Hey, you amazing women, always good to be with you! Do you feel amazing? I hope you do. ‘Cause you're amazing. How can you not look in the mirror and say, hello, you good-looking thing. That's you! I hope you're doing that every day. Remember who you are.

Let's not just take one day at a time, you know, Okay, Sarah. Sarah, whatever will be, will be. No, no, no. I know that we have to flow with it and be flexible with life and that divine surprises and twists and turns happen. But stop using that as an excuse for not planning an amazing, beautiful life. Let's get ahead of it. Let's get ahead of our day, our week, our month, our quarter, our year. Let's be Intentional with forethought and planning. You can really increase the odds that you are going to have an amazing year. You absolutely can.

So this year it's time to prepare, get ready, take action, and I'm going to give you a three-step formula to do that. Now this is the big picture. There's so much more that we could talk about in a discovery seminar if we're working together or as you go deep with this, make sure that you take time to really flesh out what I'm saying. I'm gonna give you the big picture right now, okay?

The first thing that you have to do is get clear on your vision. What do you want? Terry Savelle often says, that if you see nothing, you can expect nothing. What's the dream in your heart? What are you hoping for? Can you articulate where you want to go in life? What do you want to expend your energy on and your finances, your resources, your time, your talents? What do you want to be doing? What brings you passion and joy? So you have to determine a desired destination. Otherwise, you're really not on the path. You're just taking a road trip, you're taking a Sunday ride. You've got to know this is where I want to go. This is the direction that I'm going to be driving a parked car or worse, a stuck car is very hard to guide. You can't do that. So if we say, well, I want God to guide me. God wants you to move forward so that he can guide you. So be bold, be brave. God honors bold, brave, audacious dreams, and prayers. He loves that. Be bold.

If you don't have a dream, you don't know what you want to do. You don't know where to start. Well, why not take me up on a strategy call? I'm here to help you. Let's do a discovery call and see if we can get you unstuck. I'm pretty sure that we can. I can ignite a fire within you and we can rev up your engine. But to dream, you have to do these three things. You're going to have to silence fear. That usually starts with fear would say, What if? What if you're not enough? You're going to have to silence those whispers and that voice to reach your goals and dreams this year. And then you have to stop excuses. Stop making excuses. You know you're doing that if you say, well, it's because. Stop with, well, it's because you want to have results or do you want to stick with your excuses? If you're highly committed to the excuses that you're giving, then you're going to stay right where you are. Number three, you've got to shame your shame. If you're going to reach goals, dreams, and visions this year, shame will say, Who are you? Well, who do you think you are?

Well, listen, Who are you not to? Who are you not to be great, grand, amazing, and beautiful? Do you think that God made you to be small and insignificant and puny and scared and cowering in the corner? I think God wants you to live brave and bold. So this is your year to slay fear. This is your year to silence shame. This is your year to stop making excuses and get that vision. Get it clear. Get it concise. And it's okay if you're not seeing the whole big thing, but just get the next right step. And that is what I want you to do next in this formula.

Number one. Get a vision. It's time to dream and then number two, create the plan to achieve what you want. It's okay to articulate, this is what I want. Not is it only okay, but it's imperative. Get it up on a vision board. Look at it every day. Say that is true north. That is where I'm going. That's what I want to accomplish. But then you have to have a plan because not much is going to happen if you don't formulate a great plan. Plan a predictable system to achieve your goals and creating a plan does not have to be difficult. Don't add layers of complexity to this. Just start out with a plan.

As I said a moment ago, you don't need to see the whole big picture before you take action. God's word says he's a lamp unto our feet, not a floodlight unto the future. Just on our feet, there's going to be a lamp. So we don't trip. We're going to know what the next step is. I like what Martin Luther King Jr. said. He says I don't need to see the whole staircase. Just the next step. True, right? Same for you.

To create a plan, I first look at where I want to go versus where am I currently. You're going to notice that there's a gap right there. Here's where I want to go. Here's where I am. Locate you. Then you can see, alright, that's where I want to be. This is where I am. Let me identify clearly three to five goals. Big goals. Big rocks. Not more than that. Three to five things that I want to accomplish this year because then you're going to take those three goals and you're going to break them down into small incremental steps. But what do you need to do to build the life that you're picturing? What are the things? Start backfilling it.

For example, let me say when I decided that I wanted to write a book. I said, Okay, this time next year I want to write a book. That's where I want to go. Here's where I am. Where I am was, I did not have one word written in the manuscript, but I had a dream, I knew what it was supposed to be about and what I wanted it to look like. This time last year, I just started writing, it was November. So, what did I need? Wrote a list of everything I could think of. I need a computer. Well, I have that. I need a writing program to help me with grammar, so I downloaded Grammarly. I need to find my voice and structure. I need something that will help me with spellcheck. Make sure I'm writing in active voice and not passive voice. I need a quiet place to write, so I may schedule a vacation. I put on my vision board that I wanted to write this book in a tropical warm place over the winter. And I designated a time to schedule it. I need an editor. So I just brainstormed all the things that I needed. I set myself up for success. That's what I was doing. I was letting myself know, Dawn, you're serious about this goal. You're going to do it! Let's get a plan. And a year later Look at what I'm holding in my hand. The book, The Making of a BraveHearted Woman: Courage, Confidence, and Vision in Midlife. This time last year, this did not exist.

What will you hold in your hands this time next year that doesn't exist right now? What resources do you need? What skills do you need to have or to grow in? What tools? What support? Think about that, you know set yourself up for success, you know, somebody once said well I would have to go back and take a class But if I do that, it will take me two years and by then I'll be 50. I'll be 60 by then. I'll be 65. Okay, well, let me ask you a question. How old will you be in two years if you don't do that? 50, 60, or 65? Nothing changes about that. So why not set yourself up for success? Equip yourself to have an amazing future. Do it now. Incremental baby steps. Focus on just taking those one step at a time. It'll move you forward. So you're gonna get a vision, a dream. You're going to articulate that, you're going to get a plan, you're going to prepare, set yourself up for success, you're going to identify three to five goals.

And then the third step in the three-fold formula is to take action. You knew it was going to come in there somewhere, right? Because guess what? It was the goal for me to write a book. Guess what I figured out? To write a book, you have to write a book! That felt so daunting, so I changed it. I don't have to write a book. I have to write a sentence. And then I have to write a paragraph. And then I have to write a chapter that I have to write two chapters, three, four, five, ten chapters. I have a book. You have to take action.

So now you have a plan and now you have to work it. But make sure that you believe in your plan. If it's too big, if it's too grand, you're going to likely fall short. So be practical. Start small. Keep your daily targets easy to accomplish so that what you're doing remains sustainable and super easy to do and introduce new steps slowly. Add in as you go. Don't be in a rush to get anywhere. You've got a year. Pace yourself, but it's better to just start small and enjoy everything that you're doing than let yourself get burned out or put off because you try to take on too much. And then use practical and proven methods to get to where you want to be. Something that, at the end of doing it, will reward you. How rewarding did it feel for me when I finished a chapter? So incredibly rewarding. And then I gave myself a little reward. Whatever it was usually it was buying a little piece of jewelry or a new article of clothing or a pair of shoes or maybe it wasn't even that large. But there was a reward for finishing. We celebrated!

Now here's the thing. Don't get disheartened if you miss one day. I do want you to be committed to your plan. Be committed. Be earnestly dedicated to the plan and make sure that you're working on it. But if you miss a day, if you slip up here and there, don't be too hard on yourself. Don't judge yourself or shame yourself. That'll make you not want to get back on the path. Jump right back up on that horse and don't forget to get that dream back in your mind. Imagine this is what I said I wanted. This is where I'm going and see what will it feel like. What will it do for your life? How will it change you? How will it change your family if you reach that goal? Let that motivate you in the rough times. But if you miss too many days, you'll have to decide if you're being honest with yourself. Are you sure this is what you really want? I mean, you said this is what you want. But now you have all this behavior that is sabotaging your success and you're not doing it. So your lack of mojo may be pointing to something else. You're not really dedicated. Maybe you are afraid to fail. Maybe it's what somebody else wants for you. It's what you think is expected of you, but maybe it's not really your dream. Maybe you feel frozen and you're afraid to be successful. Like I know how to live over here. I don't know how to live in the fulfillment of a dream. Maybe you want something else or something different, something more. Get honest with yourself, name it, and decide what you want to do. Because if you're going to aim for this but all of your actions and behaviors say you don't really want that, you have to adjust your goal, you have to adjust your destiny. And if you're ready for a breakthrough, you're ready to do this, then how about scheduling a call with me, I'll help you get started. Don't forget your three-fold formula. We're going to dream it, see it, envision it, we're going to plan it, and we're going to live it.

That's what I have for you. I want to give you my FREE gift this week. You must download the Brave Vision Blast Off. This is a step-by-step guide to help you discover what you want most and then show you how to get it. What do you want most this year and how to get it? You don't want to miss that. So download the FREE gift to you this week, Brave Vision Blast Off.

All right, everybody, Dawn Damon, your BraveHeart mentor, it's going to be an amazing year. I can't wait for you to smash all your goals. I want to hear from you. Let me know how you're doing. Don't forget to like and follow and subscribe and do all of the things, hit that notification button so you never miss a time when I'm on. I love you. I pray for you. Hope you're doing amazing. Dawn Damon telling you it's time for you. Find your brave and live your dreams!