A Push Forward: The Birth of a Trademark

gonegirlgo_™

As I entered into another season of my life, I stumbled upon this trademark and it really does signify my current state of being. It is an internal proclamation of freedom, a declaration of independence, a statement of progress, and a call of forward movement. Starting in 2012 and going forward, I have decided to give myself permission to go on and go.

So how did I come to this conclusion? Last summer I had an epiphany that I was a middle aged woman. I had to laugh because the picture I had in my mind of who that woman was certainly did not resemble me! When I shared this with my dad, or “G” (short for G-Dad), as we so fondly call him, he simply stated, “Yea Zo, I guess you are.” My recognition of that reality and my dad’s confirmation of that reality rang in my ear for the rest of the summer. I am in the middle – the middle of my life, the middle of my career, the middle of my journey. As the oldest of three girls, I have never been in the middle before so it was hard trying to relate. (S/O to all of the middle sisters in the world, including mine!) This sudden realization of my median position ignited a pilot light in me!  Call it middle age crisis or call it what you want, all I knew was that I needed to do something before my time was up!

As I consider the timeline of my life, I cannot go back and redo anything. But I can go forward…wait a minute…what if I decided to go forward a little differently than I had in the first half of my timeline? What would happen if I pushed all of my energy forward? What would happen if I interrupted my life with a new trajectory?  (This is my confession: You see, I was a dreamer who was always afraid that my dreams would turn into nightmares and haunt me. I had ideas, I mean great big ideas, but I wasn’t able to see them as reality. I contemplated, walked with trepidation, analyzed, and second guessed myself out of believing that I had worthy ideas and dreams.) There was just something about being in the middle that compelled me to engage my ideas and dreams and push them forward. 

I thought that writing a blog would be easy because I kept a journal since I was 15 years old. You would be cracking up at how many times I backed up, scratched out, and deleted my words. I wanted the words to flow easy like they did in my head. They didn’t when I wanted them to at first...only at the most inopportune time which turned out to be the best time. The pilot light was lit so I had to go. 

gonegirlgo_™

Not only did my trademark surface because of my middle condition, but because of the current condition of many women that I know. I have witnessed how we have walked with trepidation, ignored our calling, gave others the power to talk us out of our dreams, second-guessed ourselves, downplayed our strengths, and kept ourselves constricted and confined to our own little box.  I was not created to live by default, but that’s how I was living because I refused to step out of my box.

My trademark was actually born on Facebook.  Whenever I read a female’s post that seemed to be a cry for forward movement, I would respond "Gone girl go!". I thought, “Wait a minute! That means something and I’ve got to do something with it!” Because I had this habit of thinking a lot, and not moving forward with my thoughts, I was in new territory. (Uh oh - my mind started with that ole negative self-talk again. Would I fail? I’m not ready. That’s just stupid. Who cares anyway?) Nope! I wasn’t giving in to it this time. I remembered my middle position and pushed forward.

The first step that I took was to share my thoughts with a few close friends. I was shocked when as soon as I said it, they got it. They understood immediately what I was talking about. They encouraged me to explore the concept so I just had to move.

During this time, another fascinating thing was happening to me. I was being surrounded by other women whose pilot light was ignited as well. I got a chance to see firsthand what happens to a woman when she pushes forward, engages her ideas, and lives her dreams. Again, I just had to move.

On my nightstand.

On the floor.

To organize my thoughts, I created this mind map. It was rough, but from it I was able to see what my trademark was all about. Then I started drafting the blog. This rough sketch of the mind map and blog sat on my nightstand for about 3 weeks. It ended up on the floor at some point and stayed there for another week. I finally put it in my bag to take to work.  It sat there for 2 more weeks. When I pulled it out again, I said “Go. What are you waiting for?” The mind map got dolled up in Visio. With some tweaks here and a few more edits there, it was good and I was determined to finish this blog. Now…

 gonegirlgo_™

There are four components to services that I will offer based on my trademark:

1.    Define your own forward movement

2.    Refuse to live by default

3.    Push against self-imposed limits

4.    Be a reformed procrastinator



All dolled up.



I’m not sure how this will all unfold, but I am excited about pushing it out there. So stay tuned! I will use this blog as an accountability tool to let you know of my progress pushing forward. This should be fun but hard! Y’all with me…let's go!