Be All You Can Be
Pulling from Military Themes to help you In in Life, Love, Marriage and Family.
Good Tuesday morning, Icons,
We are back for another newsletter to bless your hearts and minds.
We pray that you’ve reached your November goals in life, love, family and marriage.
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Be All You Can Be
Just like one of our other newsletters, we are pulling from my U.S. Army experience to give you tips to better your life so your social empire that thrives.
“An Army of One” is a slogan that the Army used that I discussed previously and “Army Strong” was the motto when I was in.
We talked about how to use that in your marriage to be one team.
Today’s post talks about another slogan that has stuck with me and is in current rotation again, “Be All You Can Be”, the 1982 slogan.
"Be All That You Can Be" was the recruiting slogan of the United States Army for over twenty years.[4] Earl Carter (pen-name, E.N.J. Carter) working for the N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency as a Senior Copywriter created the "Be All You Can Be" theme line in 1980.[5] In January 2003, the U.S. Army awarded Carter its Outstanding Civilian Service Award.[6] Carter's original concept sheet, with words "Be All That You Can Be", is now part of a permanent collection at the US Army Heritage Center Foundation.
In 2023, The U.S Army decided to bring back the slogan for newer recruitment campaigns. Slogans of the United States Army - Wikipedia
This is an interesting slogan for a girl who never had it in her to serve in the military.
What is particularly unique about my service is that I was just going in to pay for college. And I wasn’t fit to do it. I had to go through months of gym work and motivation from my recruiter to lose weight to even get in and had to get in on an overweight waiver.
And I don’t shy from telling you all this story.
Because once in, other mantras were used to inspire me to be more.
The Army didn’t care if I wanted to go to school or I wanted to be a hero, all it cared about is if I met their standards and passed their tests.
I didn’t grow up athletic. I was more interested in academics believing focusing on that skillset would make me more successful. My grades were high, and I was a high achiever on written tests and oral schoolwork.
Being fit was not me. Yet, “I” was going to the military.
And I did.
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Was I all that I could be? No.
I had no other option but to “Be All that I could be” in the Army. My goal to go back to college and something more was that serious to me.
You see, our destinies are just ideas if we don’t get up and go after them.
And that is also true about our social empires, our legacies and who we marry.
Marriage isn’t something that just happens to us, it is intentional. Winning is the same.
Winners never win on accident. Being all that you can help you get to your destiny, even as a couple. You must decide to win and make it happen.
What ways can I be all that I can be in my marriage and ensure success?
Have A Vision
Make A Mission Statement
Financial Planning
Communicate Effectively
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Having A Vision
I lived in the inner city of Baltimore and even with both my parents working we had it tough growing up. And I was set on doing more with my life.
And at the time the Army recruiter was in my house, I had failed being jobless, hopeless and directionless. There was no college, no husband and nothing in store for me. I had to do something with myself on I’d stay on that couch the rest of my life.
What was my life’s goals? My vision was to be more, and I went after it through joining the military.
And I had to “Be All That I could Be” in order to call myself a soldier. It was tough boot camp training me to jump, climb, and run. I was doing things I never saw in myself to achieve what I desired.
That decision is how I met my husband who was another solider in my unit. Deciding to live my vision paid off big time.
What is your Vision for your marriage?
A vision is an idea of where you want to go and where you want to end up.
You will never be your all if you can be without a direction, a path to follow.
Questions to ask for your Vision Planning:
What do I want in a spouse?
What kind of life will we build together?
Where do we want to live?
DO we want children?
What kind of dreams do we have for our future?
Mission Statement
Marriage is a business. You can make a mission statement just as CEOs and business owners do.
Business owners leave nothing to chance, nothing is a coincidence when you plan goals around the mission statement.
Your marriage should be and can be the same way.
A marriage mission statement is a powerful tool that helps couples align their actions and decisions with their shared vision for their life together.
Writing a marriage mission statement can lead to better communication, alignment of values, and a stronger foundation for the marriage.
The process involves reflecting on individual values and goals, identifying shared values and goals, and crafting a concise and specific mission statement.
Implementing the mission statement involves displaying it prominently, referring to it regularly, and seeking accountability.
Regularly revisiting and updating the mission statement is essential to ensure that it continues to reflect the couple’s evolving dreams and aspirations. Crafting Your Marriage Mission Statement: A Guide To Writing Your
An example of a family/marital mission statement is,
“Our marriage will be founded on acceptance of one another’s differences, while always striving to ensure mutual respect and understanding. We will always remain committed to being open and honest in communication and honoring each other’s feelings and emotions.”
A mission statement doesn’t negate your vows. It helps position you two to meet them.
Financial Planning
Being all that you can be in your marriage takes a written budget and a financial plan. Failure to do so will derail your mission and vision because of money troubles.
Not being on the same page of money will crush your household and will send your marriage in a spiral.
And if you don’t have a financial plan of some kind, when one or both of you pass, you can set your loved up ones for legal woes, infighting and court pain.
Financial planning can be done in any number of ways. But the most important thing the two of you need to do is to be on one accord.
You will decide who works inside and outside the home, how allowances and bills are paid on time, and to get out of debt if you aren’t on your wedding day.
Being Debt free makes a lot of the financial strain on a marriage go away.
Whatever you decide to make sure you two tell your money what to do and where to go, not be slaves to your debtors.
“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.” Psalms 13:22
Communicate Effectively
Great leaders are concise in their orders, specific in their directions and work to serve the people in their charge.
A couple must be master communicator by being effective leaders. They tell each other their needs, wants and desires clearly enough so the other gets it.
Importantly, communication isn’t a one-sided event. The receiver must also do their part by understanding what the messenger sends and knowing what is expected of them.
Withholding thoughts because of feelings, making assumptions and not consulting each other on big plans is not good teamwork. You will look like you only care about yourself.
Effective communication demonstrates that you love and care for your spouse, want to win in the relationship and value what they have to contribute to the family.
It is a tool to show you love them.
When two people aren’t communicating effectively they are essentially not on the same page.
Without great communication, a vision, a mission statement or financial plan won’t work.
Tips for successful marital communication are as follows:
Be present in the conversation.
Have serious talks immediately and without distractions.
You don’t have to agree but agree to hear them out and listen.
Make sure you don’t bring biases and assumptions into the conversation.
If you promise to move on from something, actually do that.
Check in often with your spouse.
Forgive often and extend Grace and Mercy that you wish to receive.
Be All You Can
When you promise to marry someone for life, you want to show up 100% not 50/50.
The words, love, honor and cherish in the vows have no meaning if they aren’t backed up by your actions.
You should have observed your spouse’s actions while you were dating, consulted your elders and used discernment to see if they were a fit for you.
Promising to build a social empire with them means you thought they were the best option to help you to do just that.
Marriage is a 24/7 thing, and you be at your best to win.
“Be All You Can Be” in your marriage and remember to always be Iconic.
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