BUILD YOUR CASTLE

I am a slob. I am the biggest slob that there ever was. 85 percent of the time you can't see the floor of my bedroom. I'd like to blame it on the fact that I am a creative person and creative people don't have time for such mundane tasks as cleaning. But in reality, I'm just incredibly lazy at home. When I walk in the door after a long day of work all I want to do is strip naked, eat, climb under my covers and watch Netflix until I fall asleep. As a result, my room is covered in piles of dirty clothes, used plates, and other clutter from my day to day activities.

I can usually function with a messy room for about a week and then after that I start to feel claustrophobic. I literally feel like my brain is clogged up and I can't do anything or make any decisions until my room is spotless. When my room is clean I literally feel like a Queen. I feel empowered and ready to go about my day and make it the best it can be. My mind is clear and I can conquer the world.

Long story short, I need a maid. But until I'm rich enough to pay a living wage to a cute lil ol' lady to be my mom and remind me to clean my room, I have to put in the effort to create a clean and clutter free environment so that I can perform at my best.

Do you feel at home where you live? Do the people in your life support you and add value to your days? Do you have a place to call yours where you can create, read, and be your raw, unfiltered self? Or does the place you live in feel more like someone else's place? Do the people in your life stress you out on the regular? Do you feel like after a long day, you come home and there's an even longer night ahead of you due to all of the things you have to worry about in your living space?

Queens, I can tell you over and over again until I'm blue in the face that you need to stay positive. That you need to believe in yourself. That you need to stay focused and determined to reach your goals. You can believe me and really want to do what it takes to reach your goals and dreams. But at the end of the day, if you're stuck in a negative, distracting, and depressing environment you just won't be able to build the stamina you need to succeed. In order to reach the BEST YOU, you can be, you have to take an honest look at your environment. If you wake up and have to spend half the day constantly working to feel creative, positive, and de-clutter your life in order to get to the tasks on your to-do list than you need to either make some changes or find a new environment all together.

You are a Queen. A Queen deserves a castle that is custom made and tailored to fit her lifestyle. You deserve to feel at rest and in peace when you're not out working and hustling. You deserve to have people in your life that make you laugh so hard you cry. That listen and understand you. You deserve to at least have a fighting chance to reach your goals and dreams.

The good thing is you have control over your environment and can always tear down, rebuild, or add to your castle however you like. Today, I would like to share with you my top three favorite things that I actively do in my day to day life that have improved my environment and allowed me to stay focused on what is important.

Queen Maree's Top 3 Building Blocks for a Sturdier Castle

1. Schedule time to Clean and Organize your Life

As I said, I can only go about a week with a messy room and then I start to get irritated. So, I've dedicated my Sundays as my self care days. On Sundays, I clean my apartment top to bottom, do my laundry, go grocery shopping, go to church, clean my car, do my hair, meal prep for the week, write my to-do list, and finish the day with a long hot bubble bath. I know it sounds like a lot for a Sunday, but doing this helps me start my week off on the right foot. I don't crawl into Mondays, I sprint into them knowing that my castle, my foundation, is on point.

If you're like me and are not prone to cleaning as you go, set aside some time, whether once a week or spread out a little every day, to de-clutter your home and organize yourself. Leonie Dawson, a spiritual guide and creator of My Shining Life and Biz workbooks, recommends setting a schedule to complete one organizational task per day. Maybe you do laundry on Mondays. Clean the kitchen on Tuesdays. Go grocery shopping on Wednesdays. Review your To-Do List on Thursdays etc. However you decide to do it, make sure you set a schedule that truly works for you and you can easily commit to.

2. Turn your Life into a Giant Vision Board

If you've ever watched BET's Being Mary Jane than you've seen this in action. Sometimes, we have to trick ourselves into staying focused and committed. A great way to do that is by providing yourself with subliminal messages that trigger your brain and remind you of your goals. This will help train your subconscious to always remain thinking, contemplating, and working on your goals. You can do this in a couple of ways:

A. Create a vision board! Make a visual representation...a collage...of your goals that you can look at whenever you need encouragement. If your goal is to grow your hair to your shoulders, Photoshop a photo of yourself with hair to your shoulders and put it on your vision board. If your goal is to one day have a light blue drop top 2010 Chrysler Sebring Convertible with a tan interior, put a photo of a 2010 light blue drop top Chrysler Sebring Convertible with a tan interior on your vision board. Once you've chosen a visual form for each of your goals put them into a collage on bulletin or poster board and put that in a place where you will see it every day.

B. Write your goals on sticky notes and place those sticky notes all around your house. My bathroom mirror is covered in sticky notes with my goals on them. This way, everywhere I go in my house I am reminded of why I am doing what I am doing. Mary Jane would use post it notes with inspirational quotes and place those all over her home. Do whatever works for you to keep you motivated and focused.

C. When Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul and world renowned success coach, was first getting started with motivational speaking, he had a goal to make $100,000 in one year. To remind him of this goal, he wrote a check to himself for $100,000 and kept it in his wallet. Every time he opened his wallet, he was reminded why he was hustling so hard, to reach his goal. Create a horcrux (shout out to all the #HarryPotter fans out there) for one of your biggest goals. Something that you can carry around with you everyday that will always remind you of that goal.

3. Add a Little Music to Your Life

I love music. I believe it is the heartbeat to our souls. I listen to a little bit of everything, you can say I'm music fluid. What I'm listening to day by day depends on my mood. Music can be a powerful tool to use to help you create a positive and uplifting environment for yourself. There are multiple ways to use music to build your castle, but here are my favorite three:

A. Set your alarm to uplift you, not scare you awake

I used to think the best alarm for me was the most annoying sound I could find on my phone. That way, I'd want to wake up right away and turn it off. However, it wasn't until I purchased my very first cellphone with my own money that I realized how wrong I was. On my cellphone was a alarm tone that literally sang to me every morning. It'd go.."Dum dum dum Good Morning...dum dum dum...bah bah bah Good Morning". It was so uplifting and jazzy. It was a great way to begin my day. I've recently moved into the 21st centry with my cell phone, as in I now have a smart phone, and with that I have set my alarm tone to Happy by Destiny's Child or Circle of Life from The Lion King. Set an alarm and a ring tone for that matter that will put you in a good mood every time you hear it.

B. Create a Power Playlist

A power playlist is the soundtrack for the hustler's mind. It is a list of uplifting and ubeat songs that create a feeling of empowerment whenever you listen to it. Power playlists come in clutch whenever you need to get down and dirty and get things done. Whether you're working out, doing the dishes, or studying, a power playlist puts you in just the right mindset to enter beast mode. Create a power playlist today to help motivate you to crank out that To Do list!

For all of my fellow Tidal subscribers, here's a link to my 2018 Power Playlist! This can give you a good idea of where to start. Of course, you don't need to have tidal to create a playlist. You can use any musical platform.

C. Solo Dance Parties

When I'm stressed, extremely tired, or even in a really good mood, I have solo dance parties. I literally just put on my favorite song at the moment and dance full on at high energy until the song ends. This gets my blood flowing, my adrenaline running, and depending on the song, can psych me up for the task ahead of me. Try it right now. Stop what you're doing and take a dance break. I'm telling you, there's no way you won't be in a good mood after.

Which one of these building blocks will you implement into your life today to get you on the right track to success? Let me know in the comment section below!

It's a beautiful day to conquer the world. So go forth and slay!

-Queen Maree

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MAY 16, 2018