This month’s Bloom Gathering took place at the idyllic Communal LA gathering place. We started off the night with mingling and snacks, wine, and chocolate, and then gathered to hear Krysta Masciale, one of the founders of Big Deal Branding and co-creator (along with Ruthi Auda, who also joined us that night!), of the START booklet, to talk us through tangible goal setting and to get us amped on our first quarter of creating these goals.
Her demeanor was disarming, and she gave us a good taste of meaningful tough love–and a lot of great laughs. I know that I walked away ready and inspired to set my goals for this next quarter (the last quarter before Baby Scout comes!). Here’s some insight Krysta shared with us last Monday:
- We must have reasons _why _we want to complete our goals. We need to ask ourselves, “what does this goal mean to me?”
- Planning over dreaming requires a commitment. Dreaming is great, but it goes nowhere if we are not asking ourselves _how _we are going to get there. We must have a first step, and make plans with our dreams.
- You can change your mind. Life happens, plans fail, dreams change. Whether it’s the career you started with or the major you had in college, there is no shame in changing your mind, but, as Krysta poignantly stated on Monday, _there is shame in living two lives. _Change your path, and be proud of your choice.
- Don’t just stop. Even walking can keep the momentum of goal setting. Giving up will get you nowhere!
- Be attainable and realistic. Don’t set yourself up for failure and shame! Before I found out I was pregnant, I was doing a goals journal by Lara Casey, with big dreams for the year of applying to grad school, praying for my husband everyday, learning more photoshop techniques, etc. A week into my grad school application we saw those two blue lines, on three different tests, and I naively thought to myself I could still go to grad school, I can still do it! _Then morning sickness hit and I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. Ok…dramatic…but seriously, it’s rough. Everything was put on hold, the kind of wife I wanted to be in our first year of marriage, the dreams I wanted to pursue…everything was halted because I couldn’t get out of bed or drive in my car without puking in a water bottle (sorry…tmi?). And, on top of that? My goals book stared at me, making me feel like I let myself down, I believed I failed because there was not a single goal for the month I could check off as complete, and I couldn’t start planning for the next month because I had no idea what to expect. Krysta gave me, and I’m sure a lot of the attendees on Monday night, the freedom to say, _my goal is to have a baby in the next three months. _Some people had goals of graduating college–that’s good enough, and we are setting ourselves up for success. _Hold off until you are able, the goals do not have to be difficult, the goal can simply be self care (64 oz of water a day, anyone?). “If it’s not the time, don’t get down on yourself;” Thank you, Ms. Krsyta.
Another evening full of laughter and chatting, and walking away with some tangible learning–what a gift it is to share life with all you ladies. Have you started your quarterly goals yet?
We hope to see you all next month! If you haven’t joined us for a Bloom Gathering yet, we aspire to build connections and gather for causes, whether that be self-motivation, raising awareness, or collecting Toys for Tots, once a month until the Yellow Conference in August. We hope you can join us in February!
Photos by Kathryn Wahl of the Yellow Team