The Mid-Year Check-In: Intention, Execution, and Becoming Proud of Yourself

At the beginning of the year, I chose two words to guide me: intention and execution. At the time, they felt strong, focused, and necessary.  They were not just words that sounded good in theory; they were meant to shift how I moved through my life. I was tired of carrying ideas that never turned into action, tired of calling things “goals” that never left my head, and most of all, tired of knowing there was more in me without fully showing up for it.

I did not want another year of almost. I wanted alignment, movement, and the kind of consistency that builds a life I can be proud of while I am living it—not just when I look back.

Now, six months into the year, I find myself in a space that feels both reflective and revealing. This is the part no one really talks about: the middle. Not the excitement of starting, and not yet the celebration of finishing, but the in-between where the real work of becoming happens.

The Intention-Execution Balance

The thing about intention and execution is that they really do need each other. Intention without execution can easily turn into overthinking, where every idea is analyzed but very few are acted on. Execution without intention, on the other hand, can look like progress on the outside while internally feeling scattered, disconnected, and misaligned.

So this year, I have been trying to practice both. I have been trying to be intentional with my time, my energy, my ideas, and my decisions so that when I do move, I am not just moving for the sake of being busy. I am moving with purpose.

Finding a Foundation in the Early Hours

One of the biggest places this showed up for me was in my mornings.

For whatever reason, I naturally wake up around 5 a.m. I am not sure why I am up before Jesus, but I am. Every single day. Most mornings, I am awake somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00, whether I want to be or not. I used to hate it, especially because I don’t usually go to sleep until midnight or a little after. It felt unfair, honestly. Like my body had signed me up for an early shift that I never agreed to. But eventually, I had to stop fighting what kept happening and start asking how I could work with it.

Those early hours became a foundation, not because they were perfect, but because they were consistent. Some mornings were focused and productive, while others felt slower and less clear. Every morning, I made a conscious effort to do something small that my future self would look back on and be proud of.

Small Moments, Major Impact

That looked like writing when I did not feel inspired, organizing ideas that had been sitting untouched, brainstorming menus, mapping out business plans, or simply putting structure to my thoughts so they no longer lived as noise in my mind. And now, six months in, I can look back and say that those small intentional moments have added up.

What once felt like scattered effort has taken shape in meaningful ways. Over the last six months, I have successfully balanced several distinct creative avenues under one central umbrella, GCB Enterprises, LLC. I wrote, designed, and published a digital guided journal titled In The Middle Of Becoming, created a space to share my reflections through MbraceTheJourney.com, stepped outside of my comfort zone to perform spoken word publicly. I have curated experiences through Savory Soul Kitchen. I have begun building my clientele in a more intentional way while diving into recipe development for a modern soul food cookbook. Simultaneously, I continued fulfilling custom orders for handcrafted home décor and apparel through Goddess Creations Boutique, alongside managing graphic design projects under GCB Designz.

When I write it all out, I realize that this has not been a small year at all.

The Power of Noticing Your Becoming

From the inside, it didn’t always feel significant. Sometimes we are so close to our own lives that we don’t give ourselves enough credit. We see the unfinished list before we see the progress. We tend to fixate on what remains unfinished and minimize what has already required discipline, courage, and consistency. We move the goalpost on ourselves so quickly that we forget to pause and say, “Wait a minute. I really did that.”

That’s why a mid-year check-in matters. It’s not just about measuring productivity. It's about noticing your becoming. It’s about looking at the version of yourself who started the year and honoring the ways she kept showing up, even when she was tired, unsure, overwhelmed, or still figuring things out.

Because growth does not always show up as something loud or easily visible. Sometimes it looks like setting boundaries you avoided before. Sometimes it looks like showing up consistently in small ways. Sometimes it is the decision to let something go, to start again, or to admit that you want more for your life than what you have been settling for.

All of that counts.

Shifting Your Perspective

Progress isn’t always defined by milestones; often, it is shaped by the quiet decisions you continue making when no one else is watching.

Before you move forward into the second half of the year, I want you to pause - not to judge yourself, but to acknowledge yourself. Look at what you have navigated, what you have started, what you have sustained, and even what you are still finding the courage to begin.

Do not dismiss it because it feels small. Do not shrink it because someone else may not understand it. Do not talk yourself out of celebrating just because there is still more to do.

Small things add up. Quiet decisions add up. Early mornings add up. One page, one idea, one meal, one phone call, one boundary, one brave step at a time.

Then ask yourself a different question. Not “why am I not further ahead?” but “how have I already been becoming?”

From that place of awareness, consider what your next step requires of you - not from pressure, but from intention paired with action. Because you are still in process, still unfolding, still shaping something meaningful one decision at a time.

And if you need a space to slow down, reflect, and get honest about where you are and where you are going, I invite you into that work more deeply.

Ready to change your momentum? If you are tired of dreaming out loud and ready to start building, read the full story of how I stopped drifting and locked in my action plan. [Read: Intention + Execution]

MBrace Moment

Take a quiet moment to sit with yourself and reflect on the first half of this year. Ask yourself what you have done, shifted, survived, or started that deserves to be acknowledged. Let yourself be honest about where you have grown, even if that growth felt small, slow, or private.

Then ask yourself, what is one intentional step you want to carry into the next six months. Not ten steps. Not a perfect plan. Just one meaningful next step that your future self will thank you for.