Winning Strategies

A Prayer for Single Mothers

I wrote this for some of my dear friends.  Dedicated with love to every single mother that is or has ever been a single mom. 

A Prayer for Single Mothers

Lord, help me get through one more day
Give me courage and lead the way
Help me toil and persist with joy

Help others to understand my plight,
Help them to be understanding, loving and
Wade off my fright

This is a hard cross that I bear.
Sometimes I'm lonely, alone, frightened
And feel like no one cares

The burdens are heavy and the help is nowhere
At times I reach out but find no hands to spare
No aid, no strength- a weight I cannot bear

The tears flow and I wonder why
Why is this burden mine?
Why is this path defined?

I'm shaping lives and developing minds
I'm weary, listless, afraid and alone
I feel like I'm not part of mankind

I pass by others that are unaware.
They walk by seeming like they don't care.
Lord open up their eyes to the burdens of others

Give others hearts of caring and a desire
To help single mothers.
Don't keep us hidden in the shade.

Aid us, care for us, embrace us- we pray.
Hold us in your loving arms.
Help us to make it through and find a way

This is my prayer today and everyday.

Career Interview with Candace LaBron

 

Candace is a 22 year old part-time law student who also works two part-time jobs. 

What are your two part time jobs?

I am a student representative for a company that prepares law students for the bar exam and I work at a contempo spa/tanning salon.

What do you like to do for fun?

My favorite thing to do is read. I especially like science fiction books. I also enjoy watching movies and having game nights with friends.

Wow, law school.  Did you always know that you wanted to attend law school?

Before I decided to attend law school, I was an aspiring elementary school teacher. After one year in an education program, I knew teaching was not for me.  There were a couple of things that deterred me from going into this field. It seemed that this pink collared job left me with few oppor tunities to advance, little opportunities for my views on education to be heard, and not enough respect for the amount of work done. I reflected on what I wanted from my job and decided that the teaching field would not fulfill me. After a month of deliberation, I decided that becoming part of the legal system is what I wanted to do.

What are your career goals?

Once I finish school I hope to become an attorney in the corporate sector. I hope to stay in this field as long as I can handle 70 hour work weeks. I love to work hard, and I enjoy working; however, I know that I can only sustain that path for so long.  Eventually, I would like to work in civil rights or some type of advocacy field. I want to be a voice for those who do not have a voice of their own.

How are you working to achieve your goals?

My life right now is very busy, but I love every minute of it. Three days of the week typically begin at 4:30 a.m. One of my part-time jobs starts at 5:50 a.m. in the morning. After working an eight hour shift, I typically go straight to school an hour away from my work.  Once there, I study for two to three hours, then I go to class. Class ends around 9:30 p.m.

After class I stay at school and try to be productive, but if I have nothing that needs immediate attention I go home and catch up on my sleep. The other four days of the week are also devoted to working and school work. Every week I give myself one night off to relax and spend time with those who mean the most to me. However tiring it can be, I love this time in my life, I know that the work I put in now will help me succeed later in life.

Do you have any advice to offer others?  What would it be?

Yes. My best piece of advice to anyone is to discover what your true passions and aspirations are in life. You have to identify what you truly want before you can start any journey.  

How will you kick-start your career?

I want to find an internship position in corporate law.  I am looking for contacts in a corporation in Dallas that will allow me to shadow them and work as an assistant to learn from them.

Career Interviews- Coming Soon!

You've asked for it- and now your requests have been heard.  I will occasionally interview women at various ages and stages of their careers.  Your wish to get to hear from women across the work spectrum will allow you to see snip-its of their work lives, goals, and aspirations.

If you have questions that you'd be interested in seeing in the survey- feel free to respond to this post.

Look for these interviews soon!

Don't Become Weary in Doing Good

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

(Can you guess where that is quoted from?)

Striking a Balance

I'm tired - quite weary, overscheduled and sore. My brain is melted and I recently walked out the door.

Today I worked too hard and played too little. My eyes blurred with images, my schedule fickle.

Phone calls to make and emails to return. A TO DO list as long as my kids Christmas lists that I burned.

Oh me oh my what have we done. I'm more electronically connected than a burner with a bun.

So I sign off promising to change. Tomorrow I'll strike a better balance in my life- I'll rearrange.

Finding the Job you LOVE

OK, I hear your messages.  I get SO MANY messages, voice mails and emails from you.  YOU HATE YOUR JOB.  MANY OF YOU HATE YOUR JOBS.  Oh boy, how did this happen?  You ask yourself this question again and again.  You started in a job that you, well, liked.  You worked it for awhile and still liked it.  Suddenly, you look up, as if from a deep slumber and you HATE your job.  Well, it didn't happen overnight.

So, the question is:  What should you do?

Well, first of all, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.  You are thinking radical and extreme changes, but is that really what you need?  Start with discovering your strengths.  What you LOVE and what you HATE originate from the frequency in which you are using your God given talents.

Number 1:  Find Your Strengths:  Have you read NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS or THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU by Marcus Buckingham? 

If not-  START THERE...

Your END GOAL is to make your job incorporate AS MUCH of your strength areas as you can.  When you work in your strengths, you will move towards loving your job.  Your strengths will INSPIRE you- they will INVIGORATE you- they will SPARK A FIRE in you!

Number 2:  Market yourself

Some of you hate your job because someone/everyone doesn't know what you've done or what you are capabble of.  This is YOUR responsiblity.  Re-read chapter 11:  Touting your success from the Mountaintops of my book.  You are responsible to build your brand, reinforce your messaging and SPREAD the word internally about your capabilities and your strengths (once you figure out what they are).

Number 3:  Network

This one is a great place to start in the new year.  Begin to network with people that have the kind of job that you think you would love.  Ask them how they got into that position.  Explore your possibilities.

Number 4: Take Notes

Take notes on your progress.  It will help you watch what appears to be a VERY slow process slowly evolve.  THings will change if you are focused and determined to make them change.

 

Best of luck. 

Fitting In

I've been thinking a lot about highschool with the prevalence of Facebook and other social networking sites. Funny, in that as I reminesce, I am reminded of how poorly I fit in. Some people thrived in high school- loving every bit of the miniature world, yet I disliked it. I didn't have 'the clothes' or 'the hair' or the makeup- or really anything that made up the fossad of high school life. My family was considered to be below the poverty limit.

My parents were more than frugal, and I had what I needed to live comfortably. My physical needs were all met. But, explain that to a group of mean highschoolers making fun of your clothes and your appearance. I preferred books and studying to most human contact back in the day. To complicate matters, I had scoliosis surgery my sophomore year and wore a bodycast for most of the year. This kept some of the cruelty from being aimed at me and I got some attention for pure pity.

My junior and senior years got easier. I began to model and the jobs paid well, giving me some money to spend on my appearance. My gpa put me 2nd in my high school class and all that book work paid off a little. I guess the lesson is this: it isn't important to 'fit in' or to be like everyone else. You are who God made you to be and that will shine through no matter the circumstances. I wasn't prom queen or class president (although I think I would have been great at both) (laugh). I remain a nerdy little bookworm- just with a better wardrobe.

Embrace who God has made you to be!

Work Discouragement

Are you discouraged at work?  Are things not going your way?  Do you work and work and feel like, at times, efforts aren't recognized and internally people put up more barriers than assists?  You throw the basketball and no throws it back or makes the basket?

At times everyone feels that way.  It takes persistence to 'set aside' the daily grievances faced at work and continue to 'fight the good fight'.  Some days just won't go as good as others.  Sometimes you will feel discouraged and frustrated.  You will feel 'let down' by the people that are suppose to be there to support and encourage you.    Hopefully, it will be a temporary feeling that is soon replaced with positive efforts towards support.  If you work to train your team, eventually they will be ready to catch the basketball and help you score for your team.

But how do you get the team all passing the ball in the same direction?  How do you 'make points' for your team?  How do you keep from being discouraged when you don't have the ball?  You just keep pecking away at it day by day.  You work to learn from your failures (all good successes will come from failures) and press on.  PRESS ON towards where you want to go and KEEP BELIEVING that it can happen.

People may belittle your efforts and what should you do about that?  Continue to make efforts.  Continue to strive to be the best and CONTINUE to PRESS ON.  You can do it.  Give no one the power over you to stop you from pressing onward.   Never give up. 

LIKE 'really'?

I have noticed that the word LIKE has crept silently into my speech patterns. It has become a word used in place of 'for instance', 'for example', or even in place of verb use. WHAT IS that about? My speech patterns cannot resemble a Valley Girl. I even noticed this speech pattern last night on The Bachelor. Men and women alike are using the word LIKE frequently and inappropriately in their speech. I am consciously trying to remove the word from sentences, but it is amazing how imbedded it is in our everyday conversations. Have you noticed this trend?

Why do you have more than you need?

Someone posed a question a few weeks ago that has me thinking. Why did/does God give you more than you need? It would seem that if some have more than they need- then the right thing to do would be to give some of it away. Maybe it is greed that keeps our planet from everyone having what they need. Think about your surplus today and ways that you can help those without a surplus. Just a thought provoking concept for you to concentrate on today.