Smart Girls Know Update

Smart Girls Know Affirmation: Smart Girls Know the Power of Visualizing

Have you ever wanted something so much that you could actually see it happening? Maybe you wanted to ace your history test, or you were hoping a certain someone would ask you to be his or her date to the homecoming bonfire. Or maybe you wanted to accomplish a personal goal, like throw the perfect pitch or play Beethoven’s Sonata in G flawlessly.

Whatever your goals, visualizing yourself reaching them is actually a powerful step in making it come true. What is visualizing you ask? It’s just what it sounds like – envisioning or seeing yourself doing the very thing you hope to do. Don’t get me wrong – visualizing doesn’t mean that you can skip out on all the hard work that goes along with reaching your goal. For example, visualizing playing Beethoven’s Sonata in G flawlessly will only work if you actually practice and perfect your performance. But by seeing yourself doing it, you’ll be mentally and emotionally setting yourself up for success.

Here are some tips for visualizing:

• Pick a time to visualize when you are free of distractions
• Close your eyes and imagine what achieving your goal would look, feel, and sound like
• Spend a little time each day visualizing
• Make your vision more real by writing about it in your journal or creating a dream collage
• Don’t expect instant results!

To find out more about how you can use positive energy to achieve your goals, check out this new book from my publisher Simon Pulse: by Annabel Monaghan and Elisabeth Wolfe.

Based on the idea that what you give is what you get, Click! explains how to figure out what you really want; how to focus on your goals using positive energy; and, ultimately, how to achieve those goals.

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This Month’s MUST READ

Ever seen the movies High Fidelity or About a Boy? Those movies are based on novels by my absolute favorite author, Nick Hornby. Nick just jumped into the world of YA novels with his new book, , which came out last fall.

Slam deals with the issue of teen pregnancy, and does so from a place of honesty and humor. It tells the story of what happens when 15-year-old Sam gets his girlfriend pregnant and their worlds are turned upside down. I loved this book not only for the author’s witty writing, but also because the main character’s voice is that of a 15-year-old boy, and so it provided great insight into the inner thoughts of those beings that perplexed, confused, and frustrated me so much when I was a teen girl.

To listen to a podcast of Nick Hornby reading an excerpt from his book, click here.

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Thank the Mentors in Your Life

Do you have a mentor in your life? You know…someone who wants to see you succeed and provides you guidance as you work towards reaching your goals. Your mentor might be a big sister or a teacher, or maybe you have a mentor through an official organization, or your relationship is more informal. Whatever it looks like, these important relationships can have a tremendous influence in your life. Mentors do things like:

• give you insight and advice on how to reach your goals
• be a reference for college or job apps
• give you guidance about school, college, and career choices

January is National Mentoring Month, and January 24, 2008 has officially been named “Thank Your Mentor Day” by the organization Mentoring. If you have a special mentor in your life, make sure to thank him or her for everything they bring to your life. And if your looking to find a mentor, check out Mentoring online to search for organizations near you that offering formal mentoring.

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Countdown to CHILL

It’s 2008, and that means that this is the year that my new book for teen girls, CHILL: Stress-Reducing Techniques for a More Balanced, Peaceful You comes out! Chill is full of strategies for de-stressing when it comes to school, friendships, extracurricular activities, family stuff, and life in general.

As I mentioned on my blog last year, if you write for your school newspaper or review YA books for your blog or other organization, send me an and I’ll send you a review copy as soon as I get them!

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2008 Resolutions

I couldn’t send out the first Smart Girls Know update of 2008 without mentioning New Years Resolutions. While I try to create new resolutions for myself everyday no matter what month it is, I thought I’d share with you some of my goals for the coming year. (Did I mention that I have a feeling it’s going to be a GREAT year?). Here they are:

• Go to sleep at a reasonable hour every night
• Continue trying to create balance
• See more movies
• Watch less reality TV
• Be more thankful
• Eat less meat
• Reduce my carbon footprint
• Read more books
• Have more patience
• Be more compassionate
• Go to the Jersey Shore (random I know, but still)
• Keep running regularly
• Be a good friend
• Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy

Have you come up with some powerful resolutions for the coming year? Send me an with your top goals for 2008, and I’ll post a compilation of readers resolutions here soon (anonymously, of course!).