The Focus is YOU

My mother used to tell me over, and over again - "stop thinking about yourself Lauren - the world does NOT revolve around you." Although, my mother was in fact right about a lot of things growing up - turns out, this time, she was not!

Sorry Mom, but how can I expect to help others if I first don't help myself. Simple concept, right? I wrote this latest blog entry titled, "Focus on YOU" for GenJuice last week, and to read more - just click here :)

It really is all about empowering YOURSELF to be smarter, faster, more innovative, more creative and insert other powerful adjective here. You are the one that has to take charge. You are the decision maker. You have to help yourself, inspire yourself, and create a better version of yourself that can then go on to help others.

In a world where perfection is so often defined in the eyes of everyone else but you - don't be afraid to take back control, think about YOU, it's your life, after all. The time is now - don’t wait for 2011 to start your new years resolutions - whatever they may be. Be strong TODAY so we can hope for a better, brighter future tomorrow. And, I ask again - how can you change the world, if you can’t first change yourself?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrhinight/2160466420/in/photostream/

Eyes on the Prize

It's days like today (and yesterday), that I am envious of the damn remote in the movie "Click" - or whatever the name of that flick with Adam Sandler in which he has the magic remote where he is able to fast-forward through time, pause other moments and rewind back to some. Wouldn't that be great if such a device actually existed? You could fast-forward through arguments, bad days at work - and pause moments to take a breath before you say something you regret in the heat of the moment.

But then I realized - that these bad moments, days, weeks, points in your life - they do serve some sort of purpose. Other than pissing you off, they build your character! They teach you how to get through the tough times so you can enjoy the good times. They push you to challenge yourself to do things that you never thought you could do before. Being able to overcome difficult situations is something that should be valued and experienced. Turning 'failures' into opportunities and turning bad days into learning experiences - it's all part of this thing we call life, right?

I try to heed my own advice, but some days, it's just really hard not to take things personally. So today, I am trying to look beyond the complete insanity that will be the next few weeks, the fights and the bad days of last week - and keep me eyes on the prize!! The prize being that in less than three weeks, I get to see some awesome family. And then take a trip-of-a-lifetime to India to see some of my very best friends from Thunderbird!!

In the meantime, my Dad used to tell me the same thing EVERY semester all the way from middle school through graduate school. I used to get annoyed, because over the years, it became more of a joke than anything - but this time it rings true! He used to say, "what do Moye-girls do when everyone else is slacking off and not studying for finals... BEAR-DOWN"!! Hahaha. So, these next few weeks, my nose will be to the grindstone, and working my ass off so that I can truly enjoy my "prize" in the news few weeks!! Can't wait!!!

Generation Whine? I believe you mean Generation SHINE!!

I wrote an article for GenJuice - a destination for emerging influencers, a few weeks ago. The post was in response to a very disturbing article in TechCrunch a few weeks ago, titled “Generation Whine – Why I’m relieved not to be a millennial.” The story (and I call it a story) because there were limited hard facts or statistics to support writer Paul Carr’s claims, portrayed all millennials to be wanton derelicts responsible for the decay of modern-day society. 

As a millennial, or Gen-Y'er myself, I was appalled by this article that wrongly categorized an entire generation of people into a bucket of assumptions - and ridiculous ones at that. Millennials are a generation of breaking down old ways, paving the way for new, better ones. We are a generation of getting things done. For having the drive, ambition and courage to push innovation and challenge the norm. And, our voices are valued, and heard. We are simply not just the loudest – but we have some great things to say – Mr. Carr and the like should listen once in a while instead of screaming over us.

My advice to Mr. Carr was simply this – why don’t you go ahead and move out-of-the-way, because we’ll run you right over!

For the full post, please head over to GenJuice

 
(Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3931842843//)