Since relaunching April of last year, I’ve discovered more of my life’s work and I’ve been on this mission to help women make their brilliant ideas blossom.

Focused.

Satisfied.

Vibrant.

My experience has been like a perpetual summer with sunshine, blue skies, and good vibes.

Until I hit that wall and a few trials came my way!

My perpetual summer came to a screeching halt and instead of blossoming, I’ve been wilting. It’s been a couple of months since I’ve written a blog or held my last meet up. And my poor Facebook group, I’ve totally neglected them.

After a few heart-to-heart talks with God and a band of trusted allies, a tough decision, and deliberate changes, I’ve decided to pick up where I left off.

Now, where was I?

O yeah, I’ve been on a mission to help women make their brilliant ideas blossom. How could I’ve forgotten?

The reality is, some of us may experience moments when we lose our focus, hit a wall, or unfortunately wilt. It’s okay. It happens to the best of us. The good new is if we ever start wilting, we can blossom again.

I’d like to offer you 10 ways to blossom again, so grab your journal and respond to whichever prompt resonates with you. If you’re feeling especially motivated and want to challenge yourself more, follow them all for 10 days.

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1. Recall what it felt like when you and your ideas blossomed.

Close your eyes and meditate on how it felt to blossom and make your ideas blossom too. Can you describe the feeling(s) in words? What physical sensations emerge as you meditate? Write a couple of pages in your journal recapturing the emotions you felt during that time. Commit to recreate these moments so that you can feel these sensations again. As you begin to blossom,  note how you feel.

2. Recall the practices and habits you established and how much they helped you and your ideas blossom.

What 2-3 practices or habits did you consistently apply that helped you be intentional, productive, and accountable? Write a statement of commitment to apply them again. If you need help writing your commitment statements, use these prompts:

I will intentionally ____________________ for ___ days so that I can ________________.

I will use the productivity tool ____________________ for ___ days so that I can follow through with _______________.

I will hold myself accountable by __________________ for ___ days so that I can stay __________________.

3. Identify someone who you believe can help you blossom instead of wilt.

Why is this person a good candidate to help you? What can they help you do? Once you decide, don’t hesitate to ask them to be your accountability partner. Be specific in explaining how you want them to help. Schedule check-ins with them to evaluate your progress. Keep track of how they helped you in your journal.

4. Pinpoint inner conflict that may cause you and your ideas to wilt.

What inner conflict do you wrestle with? What inner conflict makes you and your ideas wilt? Be as specific as possible. For example, do you:

• • Say yes too often?
  • Refuse to seek support?
  • Socially withdraw?
  • Overindulge in activities that are a waste of time?
  • Fail to follow through and be consistent?
  • Wait too long to execute an idea because of uncertainty and lack of clarity?

Write how inner conflict manifests in your life. Can you think of specific examples when it showed up? What happened as a result? Don’t be ashamed or feel guilty about it. Writing it makes it real and allows you to deal with it head on.

5. Use this prompt in conjunction with #3. Identify the opposite behavior or action to the inner conflict and commit to doing it instead.

When you’re dealing with inner conflict or emotions that make you and your ideas wilt, apply the opposite action. Doing the opposite action is a great way to change your mood and reduce problem behaviors. Create a table in your journal like the example below. In one column, write the inner conflict and in the other column, write the opposite action or behavior. Let your accountability partner in on your opposite action challenge.

Inner Conflict Behaviors/Actions	Opposite Behavior/Actions
I say yes too often	Find ways to say no, especially if it doesn’t align with my purpose or values
Refuse to seek support	Ask Jaime to help me create a project plan
Fail to follow through with consistent blogging	Set a schedule to post and just write

6. Pinpoint external conflict that may cause you and your idea to wilt instead of blossom.

External conflict and negative events happen. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I fail to duck fast enough when they do and unfortunately end up flat on my back. Getting up can be tricky and in the process, I wilt. What contingency plans can you create to prepare you for external conflict if and when it emerges? How do you plan to duck? Who can you trust to support you during this time?

7. Make a list of conditions for success.

When you were blossoming, you set about to create the ideal conditions in your environment, in your relationships, and overall in your world. Did these ideal conditions dissipate somehow? If they did, set them again. If you have to adjust them because something in your life has changed, do it. Write in your journal all the conditions for success that need to be in place so that you don’t wilt. Create a visual reminder such as a vision board or a word cloud to remind yourself of them often.

8. Take one baby step toward making an idea blossom.

Make a list of the project ideas that you started, but didn’t follow through to the finish. Prioritize the list by checking he ones that are high in impact, but low in effort. (Check out 101 Ideas in My Head are Driving Me Crazy for more details). Pick one and take baby steps. Sometimes taking one baby step will spark a movement toward the next step. Share your actions with your accountability partner. And as you take baby steps, track how you’re feeling in your journal.

9. Use my 4 Secrets to Make Your Ideas Blossom to prevent you and your ideas from wilting.

What can you do to apply these simple principles so that they become ingrained in your idea generating and idea executing process?

1. Do the inner work, whatever it may be. Pinpointing qualities within yourself that hold you back and doing something about them puts you in a position to make your ideas blossom. Think INTENTIONALITY.
2. Keep asking yourself questions to uncover the essence of your idea. Self-inquiry helps you sort through what you’re attempting to do and determine if it’s viable. Think VIABILITY.
3. Adopt a M.A.P. (method to achieve priorities). Mapping your ideas on a micro and macro level creates within you a bias toward action. Think PRODUCTIVITY.
4. Enlist a heroic band of allies. Harnessing the power of relationship and community can help catapult you to another level. Think ACCOUNTABILITY.

10. Celebrate!

Now that you’re blossoming again, what will you do to celebrate?

When a flower or plant wilts, that’s an indication that it’s not getting any nutrients, especially water. The energy and force that caused it to blossom and grow have been cut off by something.

From a people perspective, being cut off and subsequently wilting may make us feel powerless and weak, especially because you remember how things used to be when you blossomed. However wilting makes you feel, wilting is real and can happen at different points in your journey. But thank God it doesn’t have to remain your reality.

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Hopefully, these 10 ways will help you blossom again and restore that energy and force that was inside you. Me? I’m determined not to wilt so I can continue doing what I’ve been charged to do. Blossom and help you do the same.

Let me know which of these 10 ways to help you blossom again have helped you. Comment below or share on Facebook. You can email me too if you’d like to be a little bit more personal.