Are you a pageant contestant who can’t seem to win the crown? You get awfully close, going home with Miss Congeniality or a runner up trophies each time, but most of all you go home with discouragement and doubt from not winning? It can be easy to want to give up, stop competing, and throw in the towel. But quitters never win, and winners don’t quit. Stay motivated, keep envisioning the crown on your head, and work your hardest.

1. Blog About It.
   When you finally win a title, and you will, you will want to track all your appearances and achievements on a blog or public social media page. There is no reason why you can’t start a blog now, and track everything leading up to the crown! In order to achieve effective personal branding, you never want to have your blog linked to your title. This limits when you can write, and what you can write about. But forming a blog around you as a public figure, or your platform, you now have the freedom to write before and after any titles you acquire.
   Blogging about your accomplishments, even before a title, will help you stay motivated. You will not only be able to leave a paper trail of the events you are attending, with pictures of the lives you are impacting, but you now have interview ammunition.
2. Make a Vision Board- Or Vision Journal
   Sometimes we get so caught up in the competition that we forget why we are competing. Is it the crown and trophies we want? Or is it the ability to say we beat out a dozen other girls? Do we have a passion for our platform, or did we make that up just for the title? Writing down your goals and including why they are important will help to keep you on track. Set goals with deadlines, so you are able to check them off when they are achieved.
   Decorate your vision board with stickers, washi tape, motivational quotes, and pictures. Then hang the vision board up on the fridge or by your bed. When you see the board you will remember what you are working for, and what you need to do to achieve it.
3. Transformation Tuesday
   It might seem silly to think that posting a side by side picture of two stages in your life could actually motivate you, but it really can. Maybe not a baby picture compared to a picture from now, but consider a #TT Picture from your first pageant to your last. Or a picture from evening gown or swimsuit from each of your last pageants. You  will always be your biggest critic, and your mind plays tricks on you. You may not be able to see your personal growth from the inside, because you are busy picking out your flaws. Seeing Before and Now pictures side by side will really spark the ability to see growth between where you came from and where you are now. Imagine what your next picture in the series will look like. It just might have a crown.
4. Embrace the Sisterhood
   We joke that sisterhood is the invisible 5th Point of the Crown, but why not take that for what it’s worth? Find a pageant pal and work together. Friendship is important, more important than winning, and can really boost your mood. Attend events together, to go the gym together, practice current event questions. You may think that helping your friend out will sabotage you in the end. What if she wins and I don’t?  As a friend, you will support her just like always. But think about if you win, and she doesn’t. Wouldn’t you expect the same support from her? Sisterhood is more than just a friendship, its a bond through thick and thin. Help each other succeed, and you will both be successful.