 a month but God may have a new job just around the bend where you’ll be able to save an additional $1,000 per month!

Where is your faith? You are not in this alone because all things are possible if you would just believe. Faith without works is dead so use your faith to encourage a plan to achieve your goals.

Faith + Works (Your Plan) = All things being possible! Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

I want you to join me this Monday, January 23rd at 8pm ET for a live, office hours where I’m going to be teaching and sharing more about using your faith to make your impossible goals possible, feel free to ask me anything to help you too! Consider it like a free coaching session. Plus, I’m going to be making a SPECIAL announcement and give away. Make sure you’ve liked our Facebook page to watch and join!

XOXO,

Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
embraceherlegacy.com

Get Out of Your Feelings and Into Your Destiny

by desing | Faith & Purpose

Have you ever had this happen to you? You wake up in the morning, it’s a raining and cold outside. You have the cloud of gloom over your head feeling all “blah” and thoughts come telling you things like, “Today isn’t going to be a good day. I just want to stay in my bed. I don’t want to go to work.”

Well, what usually happens after that? You decide to stay in bed a few extra minutes, you then get caught in traffic or if you’re like me in New York City, your train gets delayed, someone tries to argue with you over a seat and when you get to work your boss decides to get on your nerves really early.

It’s almost as if you predicted that it wouldn’t be a good day.

Of course it won’t be.

See what happened is that you allowed your feelings to decide for you early in the morning what type of day you would have. Feelings are temporary and if you allow your feelings to decide for you or you only follow what you feel then you will never get to fully experience what God has for you.

If you allow your feelings to be the deciding factor for what you do or don’t do then accomplishing your goals and birthing your dreams is going to be one uphill battle where you are fighting no one but yourself.

What will you do when you don’t feel like getting up at 5am to get to the gym to meet that fitness goal? What will you do when you don’t feel like staying on a budget in order to hit that savings goal or get out of debt? What will you do when you don’t feel like writing that book you promised to finish this year?

Motivation, inspiration and empowerment are feelings but discipline, faith, courage and strengths are decisions.

Your feelings can steal your future if you allow them to because you can’t always trust what you feel. I know that sometimes there are “gut feelings” which I like to consider divine intuition. However, I’m referring to allowing your feelings to rule your daily action and reactions.

As you choose to build anything good, there are going to be seasons where you are going to have to walk in nothing but faith – not trusting what you see or feel because if you do, you won’t make it to the finish line.

Five years ago I was in such a miserable state while working a high-profile job in the music industry. So I followed my “feelings” and I started looking for another job but for “some reason” (which I now know was God), I could not find a new job for the life of me. My feelings only grew worse so in full misery, I began drinking heavily and smoking weed daily just to make myself “feel” better. I thought I was doing what was right by following what I feel, but I was in bondage to my feelings until it all came crashing down one night where I made a complete fool out of myself drunk at a restaurant.

Being disgusted with myself and behavior, and after the worst hangover in my life, I made a decision to give God all of me. It was during that time that God put it on my heart to resign from my job and serve him through this project I was working on called, Embrace Her Legacy.

I pleaded with God to give me another plan because my feelings told me all the reasons why I could not do what God was asking me to do. But He didn’t budge, so I put in my resignation.

If I had followed what I felt, you would not be reading this email right now. In the last 5 years, if I would have followed my feelings, Embrace Her Legacy would no longer exist.

Trust me when I say that I know the amount of tenacity, patience, faith, discipline and courage it takes to birth a dream and fulfill your life’s assignment when everything around you is telling you to quit or better yet, to not even start.

You can choose to serve your faith or your feelings. Anything that you cannot say “no” to you’re a slave to. Your emotions may be real, but that doesn’t mean they’re right.

Your emotions are a part of your soul and want to rule your decision making but allowing your emotions to rule is like giving the keys to a new car to a 4-year old.

If there is something – a goal, a vision, a dream, an idea, a business, a house, a organization, a church, a ministry, a family – whatever it is that you know is buried inside of you and you’ve allowed your feelings to tell you to wait, it won’t work, you’re crazy if you think you can do it, it will be too hard, you should be practical, its going to cost too much money or you’re going to lose money or this could never work for you….

I’m here to tell you to tell your feelings to get in check with your destiny. Destiny is rooted in the decisions that you make, don’t let your feelings steal your destiny any further. Your time is now. I believe I’ve been sent as a messenger to tell you to get out of your feelings and get into faith to believe the exact opposite of what your “feelings” are telling you to do.

One thing I’ve observed about people who follow only what they feel is that they are constantly attracting drama and negativity while lacking the discipline to achieve or maintain any good thing that like may offer them. It’s only a matter of time before they do or say something to sabotage that good thing.

What are you working towards but your feelings are telling you to quit? What dream is inside of your heart but you feel like it’s going to be too hard? What investment should you be making into yourself but your thoughts are telling you that it’s not worth it?

I know the frustration and pain of falling victim to your feelings. I wish I could go in more detail on how I would have totally missed the perfect, divine plan for my life and would not be fulfilling my destiny if I followed my feelings.

You can’t decide how you feel but you can choose how to respond to your feelings. I would hate to see your feelings steal your future dreams from you and later this week, I’m going to be sharing something super special with you to get you out of your feelings and into your faith to bring about that goal, dream, vision and desire in your heart. 

Take courage, you will succeed in everything that you do. Believe it!

XOXO,

Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy

Why Most People Don’t Achieve Their New Year Goals

by desing | Faith & Purpose

So 2017 is in full throttle as we’re in the second week of the New Year. Like most people, you probably set a list of new goals or better yet you may have some New Year’s Resolutions that last week you were pumped about.

You may still be filled with excitement or maybe not.

I heard about a study that said that 25% of people abandon their New Year’s Resolution within the first week and 60% percent in the first 6 months.

According to another study, about 93% of New Year’s goals go unfulfilled and the average person makes the game resolution 10 times without success.

Whoa! Scary, right? What’s this madness about?

Well, I’ve noticed that many of us fall for some common mistakes that deceive us into failing at our goals.

First, many of us don’t set goals but we make “wishes” rather. These wishes usually sound something like “be smart,” “be healthy”, “make more money”, “work out more”, “be happy”, “get closer to God”. I can tell you now that none of these “goals” will be achieve because they lack specificity, clarity and deadlines.

Deadlines hold you accountable and help you kick procrastination in the butt. Did you know that the most productive day of work is usually the day before vacation? Why? Because you have a deadline!

Having a “goal” of “being healthy” is not specific and is not measurable. You won’t be able to tell whether you’ve achieved it or not. Because it lacks specifics, it’s going to be almost impossible to achieve because you don’t know what your target is. When your goals lack specificity, it’s like getting all dressed up with no where to go. Like I heard someone say, “vague goals bring vague results.”

This introduces us to the key to setting goals. They must be SMART definitive Statements. SMART stands for an acronym of Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Specific.

Second, we don’t write goals down. Studies shows that written down goals are five times more likely to be achieved. I read about a Harvard study that was done where graduate students were asked, “Do you have clear written-down goals?” Only 3% had goals and plans written down, 13% had some goals but they weren’t written down, and 84% had no goals. Ten years later that same class was interviewed again and the 3% that had the goals written goals were earning on 20x more than the rest of the class combined!

Coincidence, I think not!

Don’t be lazy and think that you can remember all of your goals and not write them down. Writing your dreams and goals will give you clarity of vision and help you witness and measure your progress. Writing down your dreams and goals will keep you focused and that’s one the main ingredients of success that we often bypass.

Lastly, we don’t take time to determine the plan needed to achieve our goals. Setting a goal is one thing but the next step is setting action steps and develop a strategy to achieve that goal. Sometimes a goal may seem so overwhelming that you don’t know where to start so you don’t start at all.

This is exactly why I created a free 3-day email course to help you overcome fear and procrastination to achieve and slay your 2017 goal in faith! Each day you’ll learn how not to be in that 93% of people who leave their New Year goals unfulfilled.

• Day 1 will cover asking yourself the most important question to make 2017 your best year yet. Trust me, get ready to be motivated and once you answer that question and visualize the response, you’ll be too inspired not to get to work. I’ve even included worksheets and downloadable videos to keep you motivated for each class.
• Day 2 will cover how to identify and effectively set your top goals for the year. We’ll also go over common goal-setting mistakes, SMART goals, how to use the correct tense and structure to make your goals, clear and specific statements – not wishes.
• Day 3 will cover a step-by-step guide with several, simple but highly effective techniques to help you actually create a plan to achieve your goals and conquer procrastination. You’ll learn how you can begin working on your goals immediately, like today! I’ll show you how to implement your goals into your weekly routine, how to identify the purpose of your goals to help you create a plan of action and how to break down big, intimidating goals.

I will teach you a specific format to write your goals, how to find time to work on your goals and how to gain clarity on what you really want. Learn more or sign-up here! 

Make 2017 your most memorable year yet!

XOXO,

Maria I. Melendez
Founder & CEO
Embrace Her Legacy

Your Vision Hasn’t Birthed Yet?

by desing | Faith & Purpose

So you’re scrolling through your Instagram or Facebook feed and that familiar feeling is rising up in your soul again. You know what I’m talking about. Those thoughts that are telling you that everyone else is winning, moving, progressing and all you want to know is why it’s taking sooooooo long for you to see your dreams unfold right before your eyes.

Not to mention, you’ve been working your tail off and doing everything you know is right. You have faith but there are days where you feel defeated. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably said these very words, “When God? When?” or “Why God? Why?”

You know that I like to consider myself a “midwife” – but not a literal midwife because I don’t think I was built to see that intimate side of you LOL! What I mean is that I know part of my purpose is to help you and millions of others to birth their dreams through inspiration, education and empowerment.

I like to think that we’re all pregnant with dreams and the process of birthing any vision comes with it’s joys, challenges and of course labor pains.

But just as a premature baby who is born before full term is more susceptible to all sorts of infections and illnesses because he or she may not have developed the immune system needed, so is your vision susceptible to all sorts of failures, infections and unnecessary pain if it’s birthed too soon.

I don’t know any mother who will purposefully want to go into labor prematurely because she understands the dangers that it may entail. If it does happen, it’s usually an abnormal or emergency situation.

Just like any loving mother doesn’t want her baby to be delivered before time, God who is a loving Father, doesn’t want you to give birth to a premature vision.

Although you may be focused on getting the vision manifested, God is more concerned with who you are becoming on the journey and preparing you to be able to maintain that vision.

Not only are you building your character as you continue to wait patiently, your story is also unfolding and nothing is more powerful than a story of redemption because people will be inspired, motivated and encouraged by your story.

See, this is where we can go wrong and miss out on the beauty of life. We love to compare our stories to each other’s but your story is exactly what will attract people towards you, not only your success. People want to know how you got there and what you had to overcome in order to get there.

That’s where the inspiration comes from.

If you only knew all the nights that I have cried myself to sleep because of the pain I experienced in the last five years simply because I chose to say “yes” to God and live in my purpose. When I was working at Atlantic Records, alongside artists like Trey Songz, Jay-Z and Toni Braxton…I never ever had to deal with what it takes to birth a dream. Life was “easy” even though I was miserable. Everything came easy and life was easy, breezy, beautiful…CoverGirl for me. I never had to fight for anything until the last few years.

I would plead with God to just make things easier for me but He was making me better, sharper, wiser and most importantly a warrior. It was a few months ago that I realized that the reason I had to endure so much in the last five years was because I was being taught how to fight, how to have and use my faith, how to be the powerful woman of God that I was created to be.

And honestly, I’m glad He didn’t answer those prayers.

It’s just now that I’m seeing some of wildest dreams come true but I know that anytime before now would have been premature and I would not have been ready. As a matter of fact, I would have messed it up. I am applying everything that I’ve learned in my “season of wilderness” to realize the vision in my heart.

There’s too much hidden power in your story. The very areas that you have been disgraced, delayed, or ostracized will the very place in your story that will be the catalyst to make you attractive and a force to be reckoned with.

Like my pastor, Dr. AR Bernard, taught us, “your significance is in your difference.” Your story is what makes you different and that’s where your significance will be. That’s where the essence of your legacy will unfold which is exactly why one of the first episodes I released on the Embrace Her Legacy Podcast is all about embracing the power in your story which you can listen to here. I encourage you to listen and be empowered to start taking back the power in your story.

I’m telling you from experience and speaking from the depths of my heart when I tell you not to worry about “when” your vision will unfold. It will happen, that’s a fact!

The beauty of you is more than your vision, it’s who you’re becoming along the way. There’s nothing more beautiful than a woman who is comfortable with her story and I know that you are that woman!

Embrace the power in your story girl!

XOXO,

Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
embraceherlegacy.com

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Embrace Her Legacy podcast so you can be first to know when a new episode is available 🙂