By: Ben Peterson, PT – Chief Executive Officer, Partner
Welcome 2024!
How many of you broke out a new desktop or wall calendar this year? Maybe you are still one of those who finds value in keeping the ol’ paper calendar. The majority of us now carry our calendars in hand, or even wear them strapped around our wrist. It’s extremely convenient to have the calendar, phone books, search engines, flashlights, cameras, and endless apps all within our cell phone or smart watch. I don’t have a paper calendar in the office anymore myself, as I am on my laptop and cell phone so often.
However, my family still has our trusty full-sized calendar book at home. Yeah, we are old-school! That calendar sits on the island in the center of our kitchen for all to see and make their additions to. One of my perpetual New Year’s resolutions is to do a much better job of actually writing my personal appointments on the family calendar. It has not been uncommon for me to receive multiple friendly reminders that I failed to write something down on the schedule. Additionally, the most common response when asking where someone will be tomorrow or next week is: “Have you looked at the calendar lately?”
As I think about it, our paper calendar actually may be the most important document in the entire house.
Everyone can see everyone’s schedules for the entire month, and we can even see it all at the same time by gathering around the kitchen island. The organization queen of our home has us exactly where she wants us when we are all looking at the calendar at the same time: “Choir concert next Thursday evening at 6:30PM, everyone got it?” I sure hope so, and there will be absolutely no need for the red challenge flag to be thrown later on if someone makes the grave mistake of challenging where they were supposed to be, or when they were supposed to be there. BAM!
Organization. Communication. Prioritization. Accountability. Focus. Execution. Words we often talk about this time of year, and things we all want to get better at. That’s a lot of words. Can we wrap all those words into one? It’s a challenge, but I think we can do it…
TEAMWORK!!
Successfully executing a game plan for anything does not happen without outstanding teamwork. And, outstanding teamwork cannot and will not happen without a clear and visible game plan, keeping us focused on where and when we are supposed to go.
So, for whatever it is that you want to achieve this year:
- Have you written it down in the right place for you to keep it in focus?
- Have you gathered those key players around you to see it?
- Did you take time to look at it together, as a team?
- And every once in a while, when needed – will you ask, “Have you looked at the calendar lately?”
Wishing you all great success in achieving your goals in 2024!!
