Are you ready? For those of you who have known me for awhile, you know I’m all about living each moment to the fullest and moving forward. Moving forward many times means change must occur. Does that word scare you?

Some people view change as a scary and negative event. I’ve always looked at change through the eyes of hope and filled with possibilities. What dreams and hopes do you have for 2011? How are you going to accomplish them? Remember, if you take (or don’t take) the same actions in 2011 as you did in 2010, you’ll have the same results at the end of the year. If 2010 didn’t turn out the way you had planned (don’t worry, life always throws us curve balls and keeps things interesting), then plan to make the necessary changes in 2011. First, you need to start with a basic plan.
It’s a time when we reflect, re-evaluate, and ask ourselves the important questions: What worked this past year? What didn’t work? What important lessons did I learn? What do I want to accomplish in 2011?

One of the best tools you could use to make your preparation and planning productive is a year-at-a-glance wall calendar. This will help not only in your pageant preparation and planning; but in your live as well. After all, that’s what I’m all about. Together, you and I use pageants as a tool for self discovery and for the development of life skills that you’ll be able to take and apply to your life to accomplish multiple dreams beyond the pageant.

This is the calendar I personally use and is hanging on the wall in my office. Most people think a year is such a long time; but take a second and look at the photo. There’s the whole year in front of you- finite and in black and white (ok, there’s some green, too). The point is, time is more real when you can see it. At a glance, those 365 boxes don’t look like a lot. So let’s take the bull by the horns and start to make the most of the upcoming year.

Your Simplified 2011 Planning Checklist

• Buy a year-at-a-glance calendar.
• Put all birthdays, vacations, sports events, extra circular dates, and pageant dates you are considering this year on the calendar. HINT* I use a different colored dry erase marker for each major category so I can quickly identify things on the calendar. My calendar is 24 in x 38 in. You need boxes big enough to write in.
• Set your yearly household budget right now so you can see how much money you’ll have to do pageants this year. Now is the time to start earning money to fund your pageant experience.
• Sell your unused pageant wardrobe online. Gowns and clothing get dated quickly so the sooner you can flip them, that’s more money in your pocket to use for the upcoming year.
• Hire help. Everyone needs and has help. Period. That’s part of life. I don’t know of one successful person who doesn’t have help; and the really successful people surround themselves with a team. You’ll want to take your time to find someone who clicks with you and helps you meet your needs.

December 29, 2010 19:37