Motivation Monday: How burgers, bundt cakes and broken pieces made my birthday

Burgers, bundt cakes and broken pieces are a good combo for a birthday.

Burgers, bundt cakes and broken pieces are a good combo for a birthday.

By Chanda Temple

For the last few years, I’ve treated my birthday like any other day.

No fanfare. No cake. No song and dance.

While friends offered to take me out, I dismissed the invites, saying, “Thank you. You are so sweet, but I’m working on my birthday.” It wasn’t that I dreaded getting older, it was just that I looked at my birthday as another day. No biggie.

This year, I took a different approach. I saw my birthday as the big deal it was. I welcomed it with open arms. That move has been the best decision I’ve made so far in 2017.

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Fear is your biggest enemy

 

If you don't know how, learn. It's that simple.

If you don’t know how, learn. It’s that simple.

By Chanda Temple

Years ago, I had this friend unable to parallel park. She would drive around on downtown streets until she found a place that did not require her to parallel park.

Do you know how time consuming that was? She would pass up good parking space after parking space because those spaces were sandwiched between two cars. Crazy, right? Well, not to her. She figured that eventually her luck would turn and she would find the perfect spot.

But who has time to wait on luck? If you want to make things happen, you have to make things happen.

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Say, ‘buh-bye’ to negativity in 2017

You have goals. But sometimes, life gets in the way and you take your eyes off your goals. That's OK. You are human. But don't get stayed on stuck too long. Snap out of the distraction and keep striving. You have work to do.

You have goals. But sometimes, life gets in the way and you take your eyes off your goals. That’s OK. You are human. But don’t get stayed on stuck too long. Snap out of the distraction and keep striving. You have work to do.

By Chanda Temple 

Every year, you promise yourself you will do better.

You”ll lose weight. You’ll save money. You’ll improve your career.

While making all those promises, you should add another goal to your list: Avoid negative thoughts.

Whenever you feel yourself wanting to complain or think less of yourself, flip the switch and think better of yourself. Negative thoughts tend to weigh you down. They love to feed off misery. You don’t need that, especially in a new year.

Commit to being a better person and leaving all of the negativity behind you. When you feel yourself wanting to complain, think of something good to say. When you feel down, remember a good quote that inspires you. When someone gets on your last nerve or says something that is bound to send you down Negativity Lane, take a deep breath, go for a walk and escape the bad vibes. Such a move may not remove all of what you are feeling, but it will force you reflect on how things can be better.

 

Winning is what happens when you have hope and faith

Ramsay High School Coach Reuben Nelson (Photo: Via Facebook)

Ramsay High School Coach Rueben Nelson Jr.  (Photo: Via Facebook)

By Chanda Temple 

After a 36-year absence, varsity football returned to Birmingham’s Ramsay High School in 2012.

But the stats looked bleak. Ramsay won only one game that year. One.

Coach Rueben Nelson Jr. never let the losses discourage him, though. He knew greater things were coming.

“It was rough, but we kept going,” Nelson said. “I would always tell them (the team) to keep working, keep working, keep working.”

And work, they did.

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Stop waiting for everything to be so dang perfect

 

Hard word takes dedication.

Hard word takes dedication.

 

 

By Chanda Temple

As women, we feel the need to have everything perfect. And if it’s not perfect, we won’t proceed. That even comes down to our blogs. If our websites are not perfect, if our photos are not perfect, if our products are not perfect, yada, yada, yada, we won’t launch it. We’ll keep it close to the vest and wait until it’s perfect before we share it with others.

Well, stop trying to make everything so dang perfect. “Sometimes, good is good enough,” a woman said on a blogging webinar I tuned in to tonight. ‘’The most important thing is to act.”

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Motivation Monday: Don’t whine for it. Grind for it.

In life, there will be disappointments, some of which will make you feel like crying. But the best way to bounce back is to dry those tears, pick yourself up and figure out a new way to make your flop fly. Don't whine for it. Grind for it.

In life, there will be disappointments, some of which will make you feel like crying. But the best way to bounce back is to dry those tears, pick yourself up and figure out a new way to get to your happy. It will be hard to start again. But know this: You must. When you feel like stopping, remember why you started. It wasn’t to fall flat and hang low with the pigeons. It was to soar and fly high with the eagles. This, you can do.   (Image by Dustin Iskandar via Flickr)

 

 

 

Are you ready to jump?

Fear is the best motivator. Do it scared.

Fear is the best motivator. Do it scared. Your gift will make room for you.

 

By Chanda Temple 

A few days ago, a friend was at a crossroads as he debated what to do next in his career.

He wanted to play it safe by staying in his current position instead of branching out and starting his own business. Unsure of what to do, another friend suggested he watch a popular video by talk show host and Family Feud game show host Steve Harvey. In it, Harvey challenges his Family Feud audience to jump off the cliff of life into their destiny when they are contemplating a major move.

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It’s so hard to say, ‘Goodbye,’ again

Lywanda Lynn Barnes Brown was a beloved daughter, wife, mother, sister, cousin, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. member, University of Alabama graduate and friend. (Photo by Chanda Temple)

Lywanda Lynn Barnes Brown was a beloved daughter, wife, mother, sister, cousin, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. member, University of Alabama graduate and friend. (Photo by Chanda Temple)

 

By Chanda Temple 

My sorority sisters and I recently gathered to celebrate our membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., which we joined 25 years ago while students at the University of Alabama.

It was good to see so many sorors and recall our time when we became “sisters” in DST.  But one thing missing during our reunion was our No. 21, our tail dog, Lywanda Lynn Brown Barnes. She died in 2010, shortly after giving birth to her third child. Her death was a shock to us all. We loved her so.

As we planned our reunion earlier this year, there were discussions on how we’d remember Lynn. Would we release balloons, put flowers on her grave, include a tribute on our T-shirts, something else? It was decided that one of the things we’d do would be to put flowers on her grave. Sorors ordered a beautiful bouquet of red roses and violets, taking them to every event we attended that weekend. On the last day of our reunion, I volunteered to place the arrangement on her grave.

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Hello, October!

OK, folks. We are at the start of a new month. In fact, this is the last quarter of 2016. For all those times you said, "2016 is gonna be my year because I'm gonna ...," did you really do what you promised yourself you would do? Well, it's not too late. I challenge you to dust off those ideas or revisit whatever it is you want to do and go for it - now. There's still time. The only thing stopping you is you. And when you get to a point when you feel like quitting or nothing is working out, remember this: "Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end." Here's to your happy ending.

OK, folks. We are at the start of a new month. In fact, this is the last quarter of 2016. For all those times you said, “2016 is gonna be my year because I’m gonna …,” did you really do what you promised yourself you would do? Well, it’s not too late. I challenge you to dust off those ideas or revisit whatever it is you want to do and go for it – now. There’s still time. The only thing stopping you is you. And when you get to a point when you feel like quitting or nothing is working out, remember this: “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” Here’s to your happy ending.

 

 

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