Moving the Needle

Do you know what's great about life? You live, and you learn! After ankle surgery, diving into rehabing, back to work, and the end of a school term made me fall off the blogging wagon for a few weeks. But, a few great friends have reminded me to get in gear. I've learned that (as we discussed in the personal mission statement blog), it's my responsibility to direct my life and priorities. So I'm granting myself some grace and picking back up!

A lot is happening with the holiday season upon us...family, planning, cooking, cleaning, the list goes on and on. The irony is this the time of year we always hope to relax, revive, and prepare for the year ahead. Somehow, I always manage to look back wondering how I achieved none of those objectives as I roll back into work commencing a new year. For more on this, check out the awesome podcast by Chirsty Wright about finding balance.

The Huffington Post claims only 8% of New Year's Resolutions succeed. That is a terrible return on our best-planned investment! We plan, with the best of intentions, and BAM! What happened? Another year is over and another shame-ridden disappointment is upon us. I'm so guilty of this too.

In all seriousness....no really. Okay, maybe not totally.

The GGJSC just launched an aggressive and exciting 5-year strategic plan a couple weeks ago, in which our organization will focus on building new events, resourcing our local event promoters, spreading the awareness of our organization, and a variety of other objectives. Our team and board of directors are pumped to begin implementing these tactics and bring the benefits to fruition in our community. 

One thing I learned through the help of our amazing consultants from the Huddle Up Group, is that lining out a huge list of objectives is well and good, but narrowing the focus to what they call "Powers of 3" can yield more direct results. Here is a great blog Huddle Up Group's Founder and CEO, Jon Schmeider, wrote about the Powers of 3 in leadership development, exemplifying this concept. 

So as you head into the new year, what are the three things you want to focus on - perhaps both personally and professionally - that will help yield progress in place of shame or guilt? We talked about personal mission statements a few weeks ago, and this is a great opportunity to revisit those and tie actionable items to them.

For me, sharing and teaching through writing is an objective important to both my personal and professional life. So here I am, sitting at Starbucks on my first day off for Christmas, dusting myself off and taking a step to ensure at this time next year I'm not looking back at how I let another goal fall by the wayside. I commit that while I know it won't be perfect, I will be better, writing to advance my personal mission statement of using my skills and talents as God desires to positively impact the people and world around me.

Remember, "The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become." - Harold Taylor

This has been Stoll on Sports. Merry Christmas!