I always pay attention when a topic comes up more than once in my client discussions or networking chats because those tend to be good topics to ensure we cover here together.  This week, the focus was on knowing when to walk away from something (a job, a relationship, a hobby, a dream, etc.) even though you may still love parts of it.  When topics like this arise, I recommend people read Annie Duke's most recent book, Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away.

Earlier this week, the song, Stuck In My Way by Lauren Watkins, came on my XM radio station.  The song is focused on coming out of a relationship, but it made me think about our habits. 

Are we stuck in our ways as a good thing (healthy habits and practices), or are we stuck doing things the way we've always done them because it's easier than figuring out what to do next or dealing with the fear of leaving our comfort zone?

Change often happens slowly, so we don’t notice that we have made progress. If we think about our kids, we may not realize how much they've grown until we're away for a week, or we look back at pictures from six months ago and recognize that they have changed. Or we think about the time we're putting in at the gym, and suddenly, we notice that we have more arm definition when we decide to wear a sleeveless top.

The holiday season is wrapping up, and this week between Christmas and New Year's is always the time I spend more time reflecting on what I wanted from the year and what the reality ended up being.

I wrote this article last year at this time, and the message seems to still fit pretty well so am sharing it again.

Over the past week (now a year), ChatGPT has been in many of my social media feeds and has been highlighted by a few people. I was impressed when I checked out its capabilities.

As I mentioned last week, my daughter moved into her new freshman dorm last week and is getting acclimated to this new chapter in her life journey. As I've been following Facebook posts in a parents group for students, I've seen a lot of messaging about children who are struggling with making the adjustment to a new environment. I had a sense my daughter was doing ok from the quick texts she had sent, but I finally got a chance for a live conversation on Thursday.

I mentioned what I was seeing, and she was pretty blunt as she often is with her perspective.

This week brings another change in our household. Both of our kids have finished their summer jobs at the beach and have transitioned into their new "homes" for the year. The good news for me is that they'll actually be closer while in school than they've been this summer which means I may get some ad hoc meals with them throughout the semester.

Recently, I heard the phrase "Covid cloud" about how we've been making decisions in our personal and professional lives. Every choice is filtered with thoughts about Covid's implications for ourselves and others. If you spend just a few minutes thinking about it, you'll realize how many decisions have this filter in them.

How often have you heard yourself responding to the question “how are you?” with “I’m fine, just busy.” If you’re like me, this was my answer for such a high percentage of my professional career. My other regular response that got a bit closer to how I was feeling was, “I’m fine, just tired.”

Depending on where in the world you are located, you may be seeing the world start reopening – maybe in small ways, maybe in big ways. As we go through this transition, we’re all going to have different ways of experiencing it so it’s important to start thinking about stepping up to the new starting line. Yes, I know that life is not a race to the finish line, but it’s helpful to consider that we are stepping up to something new.