Tag Archives: motivation

My Success Formula (pt 3) Knowledge

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(Part 2) Are you OK?  O and K are the first two factors in my personal success formula.  O stands for Outcome.  K stands for Knowledge.  To be OK, you’ve first got to have a vision of where you are going and then the knowledge or faith that you can get there. If we don’t we tend to feel lost, bored, uninspired, and not really excited about anything.

Self-Knowledge Is Vital

It is our vision that provides a sneak peek of the outcome we desire and gives us that spark of faith and energy that we need to get moving.  We clarify and bring our vision into focus through reflection, inspiration, and meditation.  Once we know where we want to go, knowledge helps us to understand “how” to get there.  Knowledge is so vital that we begin the success formula with it. We must “know” ourselves before we can utilize our gifts, talents, desires, and resources.  For, unless we acknowledge what makes us unique and special, how can we take advantage of the opportunities, possibilities, and options available to us.

Knowledge Is Not a Static Event

You should never stop learning.  Knowledge is an indispensable element throughout my success formula.  It is not a static event, but instead is ongoing. When you stop learning you stop growing.  When you stop growing, you die; perhaps not physically, but certainly spiritually, mentally, and professionally.   That’s why immediately after you’ve decided on what you want to achieve, your next step is to create a plan to learn your craft to excellence.  (More on KNOWLEDGE)

  1. What do you need to know to get better at your craft?
  2. What do you need to know to be a better person?
  3. What do you need to know to be healthier?
  4. How do you plan to serve?
  5. What do you need to know to earn a living by your gifts and talents?
  6. How do you plan to “grow” this year?

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

My Success Formula-(pt 2) Vision and Outcome

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O=Outcome

(Success Formula Part 1) Let’s start with your outcome or the results you want to manifest. This is why vision is so critical.  It charts your course after you decide the course of your earthly journey.  That’s a gift we’ve inherited at birth as co-creators.  We choose and then we focus our energies.  That’s how we move toward ours dreams.  It’s stands to reason that we must have a dream if we are to have a dream come true.  Step 1: Decide on the outcome you want to create.  What do you want?  What is manifesting right now in your life?  Are you moving in the right direction or do you need to change course?  What harvest is resulting from the seeds you have planted in the past?

You are not an innocent bystander in life.

Your input (or lack of it) helped to create your output.  You are creating reality with your every word, thought, belief, expectation, and deed. You are the master of your destiny, the captain of your ship, the CEO of your life.  So, if your current reality or outcome is a result of your own making, how do you use this knowledge to your advantage?  You use this power of vision and focus to chart your own course.

Vision- See the Outcome You Want

We’ve been taught that we should “begin with the end” in mind.  What is the outcome you desire?  What do you want to happen or not to happen in your life?  You must be clear.  Example:  “I want to make a living by my calling.”  In this example I would have to define what that calling is.  I think a purposeful life is a good way to start any endeavor.  What is your calling?  Answering the following seven questions will help you to find your true calling and help you to get “on track, or back on track if you’re sliding off.”  “Work” used in the following questions relates to the service you are providing to earn a living or to make a contribution to society. (Part 3 of Success Formula: KNOWLEDGE)

  1. What gift or talent do you have that sets you apart from others?
  2. What comes easily to you but hard for others?
  3. What gives you joy doing it?
  4. What do you love doing?
  5. What “work” would you continue to do even if you were not paid to do it?  (If all your needs were met.)
  6. What “work” do you perform that doesn’t feel like work?
  7. What “work” do you find yourself just getting lost in and losing track of time?

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

My Success Formula

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Success is consistently manifesting the outcomes we choose.  I have had many successes in my life, a marriage for several decades, six smart wonderful children, six books, certitude in spirituality, and the bounty of finding and developing my unique talents:  motivating others through speaking, writing, and poetry.  I have been blessed to live on purpose!  Yes, I’ve had challenges too, but I know that what we focus on magnifies in our lives, so I choose to focus on what I’d like to see more of instead.  A powerful liberating thought I learned years ago was that life is choice!  We have the power to choose the life we want to live.  We just have to be willing to create it.

People routinely ask me, “Barbara, how do you do it?”   One of my success formulas is: (O=K+B+T+E+A).

I believe …

You fill in the blank.   Everything that I’ve ever accomplished started with a desire and belief that I could do it. What do you believe about your potential, possibilities, and probabilities?   Why does it matter what we believe?  Well, our beliefs are the foundation and driving force of our lives.  Our core beliefs influence everything especially our thoughts.  Our thoughts formulate our goals and expectations.  Our expectations determine what we actually do.  And finally, our actions create or contribute to our outcomes.  Of course there are some things that are not under our control, but many are.  There is a cause and effect whether we cognizant of it or not. In the next few posts I’ll discuss each element in my formula and its connection to our successes, results, or outcomes.  Part 2 of Success Formula

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

7 Steps on A Faith Walk

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Make Sure Your Steps Are Faith-based NOT Fear-based.

They say that it is, “always darkest before the dawn.”  Meaning that, it is the darkest right before the light appears.   I’ve had some truly dark times indeed.  But, now, I not only can see the dawn, but a brilliant light all around.  So many opportunities and possibilities are within my grasp but there is an equal or greater number of pitfalls and potholes.  I can let the darkness paralyze me or proceed in faith.   I choose to proceed in faith and know that I am not alone and will be guided around the potholes in life.  So I encourage you to follow your dreams. Hold on if you’re convinced you are on the right boat, and jump ship if you aren’t and start swimming in the direction of your dreams.  When times get dark, visibility is poor, but who knows your wildest dreams may be just a step ahead.  Seven steps on a faith walk are below.  Enjoy and share.

7 Steps on a Faith Walk

  1. Don’t give up on your dreams when times get tough.  That’s the time to hold on tighter because it’s always darkest before the dawn.
  2. Seek advice and encouragement so that you can make a wise decision, but make the final decision yourself.  If necessary or possible, limit conversations and contact with negative, toxic, and fear-focused people.
  3. Make sure that your decisions are faith-based instead of fear-based.  Faith gives you hope.  Fear increases doubt.
  4. Take the faith walk a day at a time or a step at a time.  When it’s dark, it’s hard to see that far ahead so take each step in faith and confidence.  Everyday do something major or minor that will get you closer to your dream.
  5. Pray for guidance, fortify your faith, get up and act, and go after your dreams with tenacity.
  6. Realize that you may not get the support you need from those who love you the most.  It’s your dream and only you have been privileged through your vision to see a sneak preview of coming attractions.  You may have to take that faith walk alone.
  7. Finish the Faith Walk.  Go after your dreams as if you were fighting a gorilla.  Don’t stop when you get tired, stop when the gorilla gets tired.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

The Importance of Family Dinners

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The dinner is more  than a meal.  Family dinners can even fight obesity.  But, that’s just one of the benefits of having a family dinner together says Dr. Mark Hyman.  He goes so far to say that “Eating at Home Can Save Your Life” and that “THE SLOW INSIDIOUS DISPLACEMENT of home cooked and communally shared family meals by the industrial food system has fattened our nation and weakened our family ties.”

Reconnect through the Family Dinner

Family dinner isn’t just an occasion to fuel  the body, it’ a time to connect and share its decline of it has astounding negative  social implications for our children and families.  If you want to bring your family closer and make them happier and healthier, the family dinner is the place to start.  Just as you schedule time for your work, favorite television shows and exercise,  in the same way, you must set aside time for the family dinner.  “Don’t schedule dinners into your life.  Schedule your life around your family dinners. ” It’s that important!   And, if done right with nutritious whole food, it can be a time of focused healing spiritually,  mentally and physically.  Fewer and fewer young adults even know how to cook anymore.  Food is our medicine and we can’t live without it.  And since we’re going to eat anyway, why not make a healing, educational, and connecting ritual of it?  It’s cheaper than therapy and a lot more enjoyable.

The Loss of Shared Family Meals Have Weakened Family Ties

via How Eating at Home Can Save Your Life by Dr. Mark Hyman

Research shows that children who have regular meals with their parents do better in every way, from better grades, to healthier relationships, to staying out of trouble. They are 42 percent less likely to drink, 50 percent less likely to smoke and 66 percent less like to smoke marijuana. Regular family dinners protect girls from bulimia, anorexia, and diet pills. Family dinners also reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. In a study on household routines and obesity in US pre-school aged children, it was shown that kids as young as four have a lower risk of obesity if they eat regular family dinners, have enough sleep, and don’t watch TV on weekdays.

We complain of not having enough time to cook, but Americans spend more time watching cooking on the Food Network, than actually preparing their own meals.”

If this excerpt interested you, check out the entire article.  You’ll be glad you did.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.