I absolutely love XO Necole, which is a lifestyle website that empowers women of color. The blog features tons of content on everything from relationships and beauty to women entrepreneurs and career advice. XO Necole hosts in-person events and has a subscription-based community for women to further connect. It also has a podcast that is the definition of “girl talk” (get your mind right before you decide to listen, though, because those ladies don’t hold back).
Aside from its mission to support and celebrate women of color, one of the things I admire most about this business is its founder, Necole Kane. I first discovered Necole when I was in college and somehow stumbled across her celebrity blog. Although it spilled the latest tea, my cup preferred the human interest pieces Necole would share. Which is why I was excited when in 2015 Necole decided to make a HUGE career move and shut down her popular celebrity blog to focus more on her passion of uplifting women.
Thus, xonecole.com was born, and not only have I been a faithful frequenter of this blog ever since, for years I’ve had a personal desire to submit my own piece of writing to the site.
And, finally, after years of keeping this desire tucked away in my heart, a few months ago I made the decision to pursue this goal. I submitted a personal essay for consideration, and xonecole’s managing editor recently contacted me to say that she loved my writing and would love to publish it!
After I read her email, I took a moment to allow myself to do something that I very rarely do: celebrate myself.
Now, there were no balloons and I wasn’t out here popping bottles, but just for a few minutes, by myself, in the privacy of my home, I allowed myself to mentally and emotionally recognize and celebrate the goal I had just accomplished.
I smiled.
I got excited.
I thanked the Lord.
I said to myself, “You did it, girl!”
And you know what, it actually felt really good.
That brief celebratory moment made me realize the truth behind advice we have all undoubtedly heard: celebrate your small wins.
Having my writing published to this blog is not a major success; it’s not helping me change the world or stack my bank account, but it was an important goal that I had set for myself. This meant a lot to me, and the fact that (with God’s help) I was finally able to accomplish it deserves just as much recognition as if I’d won the Nobel Peace Prize.
It’s so easy to get caught up on the Big Picture as we pursue our goals that we overlook the often mundane yet necessary small steps we’ve taken. But history reminds us to not despise small beginnings.
Steve Jobs had to help market the Apple I computer 31 years before launching the first iPhone.
And we all know he had many small steps in between.
We can even take it back much farther to biblical times when Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, was discouraged at the major task of rebuilding God’s temple. Yet, in Zechariah 4:10, God speaks an encouraging word through the prophet Zechariah, saying:
For who has despised the day of small things?
For these seven rejoice to see
The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
They are the eyes of the Lord,
Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.
God was telling Zerubbabel and the Israelites to not disregard the work they had accomplished so far because He was pleased with their progress. And later in the text He assures them that He is with and will sustain them to complete the task.
When it comes to reaching our goals, I think we can learn from God’s perspective. If we are aligned with His will as we pursue our hopes and dreams, there should be no reason to overlook our progress, no matter how small.
So, I am going to try to do better at celebrating my small milestones; do you mind if I start now?
It’s been one year since I left my traditional government job to pursue my purpose and unconventional career. I set a Big Picture goal to create a business that connects and represents Christian women while also curating fun, relevant events to build community.
Although I haven’t reached that large goal, I have accomplished smaller ones:
- I launched the Peculiar on Purpose blog in July 2020 and the IG and Facebook accounts in August. Good work, Shala.
- I set a goal to write three blog posts per month to fill my blog with timely, relevant content. Way to stick with it, girl.
- I incorporated audio recordings into my blog posts. Creative idea!
- In October 2020, I created my first newsletter and have sent my subscribers 12 newsletters thus far. You have some subscribers? Congrats girl!
- In January 2021, I launched a YouTube channel and uploaded my first video. Creating YouTube videos is not easy. Kudos to you!
- I created a Pinterest account to further promote my blog posts and each month I’ve created and scheduled graphic visuals to share on social media. You’re working really hard, Shay. You should be proud!
- In May, my husband filed the paperwork to officially turn Peculiar on Purpose into an LLC. #girlboss
- In June, I began selling t-shirts for my business. Yaass! You better help people shop on purpose!
- And in August, I wrote, edited, and submitted a personal essay for xonecole.com and not only was it accepted but they have also asked me to consider freelancing for the site. *sings Ledisi’s bravo, bravo . . . clap for yourself . . .
Honestly, it felt uncomfortable to write the above kudos to myself, but I am committed to making a habit of celebrating every small win. It’s encouraging when you recognize your small achievements and this practice motivates you to keep progressing toward the bigger goal. And with the current state of our world, we can all use a reason to celebrate—even the smallest of things.