February is all about YOU my dear! February is all about LOVE and one thing I want to talk about is how you should LOVE yourself enough to give yourself encouragement, a support system, and tools to get you through any rainy day! I feel that many of us do not take the time to love ourselves properly because we find that “selfish”. However, if you and I do not take care of ourselves first, how can we then pour into other people lives? We can’t. That’s where burnout and stress comes in and no one can pour over when they are in this state of being.

So I named this month’s theme Love Yourself Enough To… where each week, I’ll give you tips and advice on what you should do because you (should) love yourself in your writing journey. I want you to learn some key aspects now so you won’t be learning it it a year down the road like I did.

Today I am talking about Loving Yourself Enough not to Isolate. When I began my writing and entrepreneurial journey, I didn’t have anyone to talk to or bounce ideas off of. I didn’t have anyone to hold me accountable on my writing besides myself. And if you have done that, you know EXACTLY how easy it is to talk yourself right out of writing. It’s easy to give yourself a list of excuses!

There will be a BONUS blog talking about my time when I went to Phoenix, AZ, for a conference called Vision is Victory. This blog will come out on Wednesday, February 3. During this time, I discovered that one of the reasons why I didn’t grow in my business was that I didn’t have an accountability partner and I isolated myself too much. I didn’t have someone to hold me accountable to my writing or even growing my business! Yes, I had power partners and people I could call, but for the everyday stuff, I didn’t.

In November, I went to a conference where I learned that every great business leader had an accountability partner. In this relationship, the person is not only held accountable to, but there’s someone there in times of trouble or when you’re on the verge of calling it quits.

We all need someone like this in our lives. Writing is a lonely journey and is very isolating. If you don’t grab an accountability partner or someone you know you can rely on, you may remain stuck and in a runt for too long (like me!).

I implore you to find someone whom you trust and is in the same situation as you to ask for weekly updates, accountability, and someone to talk to during your storms.

This person could be a writer, just like you, or someone you trust dearly and this person NEEDS to see your vision. Let me give you an example: My accountability partner and I are in the same phase of business: start up mode. We are still setting up our businesses and are gaining clarity to whom we serve and what we want out of our businesses. We also see the same vision for one another: to create a business to help women thrive and find more out of life. She’s not a writer, but she’s a business woman just like me who understands the frustrations of owning, operating, and growing a business just like mine. And we’re both after the same thing: to grow a 6-7 figure businesses.

This is what I mean when I say find someone who shares your vision. If the person you have in mind does not see your vision for your book or where you want to go with it, then you do not need them to be your accountability partner. Get someone who sees your potential BEFORE you even write! This person should also be excited about the same things that make you excited!

Who is in your life right now that can be your accountability partner? Who can you go to and ask if they will spend 30-45 minutes weekly with you to talk out your goals and any frustrations you may have? Who has seen your vision before you even did?

I cannot stress enough how important this is! You must have someone to talk to on a weekly basis if you want to succeed! I know many of us say, “I don’t need anyone” or “I can do this by myself”, but how many times have you talked yourself out of writing because you’re tired, need to clean, cook, take the kids to the park, need to feed the pets, etc?

I know I can make excuses to not write and I’m not the only one who does this.

I’m going to throw a challenge to you because you should LOVE yourself and your journey enough to do this for YOU: I want you to be thinking for the next two days about a person in your life that can be an accountability partner to you. Then I want you to ask that person to be a part of your writing journey. In a week, have your first accountability conversation.

If you do not have anyone in your life that is your ideal accountability partner, then I encourage you to think of someone who could be your temporary accountability partner until you do find your ideal partner.

Make 2016 a great year, but kick start it off the write way by loving yourself enough to not become isolated and be dedicated to finding an accountability partner this month. The only way to become great is to be around people with the same vision as yourself who can hold you accountable so you can learn, grow, and be brave!