Prepare yourself...

One last message about making 2025 New Year resolutions – it’s good to start the year with goals. While most of us won’t be world champions at anything, we each can be the best of who we are. Setting goals that you can focus on each day is the best way to prepare for a positive, successful, and/or great year. It’s not about winning something, or losing inches, it’s about getting up each day with a positive attitude, feeling good about yourself, achieving what you realistically can, and leaving things better than you found them. It’s not about making a killing at something but rather making a positive impact. Whether you’re all by yourself or part of a team, this kind of positive, resilient, can-do attitude allows you to start fresh and finish well. It’s not too late to decide where and how to point yourself and what you want to get out of 2025. Don’t do whatever it is for anyone else – do it for you. Easy or hard, long-term or short, big or small. Do it now because if you fail to prepare for the year ahead, you’re prepared to fail. So, make your New Year’s resolution(s) today.

 

Mark Andrew Spitz (born 1950): American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion.

Put your shoulder to the wheel...

Let’s get back to talking about teams (after the last two messages about the New Year).  Collaboration starts long before the action – everyone involved in working together must first go through extensive training, practicing, and coaching. But once the action begins – whether it’s a team sport, business project, or group effort, experience and instinct take over. In sports, there’s a coach on the sideline and a captain on the field – like a leader at work, they make sure everyone is ready. The group then follows the plan, improvises as needed, and does their best to achieve the objective. An example is a restaurant – the employees train individually and then together, they practice getting prepared, they conduct pre-shift meetings to get any updates, and when the guests arrive the cooks and servers and bussers and bartenders act instinctively without much in the way of direct supervision. Because in that situation, collaboration has no hierarchy. Because self-motivation and self-direction kick in. Most teams follow up after a game or shift to review what occurred, learn more about themselves and each other, and adjust as needed. When it’s working you can see it in the flow and participant’s faces. The key to all of this is (1) training and (2) coaching – make sure you do those things to help your team achieve its goals today.

 

Amit Ray (born 1960): Indian author and "spiritual master". He is known for his teachings on meditation, yoga, peace, and compassion.