BY KEISHA JOHNSON
Over the holidays, my husband invited me to watch an interview of this amazing lady who had interrupted her family history and rewritten their legacy.
She was a single mother on social assistance who made herself and her infant child a singular promise, the day she found herself with insufficient funds to buy him diapers.
“Mommy will never be this broke again,” she told the baby as an immense sense of parental failure in providing for her child overwhelmed her. Those words ignited a fire in her belly that turned the tide on everything that was normal, traditional and expected in her family.
As she took responsibility to be a change agent in her bloodline, she realized it was not an easy mantle to carry. But with nothing to lose she remained confident that the win would far out-weight the cost.
She sought mentors, submitted to their coaching, expanded her learning and remained humble to the process of transformation. She shared how her family thought she was on drugs when they observed her drastic actions to fulfill this promise to herself, her son and her future.
They couldn’t understand why she had stopped going out, eating out and getting her hair and nails done. What they didn’t know was that she was redirecting those funds and investing them into her future.
From every pay check, she wrote herself a check to “funding my dreams” and deposited it into an account. She did this diligently every two weeks for three and half years, incrementally increasing the allocation. Not once did she check the balance even though she received her monthly statements.
She explained that she feared fulfilling her mother’s philosophy that “money burns her pockets”. Not knowing her account balance was her way of intentionally resisting that temptation.
The day she finally decided to go into the bank to check her account balance, she was floored.
The reception of the staff was unimaginable. From manager to teller, everyone came curious and eager to meet the lady who wrote the checks ‘to funding my dreams’. They all learned another life lesson when she told them she had never opened any of the statements.
But the greatest surprise that day was when she saw the amount she had saved in 3-1/2 years. No one else in her entire bloodline had ever amassed that much. And the greatest joy was having her son present to witness their transition from poverty to financial freedom.
Lisa Nichols made good on her promise to her son, herself and her future. She then took all the lessons and knowledge she accumulated in her quest for an abundant life and began Motivating the Masses.
Today her company is one of the only publicly traded personal and business development training companies in the US. She is a personal coach to celebrities like Steve Harvey and is a Best-Selling author of seven books and counting.
According to her bio, “Through Lisa’s non-profit foundation Motivating the Teen Spirit, she has touched the lives of 211,650 teens, prevented over 3,800 teen suicides, supported 2,500 dropouts in returning to school and has helped thousands reunite with families.”
One event and one decision flipped the script of Lisa Nichols’ life. She made huge sacrifices and was willing to do what others won’t to have the life and legacy she desired.
Living examples of the abundant life, among people in our generation, like Lisa Nichols who weren’t grandfathered into an inheritance, confirms the possibility for me and for you to live our dreams is within our grasp.
The question is: How willing are you to do what others won’t to have the life that they don’t? What will you do differently to make your dreams a reality in 2017? And most importantly, what will it cost you if you do nothing?
Lisa’s story is inspiring on many fronts but what merits its sharing, is she was willing to be the change she desired. Will you?
