Your stars are okay

Late last night, I got an email from a friend who runs an organization called Entreslam. It's storytelling for entrepreneurs.  She is working on a new project and asked me to contribute.  She sent me the following questions:

Colombian Corazon

Serial Entrepreneur

• The Moment that put you on the path you're on now as an entrepreneur

As crazy as it sounds, I think babysitting put me on this path.  I enjoyed working and taking care of others. Looking back, I can see that I also enjoyed the autonomy.  I never liked being a mother's helper, but being a babysitter was cool.  

• The Challenge you've faced (or are still facing)

Fast foward *ahem* years and I see that babysitting is still haunting me.  I often find myself putting other's needs before mine.  I have a hard time saying no and defining boundaries. I treat my business as a baby and the people who are around it like children.  In other words, I am doing a lot of reactive parenting instead of proactive parenting. By letting that happen, I am also inadvertently doing alot of self-sabotage.  I'm not a successful as I could be and the company I'm working with suffers as well.

• The Promise you've declared for your venture and why you will (eventually) prevail

My goal is to plan my day. The better I function and the more I get done.  When I don't, my day invariably ends up planning me.  It sounds counter intuitive to all those free spirits, (myself included,) but the more structure I create, the more freedom I actually have.  Eventually, I'll plan my week!  I know that sounds crazy!  But I think I'm up to the challenge.  And when I'm done with my week, I'll move onto a whole month.  Baby steps, my friend, baby steps.

• Your Message of hope for others

What I want people to take away from this is my new mantra.  "Your stars are okay."  What I mean is that you should definitely reach for the stars, but make sure they are your stars.  Make sure that you are reaching for your definition of success and not someone else's.  Make sure that you define your goals and your steps to get there so that when you do reach your stars, you enjoy the sweet success that can only be defined by you.