#7DaysOfWisdom

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about the importance of workflow and project management. Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary is all about sharing my social mission and passion for building brands, empowering communities, and uplifting humanity. My experience in business, education, media, and music has made me who I am today. As a result, through sharing my experiences, insights, and learnings, I hope to encourage and inspire others to do the same as we all aspire toward becoming the most optimal version of ourselves. Connect and stay in touch: https://linktr.ee/aquaus | Talking Points | 1:07 - Create a destination for everything... 2:07 - Prioritize the deadlines and requests that are the most time-sensitive... 2:44 - Schedule calendar invites for every meeting... 4:08 - Have an agenda for every meeting... 5:50 - Create folders to store anything that may need to be referenced in the future... 7:55 - Delete emails that are not relevant to our job responsibilities... 8:49 - Prioritize our own mental health... 10:44 - Functioning at an optimal level... 11:10 - The power of collaboration, community, efficiency, and effectiveness... --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aquaus/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aquaus/support

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about the importance of stepping into our own space and owning our strengths… Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary is all about sharing my mission to promote positivity in an effort to uplift the condition of humanity. My experience in business, education, media, and music has made me who I am today. As a result, through sharing my experiences, insights, and learnings, I hope to encourage and inspire others to do the same as we all aspire towards becoming the greatest version of ourselves. Join me on the journey! Connect and stay in touch: https://linktr.ee/aquaus | Talking Points | 1:36 - Who did I want to be? 1:57 - Stepping into my own space and owning my strengths… 4:40 - Impact and legacy... 6:22 - Continue to build brand... --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/aquaus/support

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I share my thoughts about a short exchange I had with a student of mine and talk about the power of doing something.

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about the importance of sustainability and determining what we may or may not be able to sustain. | Talking Points | 1:01 - Sustainability is essential for starting a new project… 3:02 - The more excuses, the more friction, the more worries, the less progress… 3:30 - We all have gifts, ideas, and talents but what can we actually sustain? 5:41 - Friction hinders sustainability… 10:14 - Be a practitioner and do the work…feel it out! 14:29 - Sometimes “just good enough” is the perfect starting point. 17:40 - How can we expect anyone to see our “potential” if they do not know anything about us? 19:28 - Our existence may be limited, but our message lasts forever… 20:39 - If we do not share our message, there is no way for it to spread… 21:26 - What messages are we blessed to have been given?

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about being inspired by closed doors, leaving it all on the line, and defining our own readiness. | Talking Points | 7:37 - Inspiration lies in the moment…capture it!!! 10:42 - Our passion is an ice-breaker. Our excitement is an ice-breaker. 18:53 - Put out good work… 25:10 - Focus our energy on getting ready… 30:30 - Prepare, practice, and define our own readiness. 31:36 - Be on the hunt, put our name in the hat.

Inspired by my good friend, Isaiah Rogers, in this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about appreciating the art and practice of patience. When I initially recorded this episode on June 7, 2020, I spoke about viewing patience not as “wait time” but as an opportunity to improve ourselves in some capacity. In addition, I also spoke about patience as an opportunity to be productive while other events take their course that are outside of our control. Earlier today (Wednesday, February 17, 2021), after coming across a post by Joel Daniels (@iamjoelleon) on Instagram that stated, "good things take time...and great things take a lot longer than good things do," the following thought came to mind: Although being patient may cause for a “delay” in timing on our watch. Ultimately, under Universal watch, divine timing varies. Nonetheless, we do have influence over how we decide to allocate and spend our time in the present. Although we may have to practice patience, we can still continue to plan and prepare for what it is that we deem requires our patience until we reach the level of achievement we aspire to attain. | Talking Points | 1:09 - When we can view patience not as “wait time” but as an opportunity to improve ourselves in some capacity, we then learn how to appreciate the art of patience. 1:43 - Just because we are waiting for something does not mean that we have to stop doing something else. 5:31 - When we are busy, we occupy time. When we are productive, we optimize time. 7:06 - Patience provides us with an opportunity to be productive while other events take their course that are outside of our control.

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I touch on my belief that that when we prioritize proficiency by creating the conditions and environment to foster connection and engagement, the overall achievement disparity will gradually decrease and student performance will gradually increase. One assignment at a time. One day at a time! | Talking Points | 4:40 - Prioritize proficiency over pacing… 5:31 - Access to academic support… 6:37 - Academic performance rubric… 10:14 - Capturing student growth… 12:53 - Closing gaps… 14:31 - Challenge and question the status quo… 16:07 - One assignment at a time. One day at a time!

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about the importance of putting in the work that leads up to the moment. | Talking Points | 4:22 - Put in the work that leads up to the moment... 6:44 - #HELP1SELFNYE 8:23 - Be nothing less than grateful for the opportunities that we have been afforded... 9:25 - How do opportunities unfold? 18:02 - As long as we are doing the work, it is only a matter of time before opportunities will present themself 19:04 - Create a ripple of impact (ROI) as coined by Amanda Slavin... 20:38 - Out of sight, out of mind... 23:03 - What are we doing right now to practice? What do we define as our game time? 23:58 - Building a meaningful, significant, and impactful community is not an overnight success... 25:48 - What are we here for? 28:00 - What is the core of the human experience? 30:33 - Shift the paradigm... 31:19 - Put in the work that leads up to the moments we are looking to experience...

On October 12, 2015, when I drove for Uber, I walked into the Rite Aid on South Orange Avenue in South Orange, NJ. To this day, I still remember being greeted with a hello and good morning from three employees at the front register. Whether or not a customer has intentions on purchasing a product or service, a simple hello may aid in a potential transaction, a rewarding long-term relationship, or even helping to make someone’s day a little bit brighter. | Talking Points | 1:17 - Stopping at Rite Aid... 2:21 - A simple hello makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE... 3:21 - Feeling a sense of hospitality... 4:05 - The power of saying hello... 4:48 - Focusing on the small gestures... 5:50 - Treat everyone as a guest...

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about the importance of creating a frame of reference as it pertains to building meaningful relationships. | Talking Points | 0:45 - Meaningful relationships are built through context and creating a frame of reference... 3:00 - Turn a "cold introduction" into a "warm introduction..." 3:54 - The Seventh Level by Amanda Slavin... 4:28 - Make and take the time to genuinely learn about the people we are interested in getting to know... 5:49 - The magic happens at the core level of engagement...

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about my encounter with a poem entitled, “The Girl Who Was Afraid To Be” by Nikita Gill (@nikita_gill) via @kathyvioleta_’s profile page on Instagram. After reading this poem, I was IMMEDIATELY inspired to write my own version of what I would consider to be a comeback and continuation of the scenario that took place in the poem. As a result of what I read by Nikita, I decided to name my piece, “Finding a Reason to Step Into Our Being.” | Talking Points | 2:16 - When do we first remember finding our voice? 3:32 - Leverage social media for social change… 5:14 - Message > Medium… 7:23 - When we are broken, it is not over… 8:05 - (Reading) “The Girl Who Was Afraid To Be…” 9:03 - Why apologize for speaking about what we love? 10:18 - What does our comeback entail? 10:46 - (Reading) “Finding a Reason to Step Into Our Being…” 11:47 - Find a reason to step into our being… 12:45 - How are we in tune with ourself? 13:42 - Create the space. Create the time. Stay in tune with who we are… 15:27 - Who are we today? Who are we capable of being tomorrow? What are we doing to close that gap? 16:40 - (Self) discover. (Re) discover… 19:05 - Let’s continue to uplift…

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about the importance of self-accountability, leadership, and morality. | Talking Points | 6:54 - Why should we continue to uphold systems that protect people who intentional bring harm to others? 8:43 - How might we measure someone’s moral compass?

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about how I revisited a quote by Mike Smith (@mikesmithlive) in which he mentioned, “stay rooted in love.” As soon as I heard this quote, the following question came to mind, “Is our lack of love our real war?” | Talking Points | 4:18 - Timing is critical... 5:18 - Is our lack of love our real war? 6:15 - Differences without dialogue... 7:30 - Why do we yearn for power? 8:35 - Competition and performance… 10:48 - It’s important that we love ourselves… 12:02 - How do we ask ourselves the right questions? 13:01 - What do people appreciate us for? 15:29 - Stay rooted in love… 17:18 - Understand the possibilities of misunderstanding… 18:11 - Time and effort help to bring about resolution… 18:49 - Be humble. Practice humility.

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I talk about how my attention span for comfort has always been considerably less than my attention span for challenge. | Talking Points | 3:19 - Comfort never made me tick… 7:24 - My mission is to change lives… 9:03 - Comfort provides me with the time to reflect… 9:36 - I believe in the integration of work and play… 13:57 - Great teams consist of different players who bring different skill sets to the table…

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I address the following questions, "Do mistakes happen on purpose?" and "Are there underlying, intentional, and purposeful elements which we are meant to learn from which enable "mistakes" to happen?"

In this episode of Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary, I get very comprehensive and go very deep into my career journey and the steps that I took to get me where I am to date. Thanks for listening!

After participating in a discussion hosted by Nalini Saxena who is the founder of Elicit Consulting entitled, “Connecting the Dots: Against Systemic Oppression and Racial Justice”, I reflected on the importance of learning through listening after hearing the usage of the term, “cisgender.” I believe that learning is a gradual process and the only way to truly inform ourselves, is to understand that we are uninformed.

Amid the current circumstances taking place in Minneapolis, Minnesota due to the murder of George Floyd, I spent my entire day processing the impact that this event has on the lives of Black men and women across the nation. In doing so, I thought to listen back on a recording from 2017 entitled, "A Black Man's Cry For Humanity." My content is my memorial and I am obstinate in believing that we must continue to seek solutions. Should I die trying, at least people will have a greater sense of who I was and what I stood for in the time that I did exist. This is my promise to myself. Is our purpose to live life, or live life with a purpose?

While emailing a student, I thought to myself, “How do we learn as adults?” As a result, I decided to record the following thoughts for Love + Ambition: A Digital Diary Season 1, Episode 1.

Be Intuitive. Be excited!

Should money be the motive?

How Does Allowing Room For Mistakes Enhance Our Natural Learning Process?

Defining Our Moments (Discipline vs Distraction)

I called my good friend Thomas Johnson of GetUpNGetFit to test out the phone interview feature here on Anchor.

What is my purpose?