Cultivate a Champion’s Mindset to Pursue Your Goals

In any phase of life, people are constantly challenged by pressures to face challenges. It could be peer pressure, academic pressure, and socioeconomic pressure. There is growing recognition that facing and overcoming challenges implies instilling positive traits and habits that act as a dominant tool to maximize potential and help to reach goals. These are not simply the physical abilities that enable them to meet pressures; the champion’s mindset gives them mental resilience and enthusiasm to succeed.

Cultivating a champion’s mindset is not merely for the athletes; it applies to all of us. It is a state of mind seen in people from every walk of life who aim to achieve their goals in life. Consequently, the success clues of a champion can motivate anyone to have a strong mindset, practice mental preparation, and develop techniques to deal with stress, setbacks, and losses. By building mental strength, you treat your obstacles as a training tool for your mind and body. It keeps you focused and improves performance.

“Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting, and the thrill of finally achieving your goals. These are all lessons in life.” – Kristi Yamaguchi, gold medalist in figure skating in 1992

Moreover, enthusiastic people learn to be persistent in their actions. Determination teaches them to bounce back every time they fail, get back up, and try to attain their goals. Any champion will tell you that it's not about hitting the floor; it's about getting back up. You must learn how to win and not run away when you lose. Defeats, rejections, and failures are bumps in the road that may confuse and steer you away from the right path. Therefore, understanding a champion mindset allows us to strive hard to pursue our goals with passion, firmness, and commitment.

The Essential Attributes of a champion mindset

·       Align Your Goals With Your Values

When you set goals, be sure that they are in line with your values. When you feel comfortable with your goals, you can concentrate and make more efforts to attain them. Therefore, it implies taking time and analyzing your core values. You may know which values are essential to you, prioritize them, and reflect on what they mean to you.  Providing significance to your values will drive you to make effort to achieve them. Let's take an example. If your core mission is to lose weight, you will make every effort to reduce weight. You desire to look smart and healthy and at the same time, you are valuing a healthy lifestyle. Conversely, if you want to lose weight but you have no high goals or ambitions, your efforts will go in vain. Therefore, prioritizing your personal goals and values will help make it easier for you to reach your goals. 

·         Optimistic Attitude

Athletes with a progressive vision are deeply engaged in their work and have positive expectations toward achieving their goals. They don’t get panic and give up. Instead, bounce back quicker from setbacks and injuries. Being optimistic, they believe in themselves and their ability to create success with hard work and commitment. Thus, people learn from champions to remain persistent and steadfast in performing more significant tasks.

·         Resilience and Self-confidence

Acting like a champion requires individuals to stay firm on their path to attain their goals. Having a winning mindset implies you be resilient in the face of adversity. Cultivate a healthy relationship of respect for yourself. Your self-worth and confidence build your leadership abilities and keep you committed to your aims.

·         Compelling Vision

Every champion has a winning mindset and vision that pushes him toward victory. The powerful idea requires strong people to develop willpower and perseverance that allow them to stay strong toward their goals. Once a champion sets their eyes on a plan, they gain the strength of character that gives them a crystal-clear image of their future goals.

 

·         Setting high and realistic goals.

Settings goals are the first step of the champions that helps to turn their vision into a reality. If the task is challenging, it requires people to measure how much time is needed to accomplish the targeted goals. For instance, whether they have to exert hours or days to achieve them. Moreover, stay organized and create a  list of significant goals that need to be pursued within the allocated time.

Another quality of a winning mindset is to write goals that are too important. By taking note of the plans, increase their significance. They appear practical and tangible and not any ambiguous idea residing in mind. Once you have written your goals down, it becomes visible, keeping you on target.

Having measured your goal setting help you know about performance over time and see how far you have come and what more serious efforts are required to reach your overall goal. Setting goals allow goal-oriented people to prioritize their small and more significant goals. Once they analyze their aims,  they set expectations for each goal accordingly. Moreover, they also set appropriate and manageable deadlines to meet goals flexibly. Visualizing goals implies people sticking to the goals and staying consistent. A timeline increases a sense of priority and urgency that incites them to stay on schedule and complete the given task.

Consequently, the biggest formula for success is to work on one goal at a time. It helps people to remain persistent, and they get to know where to start and make the most significant impact. It can fuel your ambition and help you achieve tangible results. Consequently, individuals should reflect on their daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Write that down and give yourself a target. Thus, goal setting helps you to visualize your essential goals in a better way. Hitting manageable goals will provide a satisfying sense of accomplishment, encouraging you to continue on your path to success.

·         Develop good decision-making skills

Champions know how to deal with risks; they respond to emergencies by making good decision-making skills. Managing complex decisions implies people take time and analyze how to resolve them. An important step could be to break up the challenge into manageable chunks. It helps people to stay focused on goals. Sometimes the complexity of a task may not be evident from the beginning; it may appear in the middle of attaining the mission. Sometimes, reaching the end is too perplexing, requiring people to stay firm and work with determination. Once people understand the nature of the goals, it becomes easier for them to reach the goal and apply them to their life.

 Hence, one should develop decision-making capacity by analyzing the situation and learning tactics to deal with different goals. The training, practice, and experience help them to gain confidence in making the right decisions. It helps them stay motivated and keep their head high and energy up...

·         Goals Help You Achieve More

When you set a goal and reach that goal, it gives you the taste of victory. You will want to taste that again. Goal setting is a positive habit-building process. For instance, you push yourself toward the next rung of the ladder, challenge yourself to improve your performance, and you achieve even more. Working towards meeting and surprising goals helps you achieve way more than you ever thought possible.

The Final Words

Strong determination, willpower, resilience, and dedication are the essential components of a champion mindset. Resilient athletes have a strong attitude; they mentally prepare and learn strategies to improve performance and deal with stress, setbacks, and losses. Cultivating a champion’s mindset instills a compelling vision, persistence, and mental strength that set you forward to achieve long-term goals. Motivation drives people to push beyond their limits and perform feats of greatness that they dreamed of.

Are you trying hard to subdue the rising tides of obstacles and adversities in life? If the answer is yes, reading this article will help you transform yourself. It instills you with the power to overcome barriers, boost your morale and self-confidence, strengthen your willpower, and push yourself to triumph.

 

 

"The real value of setting and achieving goals lies not in the rewards you receive but in the person you become as a result of reaching your goals.” – Robin Sharma

 

My Soul Journey

 

                                                             My Soul Journey

“Life is a journey and it's about growing and changing and coming to terms with who and what you are, and loving who and what you are.” – Kelly McGillis, actor.

 The soul is our spiritual life force within us, encouraging us to move towards the desired goal with sheer determination. It holds the key to happiness and should be cherished and appreciated. As we get actively engage in some soul searching, we ponder over our purpose in life. This implies us to be true to our self and find meaning of our existence. Enthusiasm and positivity boost our moral, helping us to move towards our targeted goals. It signifies us to readily exert more effort to achieve what we truly want in life.

“To find peace in any moment all we need to do is respect our own soul”

As we begin to introspect on our own thoughts and feelings, we refocus our mind on the positive aspects of life. Consequently, this enhances our ability to understand our personality, behavior s and values. Self- reflection help us to come out from stress and melancholy moments we have experienced in the past. The past tormenting moments do bring darkness in life, it is a reality that those moments are difficult to forget but we have to stay alive for the good times. With contemplation, we learn to stay motivated and find true happiness within ourselves. Happiness comes naturally from inside. It’s all about changing our mindset. Therefore if we keep dwelling the past tormenting moments, life would suck us and would not let our soul to survive peacefully.

“When you think from your soul, you find a river moving in joy. Seek to that eternal joy and self-fulfillment.”

Happiness signifies enjoying freshness of present moment. We need to find those delicate small moments in our surroundings. It could be a party with friends, enjoying a cup of coffee with our best friend. Having deep talks with the closet friend is the therapy we need. As I believe opening up and sharing our piece of heart with a loving friend is the best way to heal. It makes us lively, gives hope to live and aspiration to begin a new life. The best moments in our life are when we pleasurable enjoy the loftiest moments with a dear friend, with whom we   share our tears and with whom we have laughed. A strong vibrant company make us feel sunshine pooling from our smile. We learn that contentment in life comes from the best company, the person who understands us. The person who can walk with us in every season, with whom we could enjoy the smallest moments in life. In a materialistic world, we always yearn for a sincere company .It is hardly to be found. I believe it’s the purity of the soul that matters. People with such souls are more elegant. Cherish such people because they are the true expression of love and affection.

“May you find someone who already speaks the language of your true desires.  Because the language of your true desires is the language of your soul.”
― Lebo Grand

If you find yourself in a situation which you think cannot be changed, develop mind power to switch your mind to happy cheerful thoughts. I personally believe instead of chasing happiness, we need to cultivate contentment within ourselves. It is a truth that happiness cannot be attained through amenities and luxuries of life. They may be a source of temporary happiness but they cannot bring true happiness or peace of mind to us. We should begin to learn to live with passion, there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. So reach out to others and share small momentous moments in your surroundings. As it is rightly said that happiness is a perfume we cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on our self. Let us dream of tomorrow, a peaceful tranquil life where we can truly love from the soul.

Deep soul searching through meditating, practicing spirituality and introspection helps to develop self-care.  It implies us to love our self and foster happy moments .Life is too short. Therefore, we have a right to make wise choices, we have the power to rise above the struggles and shine amid the darkness. So do it now before life makes you regret. Once you have a positive frame of mind, your life begins to show a great difference. Your personality will bloom. Keep smiling and keep on trying to reclaim your life and achieve your loftiest goals in life.

Remember,

Being happy is a choice. It’s not about luck. We always have control to how we feel. You don’t have to wait to be successful to feel contented. In your present-day situation, you can always choose to be happy and live a peaceful life It is true what we think and feel attract others as happiness is contagious. Once, you discover yourself who you really are, what you are meant to do in this life and what path may help you find true joy and happiness, believe me, you will find inner strength to deal with every challenge and obstacle life throws at you. This is the real moment in your life when you will come to know your passions and life purposes in life.  Hence, you will feel truly exultant and live a fulfilled life.

“Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.”- Alfred D. Souza

innovations in education: ...

innovations in education:                                                   ...:                                                                              Becoming a Woman of Character                                  ...

                                     

                                      Becoming a Woman of Character

                                  By Sadia Wali

                         Every girl and every woman, has the potential to make this world a better place, and that potential lies in the act of thinking higher thoughts and feeling deeper things. Many amazing changes in our world are being made by women when they recognize their importance and begin to see themselves as beautiful beings. Being capable of feeling deeply with high thoughts, they have the capacity to change and impact lives in great ways.

Femininity is about having strength with grace and grit. She is a woman of substantial or solid character and quality. She considers who she is and what she wants for herself as she follows her heart. It is her personal skills of thoughtfulness, and self-awareness that allows her to remain true to herself and strive to make others life better. A woman of character takes pride in everything that she does. Living by her morals and values in life, she positively influences her family and surroundings.  Her strength of mind, passion and confidence make her charismatic personality and develop a high character.

             Why A woman Needs to Be Strong

There is something impressive about remaining composed. You can be both strong and sensitive, thoughtful, and caring but should not be ruled by emotions or succumb to sensitivity while facing catastrophes and adversities You do not need to be like women in movies who fall on the sofa in a fit of tears with fears and insecurity. Instead, remain steadfast, be strong and sensitive. and charge of your decisions and responsibilities. She is not someone who is helpless or rely unnecessarily on others. She takes responsibility for her life to make the best decisions for a better future. She is willing to be flexible, kind, passionate, and modest. Develop poise and composure that won’t make you combative or arrogant when standing up for others. Instead help you to become truly caring for others. Having a strong sense of morality, they speak up when they see injustice prevailing in society. Moreover, they stand up and express themselves if their personal and social rights are violated.

                    Some unique qualities every strong woman should possesses

She is passionate about fulfilling her roles

A strong woman is a truly admiring for others since she is capable of anything. She is intensely enthusiastic about her roles in life. It doesn’t matter what she’s doing, working on a project or volunteering, cooking a meal at home or looking after her family. Embracing different roles from being the housewife or the primary homemakers and caretakers of the children and working as bread winner enable her to channelize her emotional energy to add value to herself, and all the people around her.

Strong women admire and support other women who have experienced tribulation and hardships in life.

Instead of gossiping, envying or criticizing other women, they praise other strong women who need a helping hand. They uplift them, helping them to have a voice and speak up for themselves boldly. 

They are natural-born feminists

   

A woman’s main objective is to provide a healthy lifestyle for her family. But they also feel important to practice self-care for themselves. They take up their femininity as a role model for other women, inspiring others to follow them.

Strong women are intelligent, enthusiastic and mentally mature

As they have experienced a lot in life, they learn how to act with maturity. They know how to handle difficult situations by instilling their experience, knowledge and insight. Being mature, and self-confident about her strengths and abilities allow her to focus on her passions, leading towards   a prospective future.

Hence, a woman of character can be distinguished by her knowledge, wisdom and cognitive strengths. She is a real lady; a woman of substance with eminent qualities of being honest and sincere, loving, compassionate and resilient. Her core character strengths inspire the world. There’s something about her that you can’t quite put into words, but it’s as if a light shines wherever she goes and inspires those around her. So having these fabulous traits let her exhibit her feminine power and strong character to the world.

When Tragedy strikes your life

 

When Tragedy strikes your life

The Past Speaks by Geoff McCue narrates a fiction story where a technician invests hundreds of hours into studying time and it how it works. Upon close inspection, he conducts an experiment and decides to capture sounds in the form of echoes within enclosed spaces. Geoff McCue. He is a master fictional author who weaves a story with incredible and mind boggling details. With a degree in business and a minor in art, he set off into the world of sales and was successful at selling and installing equipment, and then training his customers about their use. But then he shifted his focus to writing.

       The story will help readers understand a new idea of ‘progress. It is not that technology is bad, we need to be ensured not to become a slave to it. Once, you have truly liberated yourself from the confines of our highly tech-oriented world, you will grant yourself the chance to choose for yourself. Consequently, you will feel an underlying sense of relief and inner contentment.

        The book describes that when the author discovered echo sounds, he became more enthusiastic and began to think of hiring a team of technicians to help him build a device to accomplish this goal. Having a team of dedicated and passionate individuals, they enthusiastically worked towards building the equipment. The book explains traumatic events could be death of family member or divorce, serious illness or domestic abuse.  Sometimes bad luck brings bad fortune. The grieved person is left with physical and mental agony, stress and dejection and sees no vision and strength to fight back into life. The coping skills and behavior in the book will help the tormented person     to gain strength and courage to go on and keep high faith that better days will come and enable us to live a self-fulfilled life.

Understanding Tragedy in your life

      When tragedy hits you, it seems the world throws a curve ball that knocks you down. The tormented incidents experienced by the person breaks him physically and emotionally, causing severe psychological distress. Traumatic events could be the death of a family member or a friend. Divorce, physical pain or injury or serious illness or domestic abuse; all of these can cause huge emotional suffering.  Some people believe that luck plays a part in bringing success in life. It happens that you invested more time and effort in your work, but in the end, you lost everything. As a result of this, you neither received recognition or reward for your hard work. Instead, you are left with physical and mental agony, stress and dejection. You keep wondering how life is unpredictable, how things happen that you had never thought of or prepared for. Bitter resentment strikes you to get indulged with unfortunate decision making or choices that bring unfavorable circumstances in your life.  These upsetting events were simply out of your control. Consequently, it seems as though the world is coming to an end. There is no future, and there is no hope for a better life. The initial shocking responses to a traumatic event includes sudden, dramatic mood changes, anxiety and nervousness, anger, depression and flashbacks of the tormented memories. The person needs support and time to recover from the traumatic event and regain emotional and mental stability.

How to Cope with tragedy in your life

• You are probably in survival mode, and you may still be in a state of shock. If your mind is racing to connect with the world, you may have trouble focusing on the events taking place in your surroundings. As your mind is still an emotional roller coaster, you may feel traumatized. In such circumstances, stay calm, slow down and take deep breathe.

• When things don’t always make sense, it can be exhausting. The human mind is like a computer in search mode, replaying what you have gone through in the past and uncovering every possible scenario in the present. When you are unable to figure out the results, take a break and relax

•      You need to be patient with yourself. Healing is a gradual process. It may make you feel weird to work at a slow pace at first, but you will see that it is for your benefit. When you take each step slowly and carefully, you get time to heal, and your system is trying to reconcile the fact that to endure the trauma, you need to believe and accept it. Instead of denying what has occurred, make efforts to face reality. This will keep you persistent and strong minded.
• 
  
•        Forgive yourself to have peace of mind. No matter how smart, resourceful, loving or organized you are, you cannot control your destiny. Life has its own terms, and certain things are just not in your control. Surrendering to them may give you sense of peace and mental comfort.
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•   Practice self-compassion and show yourself more patience, support and encouragement, to understand the complexities of life. As you remain calm, your body, mind, and spirit will nourish your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
• 
  
•        Practice healthy coping skills. It includes talking to a friend, going for a walk, or playing with your pet. Change bad habits like smoking or eating junk food and make a list of healthy coping skills that helps you to think positive. 
• 
  
•      Replaying your failure in your mind over and over again and pressuring yourself for the catastrophe may prolongs your suffering. Therefore, release all self-criticism and create a plan to move forward.  
• 
  
•     Keep the faith, strength and courage to face each new day. Writing new chapters of life after a devastating loss requires great courage and faith. Fighting your way back into life is a process. Be grateful to yourself for making efforts towards the journey of healing. You need to respect and appreciate yourself and try new things that make you feel overwhelmed.

Thus, tragedies and setbacks part of our lives. It is your fighting back into life matters. The coping skills helps you know when to surrender and how to move forward in life. 

You can learn more about how to deal with catastrophe and tragedies in life by reading the book, The Past Speaks!

The article has been written by Sadia Wali. She works as Senior Executive at ABTACH. She can be contacted at sadiawali@hotmail.com

innovations in education: Book Review "Becoming"

innovations in education: Book Review "Becoming": "One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from you...

Book Review "Becoming"

"One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals."

 

Book Review

Becoming

‘Michelle Obama’s memoir, ‘Becoming’ celebrates the diversity of thought. She invites the readers into her world to have an up-close look at her life. The book takes the readers seamlessly through three distinct phases of her life. It includes her incredible journey from humble beginnings in the less glamorous South Side of Chicago to the grandeur of the White House and her life as America’s first African-American First Lady. Michelle Obama, the first lady of the United States of America, has emerged as one of the most compelling women of our era. She became an advocate for women's rights in the U.S. and around the world.

The memoir recounts deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling of her early life, education, relationships, her time in the White House, and her impactful public health campaign. Her journey continues as she is on her way to the next phase of her life. She has not become what she aspires to be; she is still becoming.

The book begins with her reminiscences regarding her childhood days. The first phase is termed as Becoming Me in her memoir. Recounting her childhood events of innocence and exasperation, she narrated that during the era of 1960s, the South Side of Chicago experienced severe political instability and bloodshed where she grew up.  Her small family learned to cope with adversities and lived with simplicity. They resided in Parkway Gardens; it was an affordable housing project to help out the post–World War II housing shortage for black working-class families. After few years, the housing project was abandoned so they began to live in the neighborhood of their old friends, Robbie and Terry. When Michelle turned four, she developed an interest in learning music. Craig was already taking music lessons from Robbie. Learning music with Robbie was an exciting experience for Michelle; it aroused her passion to study music in depth. She believed that playing music gave her an enchanting feeling and helped her find deep relaxation.

The same year Robbie organised a thrilling live performance on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. A long drive to the place was enjoyable and fascinating for the whole family as Michelle recalled her fond memories. Recollecting the time when reached downtown for the piano recital, she was perplexed and anxious as she had to perform among a big audience. Wearing a beautiful dress with leather shoes and her hair in ponytails, she looked pretty and elegant. Regaining her nerves, she concentrated on the piano keys. The young Michelle enthralled the music lovers out there.The year 1969 reflects her childhood memories at Bryn Mawr Elementary School, where she began her kindergarten studies. Remembering her spelling activities, Michelle spelled out all the colours well except for the colour white that she found a bit difficult to pronounce. Being a sensitive she felt embarrassed about her inability to speak the word correctly in front of her classmates. Therefore, she practiced spelling several times while lying in her bed at night. The next morning she articulated the word with perfection. Mrs. Burroughs was overwhelmed by the confidence and devotion the little black girl showed while taking her lessons.

This part elucidates the family values and the quality time the family spends together. As Michelle recalled that her parents used to discuss different issues with their children. When she reached her teenage, her parents conferred on more serious issues about life choices, relationships, social and political issues. Michelle grew more mature and sensible as she reached the age of adolescence. The year 1981 depicted the fond memories of Michelle with her father driving across the flat highways towards Princeton University. She had to attend a special three-week summer orientation program at the university. Her engaging life at Princeton campus continued.

In the early 1980s, Michelle availed the hostel accommodation. She concentrated more on her studies, aiming to improve her knowledge and skills. To manage university expenditures, Michelle never expected her parents to help her, instead she found a work-study job at TWC, Czerny Brasuell. The job helped her to meet the financial expenses. At the same time, she decided to acquire a unique profession in the future. Therefore, she opted to study law from Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, Michelle joined a law firm called Sidley & Austin. It is at the office of Sidley & Austin, she happened to meet her future husband, Barack Obama.

  "Choose people who lift you up." said Michelle Obama

The second part of the book, Becoming Us deals with Michelle and Barak Obama’s friendship that bolstered closeness and intimacy between them. She introduced Barack Obama to her family. Barack was pleased to meet her family and had a little chat with Michelle’s father. To Michelle’s father, Barack was a practical-minded, sensible, and mature man.The same year, 1989, at Christmas time, Barack Obama took Michelle to Hawaii to meet his family. She felt comfortable with them and was impressed by their modest family background.

 She writes about Obama,

“What truly made me fall in love with Barack Obama was his character. You hear me? It was his character. It was his decency, his honesty, his compassion and conviction."

 “Barack intrigued me. He was not like anyone I’d dated before, mainly because he seemed so secure. He was openly affectionate. He told me I was beautiful. He made me feel good. To me, he was sort of like a unicorn—unusual to the point of seeming almost unreal. He never talked about material things, like buying a house or a car or even new shoes. His money went largely toward books, which to him were like sacred objects, providing ballast for his mind.”

 We came to know about a great tragedy that occurred in Michelle’s family. Her father’s health deteriorated. The pain in his feet worsened and was admitted to a hospital in Chicago. Michelle remembered the most nerve-wracking moments for the whole family. Her dear father was sinking away. She helplessly watched him in severe pain. Alas! Tears rolled down her cheeks, he kissed her hand, and thus he breathes his last.

The next year, October 1992, the marriage ceremony of Barack Obama and Michelle took place at Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago. The wedding was attended by their relatives, family friends, and colleagues. According to her,

"Marriage is a choice you make every day. You don’t do it because it’s easy. You do it because you believe in it. You believe in the other person." 

Michelle explained the challenges she faced during her married life. She resumed her services at the city hall as an assistant commissioner. Her responsibility was to get connected with the city’s departments, including health and human services. Meanwhile, Barack Obama began a part-time teaching job at the University of Chicago. 

Besides pursing their careers, the couple decided to go for a family way. It was in the year 1998, the 4th of July, Michelle gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Malia. Michelle experienced memorable moments of motherhood in raising her daughter, Malia. In the year, June 10, 2001, Michelle was blessed with the second daughter named Natasha. Michelle continued to enjoy motherhood activities and responsibilities and cherished the time spend with her toddlers.

As she said, “When I get up and work out, I'm working out just as much for my girls as I am for me, because I want them to see a mother who loves them dearly, who invests in them, but who also invests in herself. It's just as much about letting them know as young women that it is okay to put yourself a little higher on your priority list.”

 Being a career-minded lady, Michelle planned to have a modern partnership with Barack Obama that enabled them to manage their life, career, and family. Therefore, she opted for a full-time job at the University Of Chicago Medical Center. She worked as an executive director for community affairs, while her young babies were looked after a full-time housekeeper. Working as a fulltime mother and balancing work and home was indeed a challenging task for this energetic lady. Sometimes, she lost patience and grew agitated since Barak was working in Springfield, and she had to manage things alone.

"It has to be a true partnership, and you have to really, really like and respect the person you're married to because it is a hard road." — Michelle Obama

At another moment she said, “That's what marriage is about. Not the big, splashy stuff. It's just the little day-to-day sharing and routines and rituals that we still have." — Michelle Obama

Expressing his deepest love for Michelle, Barack Obama said,

"We’ve been married now twenty years, and like every marriage you have your ups and you have your downs, but if you work through the tough times, the respect and love that you feel deepens." — Barack Obama

 

This section also relates to Michelle’s experience of successfully managing election campaigns held in February 2008 at Iowa, Wisconsin, and Texas. During campaign in 2014 at Topeka High School commencement speech, she said,

 "Every day, you have the power to choose our better history — by opening your hearts and minds, by speaking up for what you know is right."

 On 4th November 2008, Barack Obama and Michelle cast the vote at Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School in Chicago. The election day seemed too long and nerve-racking for them. They desperately watched the election results as though the initial results were relatively confusing. It was around 10 pm the media announced the victory of Barack Hussein Obama. He was officially declared as the forty-fourth president of the United States. The victory was celebrated by more than 200,000 people who excitedly waited at the park to meet their victorious leader.

The last part of the book, Becoming More describes her experience at the white House, her political activities and community development works. Michelle was overwhelmed to play her part as the First Lady at the White House. Life at the White House was surprisingly different from the lifestyle they lived in Chicago. It was an exalted experience for the president and the First Lady to get a protocol at the White House. In her memoir, she explained the pros and cons of VIP treatment and how it hampered her private life. She aimed to live a normal and regular life like others such as, enjoying Thanksgiving holiday, family dinners and attending social events and recreational activities. She strongly opposed the publication of the photos of her family on social media since it disturbed her privacy.

Some memorable foreign tours Michelle remembered that highly fascinated her. The first international trip was made to meet the Queen of England. Michelle was overwhelmed to meet the Queen and felt glorified for the privilege provided to them at Buckingham Palace. She also remembered her visit with Nelson Mandela Foundation headquarters in Johannesburg. It was a brief yet, memorable meeting.

During the presidential phases of their life, Barack faced various challenging tasks .Michelle supported the Barack administration in meeting their tasks. The first priority was to capture Osama bin Laden and to end up the economic crisis in the country. Speaking at G 20 Summit, she said, 

“Whether you come from a council estate or a country estate, your success will be determined by your own confidence and fortitude."

She launched a health care awareness campaign for the parents and helped the schools to access healthy and high-quality food for children. Looking back to her fond memories in the year 2011, she remembered her passionate vision of empowering young girls. She initiated a mentoring program at the White House. 

Her speech during her visit to Africa in 2013 highlights her idea of girl’s empowerment. "When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous."

 Another major political event was the reelection of Barack Obama. He was elected to a second presidential term on November 6th, 2012. The second term was more challenging and, he vowed to take necessary steps to stop violence and protect US citizens. Obama and Michelle initiated an educational campaign worldwide, known as Let Girls Learn. The campaign aimed at providing greater access to education to young girls and enabled them to choose a better career.

 Speaking at the Summit of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders 2014, she said, "No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half its citizens."

During his last tenure in the year 2015, Barack Obama showed a strong commitment to people. By the year 2016, Barack Obama and Michelle moved to their new house in Washington since Sasha had to complete her high school. While Malia was in her way to finish her graduation. Michelle beheld that they were the forty-fourth First Family who enjoyed blissful moments and had a splendid time at the White House.

Her speech at Democratic National Convention 2012 depicts her love for her family. "My most important title is "mom-in-chief". My daughters are still the heart of my heart and the centre of my world."

At a Democratic National Convention in 2016, she said,"With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents, are their most important role models."

With tears, they left the White House but continued to serve the nation with devotion and fervor. They launched Let’s Move! Active Schools program to improve the health of school-going kids. Furthermore, various foundations and campaigns established by them are still providing social and educational support to underprivileged girls across the world.

During her final speech as a first lady, “You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms... you need to be preparing yourself to add your voice to our national conversation."

 Ending her memoir with strong inner conviction, she narrated that Barack Obama was a leader of leaders, his affiliation with Americans has interminably grew with time. People still show great reverence to him and wish to work and collaborate with him at every platform. Addressing the nation, they said that they have lived as a nation and will continue their efforts gracefully. With a sense of progress, the change Barack and Michelle aspire to bring across the globe would hopefully yield astounding results in the near future.

 Becoming inspires the readers as they found it  a warm, intimate coming-of-age story of a strong-minded girl who grew up to become one of the most powerful and influential black women in the country. It is filled with determination, love of family and many subtle and not-so-subtle lessons about being female, black, and black and female in America. She talks openly about things that many people are uncomfortable discussing. The book shows her concerns as worries that derive from the universal anxieties of marriage and motherhood. Still, Becoming is satisfying for the quiet moments in which Mrs. Obama, the woman who supported a black man named Barack all the way to the presidency, gets to let down her hair and breathe as Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, girl of the South Side. Thus, Michelle Obama gives us endearing, insightful, honest memories that taught us how to attain the journey to success. This book was eye-opening and inspiring, giving us a glimpse into how much effort it takes to lead a glorious successful life.

An extract from her book, 'Becoming' says,

“Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.”