I’ve done a recap of business wins this year, and my team shared a list of personal wins. This holiday season I spent some time thinking about my favorite experiences and accomplishments this year. I thought about the people who’ve made my life better this year and my favorite moments. Some are more personal while some are related to my work — the best touch both parts of my life. I’m happy to capture them here and I hope you’ll share some of your favorites with me.
Several of my favorites this year include running, but my top favorite related to running is the wonderful, supportive, encouraging group I meet with to run regularly: The Running Buds. Our Facebook group now includes more than 300 people, with small groups meeting regularly to run. This year I ran with the Buds on early summer mornings and on many (most) Saturdays. I ran with the Buds on my birthday. I joined the Buds for runs to kick-off holidays and even waited out a thunderstorm one fall morning. So much of my joy this year came in being strong with these friends, and I’m grateful for the way running has strengthened (and started) friendships this year. Without the Buds, I might have quit my marathon training, but the patient companionship of these ladies inspired me to continue, especially in the most difficult moments. Running Buds, you are my favorites this year!
Other running favorites: my 2nd run across the Golden Gate Bridge, running on Dillon Beach, my 2nd marathon, running with our web developer as he completed his first 5K run, watching my daughter Natalie run cross country.
Moving the business out of my home is another favorite this year. By mid-year, I often had 4-6 people in and out of my home on weekdays. Book shipments filled our home with extra cardboard and paper messes. When we leased office space and set up a physical office, I gained a new sense of peace and order at home and we created new powerful collaboration opportunities in the office.
In the office transition, our family completed a home renovation, creating a library in our seldom-used living room. This new room is one of my favorites of 2015. We all enjoy the room more; it’s a perfect quiet cozy retreat.
On a snowy, February day, a casual conversation on a school field trip led to my hiring a new team member who has contributed to our company in fantastic ways this year. Jessica’s start to work at Weaving Influence began as spontaneous impulse and probably broke every rule of careful hiring practice. In developing my business, I’ve often hired or vetted team members in non-traditional ways, with great results. This year, three past team members re-joined our company. Welcoming them back has been comforting and seamless. The people of Weaving Influence, including Jessica and the 13 other talented people who joined (or re-joined) our team this year, are my favorites.
Some of my favorite moments always include work travel. Though I traveled less this year than in years past, I loved the time I spent presenting LinkedIn training in January in Florida, my yearly trip to the Berrett-Koehler book marketing event, the #WITour, and wrapping the year with a trip to Dillon Beach, CA to begin new consulting work with some wonderful people.
So many favorites. What were your favorites this year?
I have too had a great year with some stand out moments – many related to work. Work wins always fuel personal wins for me. In the work wins category it is difficult to extract specific points that stand out – aside from having the opportunity to meet with team members in person on two separate occasions. What stands out more for me really is having a consistent work opportunity, and being able to joyfully look forward to serving with our clients and team members each and every day.
Although my wife and did not take a real vacation this yeart, this year’s success at work allowed me to accomplish some larger than life tasks/goals. I was also to travel to Florida on three separate occasions to celebrate my father’s life with friends and family. This included an exceptional day of snorkeling – one of my favorite things to do – in the Florida Keys.
In my personal life I was able to clear some long-term debt and free up resources through the closing of my Father’s estate to allow my wife to begin to immigrate to the United States. This means that 2016 will be full of new horizons for both her and I; all at once challenging, exciting, and honestly – a little scary.
Why? Well change – even little change – puts me on the defensive sometimes, however I attribute that to my background in risk-management. I am programmed to look at worst-case scenario first. It’s a good thing to know about me and a point of view that can be an asset. The pendulum always swings back to a realistic center when given sufficient time to analyse the ramifications of change.
This was also a year of physical change for me, having made the decision to lead a healthy, less sedentary lifestyle. My wife and I committed to a gym membership and stuck with a program which included lots of cardio-vascular activities and some light weight training. For me this resulted is losing 25 pounds. There were dietary changes as well, we admittedly we strayed from towards the end of the year. However we are committed to continue on this path of positivity as we begin again in 2016.
There is more, but it is just too much to list and contemplate all at once. Suffice it to say, we are thankful, happy and in a better place – and looking forward to building on a strong foundation in year to come.
Hmmm….your post has me thinking. This isn’t a comprehensive list, but off the top of my head …. it may be an odd thing to be a “favorite,” but the whole incident at the beginning of the school year when I had a concern about a choice the school had made about a reading assignment … a choice which I felt threatened freedom to choose and went to the heart of the fact that our children need to be exposed to people and things that are not always “like them” confirmed that I WILL speak up when a wrong has been done — I worry about not being assertive enough but in this case I think the school principal would laugh at that idea! // I also got to go to NYC twice. It’s my happy place, so twice in one year with one of the trips being a fellowship which covered my travel costs was almost more bounty than I can bear. I am blessed in many ways (one of which is my relationship with WI!).