For the Creative Smart Girl
Last Sunday, millions showed up in parks all over the country for the “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walk. This is always a difficult time of year for me because I lost my Godmother to breast cancer almost two years ago after a long fight with the disease.
She’s tied to some of my
Thank you to all the ladies for helping me remember my auntie in such a beautiful way
Earlier this year my company announced that we would be closed today in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. My reaction: Finally. It’s disappointing (but not shocking) that some businesses across the country take the observance of this national holiday as optional.
The impact of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States is undeniable. It’s hard and terrifying to imagine what this country would be like without that movement. The gains made during that era continue to impact our lives today. They birthed a new nation.
Observing MLK day is much bigger than the celebration of one leader. It’s taking a moment to remember the resilience of black people. It’s for the many leaders of the movement we remember, like Dr. King, and those we never learn enough about: Kwame Toure, Ella Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, just to name a few.
Many of us have faced the question of how do we honor the legacy of those who came before.
Today, we have our own movement: The Black Lives Matter Movement. We’ve created a direct response to the physical, economic and psychological violence against black people in the United States.
Social action is extremely personal.There isn’t any one right way to do it. And in honor of Dr. King, let’s use his words as a reminder that we can honor big legacies in small ways every single day.
1. Serve
“Everyone has the power for greatness — not for fame, but greatness, because greatness is determined by service.” -Dr. King
King’s life is defined by the work he chose to do. He put his life and the life of his family in danger, but that’s because the call to serve was greater than fear. Dedicating your life to service is not easy, but it’s worth it. It doesn’t have to be big. Start small. Do what you can, when you can. Try signing up for career day at a local school, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or sending a donation to a cause close to your heart. Those small acts will add up, and, whether you believe it or not, they do have an impact.
2. Have Faith
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” -Dr. King
How much faith was required for King to believe that things could change for black people in America? In the face of defiant injustice, death, the constant threat of his own death, and a government resistant to sweeping change, he held on to the belief that his work was not in vain. He continued to do the work.
3. Recognize the humanity of all
“Make a career of humanity, commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”-Dr. King
It’s really easy to recognize the privileges of everyone else but we all have some kind of privilege.The very first step in seeing the humanity in everyone is recognizing the ways you are privileged. Anything from education level to being able bodied is a privilege. It’s not enough to seek equality for yourself while other groups of people suffer from injustice.
4. Have your own dream
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ’We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.” -Dr. King
We can all view the world as this is an awful place that will never change. Or we can view the world, asking “what if?” King was not afraid to imagine a new world where black people had the same rights as white people in America. Dreaming of a world much different from our current reality is a gift of many creatives and leaders.
5. Stand for something
“If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” -Dr. King
I’m not sure I’m at the point where I’m willing to die for anything but I’m definitely more than willing to take a stand. This isn’t even a political stand but a stand of what is right in whatever arena you might find yourself in. What are you willing to die for? These were not just words for Dr. King, he knew his life was in constant danger, but he kept pushing forward. Doing the work that serves others in an authentic way definitely moves past the fear of dying for it.
6. Think Critically about Justice
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Dr. King
Social activism can sometimes feel like you’re playing “oppression olympics.”Who has it the worst in the race for the most oppressed people in the world? Dr. King reminds us that’s the wrong question. We can never be satisfied with justice for ourselves without ensuring justice for all.
7. Act with resilience
“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” -Dr. King
Finally, we must act. Even the smallest acts each and every day, for the things we believe in, can begin to change the tide towards transformation. Those acts might not result in exactly what you want. Don’t let that to make you bitter. Learn from it, and, more importantly, keep going.
It’s easy to feel like there’s an infinite supply of time. In reality, with each day we live, there’s less of it. Whenever I’m asked if I could change anything about my life, I always say I wish I had more time with my grandmother. As a child, the thought of there being a time when I would live without her never crossed my mind. But that is now the case. She passed away when I was 16 years old. For every great and not so great moment in my life since then, I’ve wanted to call her and tell her all about it.
The lesson: Time spares no one. As the years, months, days, hours, minutes, and second, pass, we can never get them back. And in order to make the best of it, we have to make sure we learn to spend it wisely.
With 2016 upon us, I want to be more purposeful and intentional about my time. I have an ambitious year planned, and the goals I want to achieve are not going to get done on their own. I need to dedicate myself to carving out the time to bring them to fruition.
As creative, smart, and ambitious women, I can’t think of a more important asset to our creativity, careers, and businesses than our time. Last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of the 2014 American Time Use Survey, an annual survey of around 11,000 Americans who are asked to give a detailed description of what they did on a particular day.
The biggest activity was sleeping. On average, Americans spent 2.82 hours, or 2 hours and 49 minutes, watching television, and 0.74 hours, or 44 and a half minutes, shopping for goods and services.
Here are 10 easy tips to make sure you make better use of your time in 2016:
1. Be Time Conscious
With anything you’d like to change, you must first increase your level of consciousness. Our time is no different. Be conscious of the fact that you can’t get wasted time back, and that we don’t have an infinite amount of time to play with. Taking stock of these facts can change your mindset, for the better. You won’t live forever, so commit to using the time you have now to the best of your ability.
2. Be Intentional
There is power in living with intention. By intention I mean truly knowing or having an idea of what I want to use my time for. Without intentionality, I’ll end about spending hours watching TV or browsing social media. I’m sure there will be days I’ll do that in the name of self-care, but I want most of my days to be more thoughtful.
3. Do a time audit
Take an honest look at how much time you’re spending on what. Does it add the career, life, or style of your dreams? If not, then why continue? Through my time audit, I’ve been able to discover that some hard truths about my distractions, spending too much time window-shopping online, watching documentaries, and browsing social media. I don’t plan on cutting these activities out of my life completely. Instead, I’m setting a limit.
4. Plan, Plan, and Plan
Planning is key. A plan is evidence that you want to be in control of your time, making moves instead of waiting and allowing things to maybe happen. For 2016, I have developed a daily schedule. I’m sure there will be unexpected surprises, but I, at the very least, want to be prepared. . It’s impossible to make better use of your time if you don’t have a plan for how to use the time you’ve been given.
5. Wake Up Earlier
As a child, my grandmother woke me up at 6 a.m. every day, even on the weekends. I never really understood why until I started to remember how long my days were back then. There was always time back then, but today, there never seems to be enough. . Myliek Teele, CEO of curlBox always says that if you’re sleeping in, the competition has already won. By waking up earlier every day (yes, even weekends), I’m giving myself more time to do things I enjoy, more time with my loved ones, and more time for my goals.
6. Develop a Morning Routine
I recently decided on a 2016 morning routine:
6:00: Wake Up & Devotional Reading (something that feeds my soul)
7:00: Write
8:00: Breakfast & Get ready for work
9:00: Commute, social media, read
10:00: Arrive at work
My routine is solely based around the things I’ve said I want to do more. I want to read more, write more, eat breakfast more, therefore I must set aside the time to actually do those things.
7. Limit distractions
This may seem obvious but it needs to be clearly stated. There are so many things vying for our attention these days. There is social media, reality TV, text messages, emails, and so much more. The truth is when we give something our attention, we’re really giving away some of our time. Not everything or even every person we give our attention is worth the time we’ve invested in it. As we continue to live the career, life, and style of our dream we really can’t afford to give our time to anything that does not fit the dream.
8. Done is Better than Perfect
Productivity and time go hand in hand. As a creative, my desire to get things done perfectly before releasing them is a time manipulator. Of course our projects, products, and content should be given the time they deserve to be completed at a high quality. But for 2016, I’m committed to getting things done without striving perfection. Complete it, release it and I’ll continue to tweak it.
9. Stay Ahead of Your Time
I tend to underestimate how long it takes to get a particular task done. I think I’m superwoman, and can get things done in the blink of an eye. This isn’t true. I usually end up falling behind on things because I failed to stay ahead of my time. Overestimate how much time it will take to get something done or to get somewhere. If you complete a task early or arrive early, great. You can simply use that time for something else.
How do you plan to make better use of your time this year?