The Power of 21

I realized over the last couple of days that it is May, the fifth month of the year. I realized that all of the resolutions I set for myself this year were not going to happen by themselves. In fact, it dawned on me that there was nothing really stopping me from achieving them. I could hold them to myself, keep them to myself, not share the secrets with anyone else so no one would expect anything from me, not hold me accountable just in case I failed to reach these goals... but in the end, the only person who loses out in the end, without any of the goals attempted or accomplished, is me. One reason for my shift in thinking is listening to motivational speakers regularly. Call it self-brainwashing but these messages came at a time when they were absolutely necessary for me, my happiness, and my growth. I have been listening to and watching over the last few months these motivational speakers. Thank you to Trey Anthony for her post and introducing me to two speakers who have been influential in my transformation. Les Brown and Eric Thomas also known as ET The Hip Hop Preacher One concept Eric Thomas talked about is the Power of 21 which I realize is not a new concept or his concept for that matter. However ET's presentation of this subject as well as a host of others through his "tough love" motivational speaking-style (he talks rather yells like Jah Rule) is very unique. So he says that to establish new habits, you must continue doing them for at least 21 days. One of the things I have an issue with that ET talks about is "starting" and "stopping", constantly. This explains me to a tee whether it is training for a running event, writing a book, or learning the guitar, "starting and stopping" has been the story of my life. I also know that Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and Blink, writes about working 10, 000 hours at something in order to master it. So I am doing my best to re-write the script and build some new habits. These ideas have shifted the way I look at goal-setting. I need to do whatever I can now and through persistent, small steps, I will reach my goals. So my life, "post cancer", is pretty intense as I pursue, no, run after my goals. One of my goals this month is to blog at least once a week. For the next 21 days, I decided to pursue certain goals-- one of which is blog daily. It could be a photo, a music video, or even on my other blog, anything that inspires me and helps me to live my best life. And hopefully, as I pursue this goal, I can inspire others as well. I have my own list of what exactly I will focus on for the next 21 days and I will be choosing how I will share these. Essentially, this Blue Butterfly blog was started about my cancer journey but there is so much more that I have been getting out of life after cancer. Each day, I feel like I am getting closer to reaching my goals and making my dreams a reality. It's a great feeling.