People seem to think that the lives they see on Instagram and social media are real. They see influencers traveling the world, dining at exquisite places, wearing the nicest clothes, living in homes most can only dream of and driving cars we wish we could afford. They showcase the very best of their lives and they make the rest of us feel like we are doing something very wrong in life.
The truth is, most of it is all staged. You see the clean parts of their homes that are within camera eye but you don't see the mess thrown aside out of camera view. You see perfectly styled children in a moments caption but you don't see the meltdown that happened 30 seconds before the perfect shot. You see the beautiful homes, the expensive cars, the lavish vacations, the trendiest of clothes and closets to die for but you don't see the years of perfecting their influencing brands to be able to reach out and put themselves in front of companies in hope that they like them enough to allow them a few nights stay in exchange for a well written blog, some perfectly staged photos and a video or two of the surroundings. You don't see the years of practicing their makeup techniques or the long nights conquering their niche so they can deliver the very best of products, tips and how to's for people. Or the amount of time it took for them to gain followers, build people's trust, and to obtain a consistent income from shoppers around the country or even around the world.
Your favorite YouTubers didn't become millions of peoples favorite YouTuber overnight. They spent many nights struggling to learn how to best setup their cameras or cell phones, purchasing the right lighting and equipment, perfecting their scripts and their niche for YouTube. They spent countless hours making mistakes and having to go back and re-do it even more countless hours editing their videos, putting them together and uploading the 20th video taken because the first 19 didn't quite workout. Or they spent years with a voice vocalist so their singing could be the best sound, their piano playing could out do even the best of the best who went to school to be pianist. Or they spent years in school for production, theater, directing and acting. Or maybe they spent countless nights awake self teaching themselves to use social media, to seamlessly put together 30 second TikTok videos, or years practicing and perfecting their dancing, ballet skills, or whatever it is.
The point is, none of what you see happened overnight. It all started with a dream to do something to inspire others, to make others laugh, to bring entertainment to others or to let others know they aren't alone. Influencers of all kinds have to perfect being their own hair stylist, their own makeup artist, their own manicurist, their own personal shopper, their own photographer, their own director and editor, their own everything. They put their heart and soul into those perfect little moments you see but don't realize took hours, days, months and even years doing.
How you may ask? Well, let me ask you, what are your dreams? What have you always wanted to do? Write it down. Think about it. Obsess over it. Make it all you think about because that's what motivates you. Once you've got your motivation, your why for why you want to accomplish your dreams, write down achievable goals. Start with small things. The things you can do immediately. Then write down daily goals. Make sure they are things you can achieve in a day but also make sure they are goals that lead you one step closer to where you want to be. After that it gets easier. Make monthly goals. At the end of the month, how many blogs do you want? How many followers do you want to grab hold of? How many pages of that book you've always wanted to write do you want accomplished by the last day of the month? Make short term goals, goals that can be achieved within 3 months, 6 months, 8 months and 12 months. Make a yearly goal. By 12 months, what do you want to have accomplished? Where do you want to be compared to where you started? What mistakes did you make that taught you something for the next set of goals? Once you've got that all down and it's become a habit to achieve these daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals, think long term. Ask yourself the same questions. Where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, etc.,. How do you plan to get there? Is what you've been doing working? If so, keep going. If not, look back on your written goals and find out where you may have gone wrong and what you could have done differently than make that your new goals, incorporate those lessons into new achievable goals.
It's going to take blood, sweat and tears. You'll want to give up. You'll want to quit. People will tell you your dreams are silly, unrealistic and you need to be doing something else with your life but don't let the difficult moments of your journey and the negative vibes from others stop you. Just keep going. It all starts with a dream but a dream is not reality until you make it a goal to achieve that dream.
Below, I'm breaking it down for you. Use it as a guide for starting.
☆Dream. Create a vision board.
☆Create. Create daily goals.
☆Make. Make weekly, monthly, yearly goals.
☆Visualization. Physically visualize your goals. If it's income you are going for, write down the amount you want to achieve each month. If it's growing your social media, write down the number of followers you want to obtain by the end of the month. If it's writing a book, write down the number of pages you want written by the end of the month.
☆Make charts that show your growth. You can do this via apps on your phone or creating them on a white board or piece of paper yourself but charts help you visually see what you've accomplished from the time you start to each days, weeks, months, years accomplishments.
☆Engage with your audience. Get them excited about your niche. Ask them questions, support them back. If you want to grow, help others grow as well. Engage on social media with everyone who follows you.
☆Get involved with support groups where you can ask questions, share ideas, and be inspired and inspire.
☆Follow your favorite influencers, YouTubers, Authors, Visionaries, Politicians. Whatever your niche is, follow those who inspire you in that category. Ask them questions, engage with them, learn from them. Never be afraid to reach out to them on social media. Remember, they once started somewhere also and likely did all the same things as you. Learn from mistakes that they share.
☆ABOVE ALL, be real!! Share your journey openly and honestly. Share your mistakes, your struggles, your successes and accomplishments. Those following you will be quick to support and encourage you and be there to celebrate your accomplishments and uplift your when you fall. You can't fail if you simply try!! You only fail when you quit.
Remember, anything worth having is worth fighting for.
P.S. I love Love LOVE The Happy Planner!!! It is my lifesaver, my entire life is literally written into my planner. It has space to write out your monthly schedule but also space for your daily activities, notes, and areas to write down goals, cross them off as you go, and is super easy to carry with you so you are always on track. Yes, my daily schedule is in my phone as well, but my planner keeps me on track for daily, weekly and monthly goal accomplishments. You can find them almost anywhere such as Michael's, Hobby Lobby, even Walmart or the direct website but I personally get mine off Amazon where I find the prices to be the best and they have a wider selection of planners. Linking my favorite one but you can also go to my Amazon to find even more choices.
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