Let's play a game. If I walked up to you right now and wanted to invest 10 million dollars in your dream, where would you start?
Could you provide me with a business plan? Have you crunched the numbers and made plans of exactly where the money should go? What percentage of your business will you give me for my investment? Have you done the market research that can indicate how you should value your products/services?
Some of us gripe and moan about not having enough when it comes to living the life of our dreams, but the real question is, have you really done everything you can with what you have?
Often, success lies right at our fingertips but we refuse to become flexible enough to reach it. Star of the new film,The Intruder(in theaters May 3), Meagan Good recently dropped some gems about the secret to pursuing the career that you love and living the life of your dreams. According to Meagan, you have to have the courage to do everything you can, but the strength to let go of what you cannot.
"For the things that I'm wanting and believing, I just have to do everything possible that's within my power. And there's some things that aren't within my power, and that's when I trust God."
Meagan Good on Impact Theory
The Bible says faith without work is dead, and yes, that goes for you, too. So you want to own a hair salon, but have you actually researched and priced locations? You say your dream is to open your own clothing boutique, but have you looked into getting a wholesale license? Stop worrying about how you'll find the money or the opportunity, and prepare for yourself for when it does come. Meagan continued:
"But what is it within my power, whether it's getting the proper sleep, whether it's learning your lines, or eating healthy or you know whatever it is that you need that's gonna make you better at what you want to do; it's doing every single bit of that that you can possibly do and going above, not just doing just enough to get by, but going above."
In other words, stay ready so you won't have to get ready.
"After that, it's like if it's supposed to happen it will happen and chances are if you do the work it likely will happen."
In layman's terms, do the work and the rest will come. Meagan explained that even when she didn't quite see an opportunity on the horizon, she spoke, worked, and prayed one into existence.
"Even with 'Shazam', I decided two years prior that I wanted to be a superhero. I was like I want to be a superhero, I want that to happen so I'm just gonna start training for it. So I started training. I started learning Taekwondo, I started learning capoeira and I just started training with the trainer like five sometimes six days a week for like two years straight and then it just happened. And it was interesting because I fully expected it to happen, but I think sometimes we are more comfortable hoping and praying than when it actually happens."
We are our own worst critics, and sometimes our self-doubt can cause more internal conflict than our actual circumstances. If you're anything like me, the thought of having someone even trust me with $10 million to pursue my dream gives you anxiety. You start to doubt if you're smart, talented, or worthy enough to be entrusted with so much, but Meagan stressed the importance of trusting your instincts because they won't lead you astray. She shared that she felt so nervous that she was nauseous upon arriving on-set to direct her first movie,If Not Now, When?, last May. Soon after, her instincts kicked in and she was able to walk in her own power.
"For me, courage is not not being afraid, it's being petrified and doing it anyway. And so that's really how I try to live my life is just keep pressing forward and trusting my instincts because what I do know is my instincts are unique and they're mine and nobody else has them. So the more I trust what I put into the world, the more I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing."
She explained that all of us are blessed with a hidden superpower that we don't even know exists until we feel that we've given everything that we can.
"When you've done everything that you can do and you really have put in the work there's another gear that kicks in where when you push yourself beyond what you think is capable. you suddenly realize how capable you are and you're able to just keep pushing and cranking and something magic happens. it's almost like, in your brain something happens that just takes you to another level of what you thought was even possible for you. Whether it's physically, emotionally, spiritually, whatever it is, there's another gear that we can tap into when we push ourselves."
Life is a journey, one that's even more challenging for those brave enough to pursue their dreams. Do the work, and have faith that you'll have the life you deserve because there is no other option.
"You just have to keep fighting to get on the other side of it. And that has to be the only option there is no other option."
Check out the full interview below!
If You Want Something & Believe You Can Have It, Do This | Meagan Good on Impact Theorywww.youtube.com
Featured image by Getty / Jon Kopaloff.
RELATED
From the day they met, food has always played a role in their relationship, and working together in the food industry is what we call a full circle moment. Learn more about Bryant and Daniella’s story of finding love with one another.
How they met.
Bryant: We met at a mutual clients’ house. She was doing the lady hair, and I was cooking for the lady. The client sent her downstairs to record me while I was cooking to, I guess, see what I was cooking, and I caught her recording, but we didn't talk. I caught her recording, we laughed it off, and she went about her day.
So I guess that was the first thing that made us interact with each other. A few months down the line, I think she posted something [on social media]. I hopped in her DM and responded to it, and then we decided to just meet up and hang out. I looked at her as an entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur. She don’t need nothing. I don’t need nothing. It's good to hang with people who don't need nothing from you.
When we linked up, our chemistry was just so soft and just so nice. She is a great person, but after meeting up with her [for the] first time, she went back to Miami. She came back [to Atlanta], and we just kicked it off that next weekend, and ever since then, we've been locked in.
Daniella: That same client had flew me back in so I knew I had to come up here for work. But I told him that we'll meet up and [go] on a date and see each other again. When that happened, everything else was history. It just happened organically. It wasn’t forced or anything.
Bryant and Daniella Williams
Courtesy
First impressions.
Bryant: I knew for a fact for her to come downstairs and try to record me, I knew that she was brave, and that said a lot about her, because I barely even talk when I'm cooking for my clients. So you have to talk to somebody for them to feel comfortable to play with you, or do certain things. I feel like the client sent her downstairs because she knew that she's an outspoken, bubbly type of person who don't mind laughing it off if she gets caught doing it.
When she came back to Atlanta, she booked me to cook for her family. So while I was cooking for her in the kitchen, the whole time she was in there talking to me. It was like a date in the kitchen, and I cooked her food. Once the food was laid out, I just left. We had a great conversation when I was cooking for her, and also when she came downstairs and tried to record me.
Daniella: I was impressed how he was multitasking because I was asking him deep, interesting questions, and he was cooking the food, and he was still answering my questions. But I was in a relationship at that time, so I wasn't really in tune. It was no emotions. But when I came back and flew in to work, we met with each other.
He came and picked me up from the hotel and we drove around Atlanta, sightseeing. We went to the African club. So when he came downstairs, I was like okay, you not gonna hug me, you not gonna say nothing? He was shocked and we stayed together for like eight or nine hours, and he took me back to the hotel. I think he picked me up around nine at night. He took me back to the hotel around seven in the morning. Then he walked me to my hotel door. He gave me a hug and he gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you.' And I was like, what?
We stayed together for like eight or nine hours, and he took me back to the hotel. I think he picked me up around nine at night. He took me back to the hotel around seven in the morning. Then he walked me to my hotel door. He gave me a hug and he gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you.' And I was like, what?
The one.
Daniella: When we first linked up, he took me around Atlanta. He was soft and gentle. He was a gentleman. He opened the door for me and I never had nobody open the door. He opened the door every single time I was going in and getting out the car, and when we went to that restaurant. I was like, [there’s] something about him, and he was just nice, calm and patient. So I knew he was a little different from what I'm used to.
Bryant: [I knew she was the one by] how she cared so much. She didn't really know me like that. She knew of me, but she cared so much about me. When we first met, she would lay on me and just relax. For someone who just wants to relax on you, that says a lot about them towards you. It wasn't like I had to prove myself and she didn’t have to prove herself with me either. It wasn't nothing like that. We were willing to take whatever came with it. But it just was really a break. It was like the best me meeting a woman because I didn't try.
Any other woman, I might be trying to dress up, take her to this place, I did not try at all. I picked her up and I actually thought that she wasn't gonna go on the date with me because of her status and my status. I'm such a laid back homey dude and she's from Miami. I thought she would be on the City Girls, you gotta do this, do that. But she wasn't. She was the total opposite. She was a homebody, chill, like me.
Bryant and Daniella Williams
Courtesy
Marriage advice for couples.
Bryant: Work together. Communication, put your mind together.
Daniella: And keep your family out your business.
Bryant: Keep it private please. Y'all work it out first. When y'all make sure it's solidified, then you tell them, or let them find out on their own. Privacy is the most valuable thing.
Daniella: And date each other because people get married and they stop doing the things that they did to get you, or stop doing the things that they did while they were in a relationship with you, before y'all got married. No, do the same thing. For me, I get bored easy, and I think he knows that. So just keep it spicy. Keep it interesting.
Bryant: We like spontaneous stuff like last-minute trips, trying different foods, going out the country just off a spur of a moment. You gotta make it fun. Don't just make it all business. And I think one person out of the relationship needs to take the initiative to make sure their partner is relaxing and at peace. A lot of people carry functional depression to where they’re functional, like we're doing this right now, but they can be going through something.
I don't think it's male or female. I think whichever one, the other partner should notice it and work with their partner to get through whatever they get through, like, for postpartum depression and stuff. That's something that most men don't even really know exist, but that's something when she had our daughter, I had an anti-postpartum depression plan put in place for her. She didn't know about it, but I knew I was gonna be extra sweet to her.
She won't have to think about doing nothing with the little baby. My little girl was watching the football game with me, when she was a few weeks old, because I was giving her that peace, so she can just relax, because her body has been through so much. So you got to be considerate of your mate's mental state and their mental well-being, because when it's gone, it's gone and it takes a lot to get it back, so I think that's important.
When she had our daughter, I had an anti-postpartum depression plan put in place for her. She didn't know about it, but I knew I was gonna be extra sweet to her. She won't have to think about doing nothing with the little baby. My little girl was watching the football game with me, when she was a few weeks old, because I was giving her that peace, so she can just relax, because her body has been through so much.
If you see something not right with your spouse, help them get help. It's okay for them to talk to a therapist by themselves, or it's okay for them to talk to somebody, but don't just sit there and let them go into this decline and self-destruction. I think that's the most important, because sometimes she be overwhelmed, and I have to be that person to hold her up. And then sometimes I'm overwhelmed. To her, baby, I don't want to do this no more. She's like, you gonna do this. We gonna do this. And she reminds me who I am. I remind her who she is, and we come back feeling more motivated.
Daniella: I think business owners should date business owners because they understand your hustle, your hunger. They understand when you can have a day where you make $0 and you have a day when you make $1,000. But I feel like if you dating someone who is in corporate America, and you a business owner, there's going to be a lot of friction, a lot of tension, and I just feel like I want to date someone that has the same drive as me.
Because I don't want to feel like I'm trying to build a bear, build a man, and I have to pull you and drag you, or just being with somebody who got they self together. For instance, my last relationship. I won't say I was the breadwinner, but I was kind of established, and I felt like I was sleeping with the enemy. I was growing fast and I wasn't stagnant. I was trying to get to the next level. He started to be jealous of me and I feel like a lot of women deal with men trying to be jealous of them. Men also have ego issues where they don't really want their woman making a certain amount of money or making more money than them.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Feature image courtesy