Life

Steward Your Time and Energy

/ mrlamarkb / Leave a comment

Hey Family! I hope all is well and that you are having a fabulous day. Today, I just wanted to share something that has been on my heart for the past month. I really have been paying attention to what I give my attention, time, and energy to. You know they say your passions come from the heart. Well, if that’s true then why don’t we only focus and do those things where our passions lie? Why do we waste time doing things that won’t bring value, for some of us devalues us and just waste our valuable time and energy. For the sake of time I’ll just speak for me and tell on myself lol The reason why i have a hard time getting things done or wasting precious times binge watching a Netflix series is because I get distracted. For some reason Brandon’s mind thinks that he has all the time in the world to get things done. Can you believe it? How selfish of me to think that I will be able to get something done tomorrow, not knowing that tomorrow could possibly not come. It always brings me back to my why, and then I go back to the drawing board. Not to be mean or anything but there are some friendships and relationships we are in that suffocates and rob us of our time and energy for getting those things we want to get done. For me, I have a few business ideas in my head that I need to get out, and then after work, I turn on the tv and go to town watching episode after episode. So the next arrives and I walk around moping around saying I don’t have enough hours in the day.  Truth is… There is plenty hours in the day if you steward your time and energy. We all can agree that we give social media a nice amount of our time a day just from scrolling and scrolling. In order to become a great steward over our time and energy, we must be able to live a life of discpline. At the end of the day, is it going to hurt any that you didn’t get on facebook for one whole day but instead you filed for your LLC? Is it really going to hurt any that you didn’t get a chance to watch the latest episode of your favorite show? Those things aren’t going anywhere, they are going to be sitting right there waiting on you to get into them when you get a chance. Also, I look at time being a gift from God. God has given us a roll of a blank canvas and he wants us to use up every part of it edges included. When that roll runs out, can you truly say you did the things you wanted or did you have some empty spaces where you knew you really could have filled but you were distracted?

So for the month of May, I plan to use my time wisely by staying aware of how much idle time I am using in the day. It’s so easy to get caught up on the couch, or easy to get friends to ask you out every night, although those things are fun remember there’s a time and place for everything. I am writing and speaking to the person who wants to build something, create something, and even change something. I see you and I feel you because I’m right there with you. I’ve learned in the last 4 months not to be ashamed to admit where you need help. If you need help in time management, admit it and start making changes to fix it.  That is the only way you will be able to make progress on change. I hope this gives you some motivation today and that you will join the journey of stewarding your time and energy.  

Overchoice: The Blessing & Curse of having too many Options

/ mrlamarkb / Leave a comment

Hello Family! I hope you all are doing well and are healthy. Yes, it’s been too long. I sound like a broken record but I plan to do more writing and especially uploading more content. I have been working on my YouTube channel. If you guys would be so kindly to go over there and subscribe because some of the content here will become a visual form afterwhile. The link is here https://youtube.com/user/blb0812

So let’s jump in. You know I am always taking inventory of my life and where I am and where I want to be. I think that it is very crucial for us to do this from time to time. Don’t wait for the new year to come to start setting goals. You can start today! I find myself running into the issue of starting something but not completing the task and even sometimes not starting at all because there’s just too many distractions OR aka options. A great friend of mines asked if I would join him last month in writing everyday a gratitude journal. I did this for the month of October. Starting out was easy because it was super easy to get the simple things out. It’s like in prayer. The way I start every prayer that I prayer is honoring God for who he is. Not asking him for anything but honoring and reverencing him for just being God, then second is repentance, followed by petitions. So I noticed for the first 2 weeks of gratitude journaling, my thankfulnesses mirrored my prayers but after 2 weeks I had to dig deeper. I actually had to think differently from just surface or face value because I had used all of those. I must admit some days I just wanted to hurry up and get the post done for the day, so that I could say I completed the task for that day. In today’s world, that’s usually how we are. We’re not connected with the essence and probably don’t understand the “why” or the motive becomes flawed. It was then that I discovered the danger of having too many options. I begin to think about the homeless and how I’m able to go to my closet and spend 2 to 5 minutes thinking about what shoe to wear today or what shirt to iron. Meanwhile, the homeless person only has 1 pair of shoes and maybe 1 shirt to wear because there’s no options but that’s just the only option. After this revelation, I begin to think more broad on the actual things that I overlook and sometimes take for granted. I also discovered how having too many options could easily make you forget about gratitude. Think about it. If you only had one option or there was one only way you could get something done, it would get done. You wouldn’t ponder or get big eyed over a situation. After carefully review, I realized that having too many options can be a curse because you sometimes you could never make up your mind and decide on something vs the person who only has that 1 option. I believe it’s in these moments where we must continue to recalibrate and come back into alignment with who we are and continue to walk in gratitude.

Now let me go to the other side of this. Yes, having options is great and can be a blessing. BUT, we must be careful not to walk in pride or greed with it. Always remember there is someone out there wishing they had an ounce of what you have. What you might have a lot of someone is in lack of. I also believe that we must have balance. What are you full of? Is it wealth, wisdom, knowlege? Maybe the reason why you can’t make up your mind on something is because you have too many options and are just full. Give something away, and not just the extra or scraps but some of the good stuff. I am a believer in being a giver. People who give always have more coming back to them because they are givers. So the next time you are having trouble picking out what to wear because you can’t decide if you should do the cotton black tie or the silk black tie, remember in that moment someone wish they had just one black tie to wear. Be grateful, be a giver, and be the best version of yourself you can. I love you!

Moving Pass the Feeling of Defeat

/ mrlamarkb / Leave a comment

Happy Wednesday Fam! I pray that everyone is well and staying safe. I just wanted to share something that has been on my heart and that I deal with from time time. Yall see it already. “Feelings” yup we all have them us men included. Often times I find myself in my own thoughts of being overwhelm with so much to do, so many ideas, wanting to help this person and that. I often would just curl up and sit in the house and not do a thing. Now of course we should be in the house lol but I’m referring to not being productive and feeling sorry for myself. Seems like it’s so quick to slip in but it starts subtle and before you know it, you’ve spent 3 days in a funk and haven’t did anything and don’t even know why, but you feel defeated like you’ve lost and you don’t know why. If you can relate then I want to encourage you on today. This was just me on yesterday. I have 5 things that you can do to help you move along out of these bumps in the road.

1. Be ok with not knowing the end and not understanding the outcome

This one is one a huge for me. I’m an over thinker and often want to know and see the end before I even start it and if it’s cloudy or can’t be seen I will not start it or deal with it. I think it comes with being a perfectionist and not wanting to fail at the things that I do But we must be ok with not knowing the end. That is the beauty of life. You have to go through things to gain understanding and knowledge. Book knowledge and youtube vids are good resources but sometimes you have to actually go through it yourself so that you can experience it up close and personal. Here, you’ll learn things about yourself, you never knew and if you fail, you’ll learn what not to do and what works.

2. Talk it out

I have a hard time explaining myself to people and being vulnerable and letting folks in. Now be mindful, you don’t have to go around telling everybody your business but pray and ask God to place those people who will help build you and who can help you get through that you’re going through. God has blessed me with some amazing friends whom I’ve adopted as family. Yesterday, for example, I felt so defeated and I felt like I was completed stuck in neutral. I happen to be texting one of my good friends and was telling him about how I was feeling. He instantly encouraged me to keep pressing on. It was those simple words that I read that got me up and back at it. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that fire us up and motivate us to keep on pushing. So yes, talk it out, express yourself. Sometimes you just need to get it off your chest and off of you

3. Find your motivation! What is it that brings you joy or that takes your mind away from your current situation

So yesterday while I was feeling defeated and stuck. I simply jumped on the keys (my piano) and started to play. After 5 minutes I started to become overwhelmed with a feeling of Joy and Peace. I had played myself happy and restored myself back to life. After that I went to the gym and completed my day. It was like God had smiled on me and I had got back on track where I needed to be. I encourage you to find that thing that puts your mind at ease. If it’s reading a book or calling up a friend to talk. Just do it and keep moving on.

I hope this helps when you’re having those low moments Be blessed!