Hand of Grace
When I think back over the years, I see my life in milestones and experiences with family and friends. I remember the music I listened to at certain stages of my life and the feelings they triggered. I still recall the foods I enjoyed, every place I’ve had the privilege of visiting, and the lessons I learned.
When I take a closer look, what I see consistently through and through is the Hand of Grace in my life. It was always there, strategically guiding, growing, protecting, inspiring, saving, delivering, and promoting me. I didn’t know exactly how it worked, even as a Preacher’s Kid, but I knew for certain His hand empowered me with curiosity and a courage that would take a shy, extremely introverted, wavy-haired girl into wonderful places and open doors of grace I didn’t know existed.
I don’t remember ever learning that I couldn’t follow my dreams. I don’t remember ever thinking my tan skin, my gender or Puerto Rican heritage were ever going to get in the way of what was rightfully mine. I always believed opportunities were for the taking no matter who you were or where you came from.
So I read and studied and learned.
I worked really hard to excel in school and did well. Quite serendipitously, the most magical people flowed into my life and blessed me with their beautiful essence of love and compassion, These angels were teachers or surrogate parents of sorts that kept me motivated, encouraged, and loved.
Seeds of Growth
Teachers were a major catalyst in my life and helped me develop into an ambitious and self-motivated student. They instilled a value in me I otherwise would not have apprehended. As I got older, I made it a habit of doing the best I could, wherever I was. I also wanted to add value with whatever resources I had. If I saw a situation that could be improved, I would find ways to create efficiencies, short-cuts, or better, faster, cheaper ways of doing it.
- After college, I grew into a telecommunications engineer, under the mentorship of a patient, masterful Telecom manager, Jack, who taught me how to think like an engineer. I learned to translate business requirements into technology solutions. I’d find the root cause of chronic issues and implement a solution. I learned to use best practices to guide strategic decisions that would influence the success my team had.
- As a young wife and Mom, Parenting became my most rewarding gift and responsibility. I love training my precious sons’ minds and compelling them to grow! To steward the mindset of your children is the greatest honor ever bestowed to a human. Throughout their childhood, I’d study ways to help them become more disciplined, resolve conflicts, be kind, share, stay grounded and do well in life. Each child, with their unique focus and perspective in life required a tailored approach to development with tender loving care. There have been challenges we’ve overcome, but our faith in God has been a cornerstone in our parenting experience. I love my boys and am so proud of the men they’ve become and are becoming. My oldest just graduated from college with a Kinisiology degree, has a personal trainer certification and is starting his own business. My youngest is studying Film and has been playing basketball at the collegiate level for 3 years. I am believing the very best for them and am here to support them in every way.
- As a technical instructor and course developer I loved taking complex technology and implementation procedures and breaking them down into easy-to-consume, step-by-step content using adult learning theory.
- As an Information Technology Manager I love designing and engineering our global telephony network, developing strategies that help my company save money and implement technologies that provide solutions and efficiencies. I love challenging my engineers to grow out of their comfort zone, help them become more skilled and even more valuable.
- As an Entrepreneur all of these experiences helped me to learn the secret to growing and being successful. I’ve learned to get out of my own way and develop the courage to find my purpose and diligently walk it out successfully. The Holy Graille to success is growth. If you don’t have a Growth Mindset and Plan you are not growing. If you’re not growing you’re not going to the next level in your journey and fulfilling your Purpose.
You’re a work in progress when you’re actually working on your progress.
Dorcas Wood @agracefuldesign
Growth Mindset
One specific experience activated a paradigm shift in my life I can never forget. In 2010, I found myself out of work right after my husband had gotten laid off. To say it was one of the scariest times in my life was an understatement. But that experience taught me that my toxic thoughts were responsible for the mess I’d gotten myself into. I began immediately working to change my mindset. I decided that since I was already out of work there was no harm in expecting to find not just a job but my dream job, making more than I’d ever made before.
Sounds crazy, right? For some reason, I believed God would help me in my Sink or Swim crossroads.
I wrote the number down on a yellow 8 x 10 piece of paper and from that moment on fully expected to see it come to pass. Within a short time, I was offered my dream job, making exactly what I’d written down on that paper! I was relieved but stunned at the same time. My mind was developing and growing. I didn’t completely understand how it had happened but knew my life would never be the same. Years later I realize it’s just a matter of following a strategic growth plan that creates the results you want. You can check out my other article a Growth Mindset- A Beginner’s Guide to dive deep into it.
Growth Plan
I continued to study the mind and push myself. I created a Growth Plan based on a vision, purpose, and other areas critical to helping me keep scaling up and growing. My collection of books tripled! Years later, after being inspired by Joanna Gaines’ book, Magnolia Story, we decided to flip our first fixer upper. That experience stretched my husband and me like never before. By stretched I mean, we almost quit, fought like crazy, and had no idea what we were doing. We were literally renovating our house and learning how to use all tools at the same time.
It was so hard- at first but we didn’t give up.
Luckily, we realized the lesson that had to be learned in that season was patience and teamwork. We renovated the house in 6 months, ended up staging and selling it within weeks. It was such a huge and successful milestone for us to be able to make a substantial profit on our first real estate investment project.
This inherent ability or grace to keep learning and growing, always expecting the best case scenario, not quitting in the face of challenges has served me well. As an Entrepreneur and digital content creator I’ve learned some valuable lessons about how to reset my mind to a Growth Mindset. I believe if you’re not seeing the results you want you can re-wire your brain.
A Graceful Design Community
This blog, a Graceful Design is a learning eco-system I created where we can all Grow Where We Are Planted and Bloom with Grace. My hope is that:
- This is a place where I can hopefully inspire you to get out of your comfort zone and develop a Growth Mindset.
- Maybe you’re a Mom with a fulltime job like me trying to build your business and don’t know where to start. I got you girlfriend!
- Starting a blog requires a strategy and diligence (High Five by the way for having the courage to start this entrepreneurial journey!) and learning how to grow it is easier with someone showing you the way.
- Maybe you’re stuck and don’t know how to get unstuck or don’t have a clue what your purpose or niche could be.
- If you’re making your home beautiful, love interior design or home decor then I know we’re gonna be buddies.
- You may also want to renovate your house on-a-budget or become a real estate investor. You came to the right place!
Growth Mind ReSet
I loved developing the Growth Mind Reset which is the framework that has consistently helped me to get out of my way, clear mental blocks, facilitate breakthroughs, and helped me grow so I can get to the next levels in my journey. It helped me re-wire my brain from thinking like a full-time employee to an entrepreneur! It has individual elements of growth that will help you create a crystal clear pathway for moving forward. It doesn’t matter how many courses you buy on building a business, starting a blog, marketing, or monetizing, I can tell you from experience if you don’t have the right mindset you will encounter issues you won’t be equipped to fix. The good news is you can download it for free! Sign up below and it’s yours! Friend, I’m so glad to have you on this journey of growth together!
Daily Blog growth Journal
Have you ever followed the success of a business owner and wondered how they were able to accomplish so much? Usually, you’ll glean bits and pieces through interviews or maybe their autobiography years later. I believe in giving back as much as possible. Every successful person had a plan they were following. Any great plan has a vision which is the path being taken to success.
Part of my Blog Growth Plan requires creating goals, keeping track of them, and doing daily tasks. I also journal daily which helps me capture inspired thoughts and track what I’m completing. To help you on your journey, I’m giving you access to my Daily Blog Growth Journal where I track my Blog Growth tasks daily. I will be making this content exclusively available via Patreon.
It has essentially:
- My Blog Growth Plan
- Daily strategy to grow my digital content business
- SEO tips I’m implementing
- Marketing Strategy
- Motivational videos
- Recommended books I am reading
- Inspiring quotes
- Monetization Strategy
- A comprehensive daily snapshot of what I’ve worked on that week and the reasons behind my strategies.
- As I’m learning and growing so will you. It’s the mindset behind the business that is critical to understand.
Weekly Newsletter
I’ll be sending out a weekly newsletter filled with helpful Blogging tips and practical guides you can use right away. I will share more great content on developing your Growth Mindset, Entrepreneur tips and lessons I’ve learned during that week, project plans, checklists, and some exciting projects that are underway. If you want to see what I’m doing day-to-day you can catch me on Instagram.
Next Steps
- Make sure you sign up below so you can be in the loop!
- Download my Free Growth Mind Reset to make sure you’re on the right track!
- Reach out to me if you don’t already have a Growth Plan at hello@agracefuldesign.com!
- Get access to my Daily Blog Growth Journal on Patreon!
- Follow along on IG and Pinterest!
To Your Growth,
