When I was growing up, I remember all of the wonderful stories my grandpa would tell me about traveling the world. He took most of these trips alone, a few with my grandma and sometimes my mom tagged along. He worked for the military his entire professional career and had the opportunity to travel the world. The majority of his travels started later in life and he spent several years in retirement traveling abroad.

Throughout my life, I heard stories from my grandpa about his adventures. He cruised the world three times with my grandma and one of these trips involved champagne for everyone onboard when my oldest cousin was born. I just imagined champagne going spraying everyone on that ship. He told me about trips to Asia, Central America and South America and loved the different cultures that he experienced.

By the time I was born, he was fluent in several languages and taught English as a second language to non-English speakers. He told me that he learned by not being a tourist but immersing himself into the culture. He made lifetime friends that he considered his extended family.

My grandpa’s adventures enthralled me. I could not wait to hear his stories and see what he brought me upon his return. It was better than the stories that I read as a child. My grandpa was an amazing person, but one of his best qualities was his ability to tell stories, make friends from every part of the world and really try to understand different cultures without passing judgment. He will always be one of my heroes.

There were a few questions I never had the chance to ask him about his travels. 1. Was he scared the first time he went to a new place? 2. How did he decide what countries he wanted to go back to? 3. How did he become part of the culture? 4. What advice would he have for me? If I am being honest, I did not think of these questions at the time. I was too busy imagining all of the fun he had on his adventures.

I imagine he would have answered my questions with great enthusiasm and colorful stories. . He would have encouraged me to explore the world, not wait until later in life (if the opportunity presents itself), learn new languages, explore new cultures and make new friends.

This brings me to my own travels. In March, I will be traveling to Costa Rica with my family. This is the first time that I am truly going out of the country (not sure that my Canada and Mexico day trips count from several decades ago). I feel a combination of excitement and trepidation.

When my first-time adventure begins in a few weeks, I will keep my grandpa’s stories close and my heart/mind open to what will no longer be “The Great Unknown”.

Last fall, my 22 year old daughter asked us what our thoughts were about setting a family goal before our trip to Costa Rica in March (more details coming soon). It was the first time she asked about a family goal as we approached the new year and we thought “why not”. She told us that she had a couple of ideas and would follow up with us soon.

A few days later, she suggested ’75 Soft’. I had heard of ’75 Hard’ and knew that would take a lot of planning. I was curious about ’75 Soft’ so we chatted about it as a family and I read a few articles about it. I thought this was a great opportunity for us to work towards a common goal and support each other along the way.

Essentially, it is 75 days with the following guidelines: 1. One workout a day of 30 minutes. We updated this to 45 minutes of working out per day. 2. Drink more water 3. Follow a mostly healthy diet 4. Read 10 pages on nonfiction per day. 5. No drinking (unless it was a special occasion). We updated this to no drinking for 75 days.

We all agreed and set out to start our family goal on January 1, 2024. There were a few bumps along the way: eating the unhealthy treat or meal, not figuring out what you want to read, figuring out the best time of day for additional water, working out on days you want to rest (barely zone 1 workout days) and saying no to alcohol during special events or meals out.

The one guideline I thought would be tougher to give up was the drinking. I do not drink much, but my husband and I have a ‘sushi and sake’ Friday date night. We have made it our tradition for several years. We just pivoted to ‘sushi’ date nights and have not felt like anything was missing. It gave us motivation to try something different to eat at the restaurant.

It’s nice to know that we could hit reset and work towards something together. It was much easier to encourage, motivate and sometimes give each other a hard time to stay on track. I believe we all better understand the value of teamwork, goal setting and overcoming obstacles.

There are 34 days left and I am looking forward to what else we will learn.

Bonus…..look at these stats!

1. I am on my 3rd non-fiction book.

2. I have drank almost 3,000 oz. of water.

3. No alcohol for 41 days.

4. I have done a total of 218.3 miles of mostly run training.

5. I have walked an additional 180 miles this year.

6. I have exceeded my 45 minute exercise goal since January 1st.

7. I have completed 2-3 days of strength training (full body) per week.

8. I have eaten a mostly healthy diet and have not drank any alcohol. 🙂

It was a cold and windy February day in Atlanta , Georgia in 2020, right before COVID took over the world. My husband and I had lived in Atlanta for two years and were members of the Atlanta Track Club. We enjoyed the opportunity to run different races throughout the city, appreciated the inclusiveness and participate in a sport that we loved.

Several months prior, we received the invite from the ATC to volunteer for the USA Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday and the Atlanta Public Marathon on Sunday. We immediately said “YES!” and selected where we would course monitor. We picked mile marker 25. The thought was anyone that gets to this point is going to make it to the finish and some extra cheering can only help.

We both prepared like we normally would for any race (even though we were not racing).

Proper Gear-check, Cold weather attire-check, a couple of snacks & hydration-check, transportation to & from the race-check, prep meeting-check and reviewing the details of the race-check. We felt ready for the event.

When that Saturday morning arrived, we met our volunteer captain, received our gear and he walked us to our mile marker. We were struck with how joyful, happy and calm everyone was. We have a strong admiration for short, long and endurance runners. They demonstrate grit, determination and a strong sense of purpose.

The event was flawless. Our cheering section was small, but mighty. We recruited a few people to cheer with us and enjoyed telling the runners “You are almost at the end!”, “You are doing great!”, “What you are doing is amazing!” and when we knew the runner from what we read or heard on a podcast we made sure to mention their name. Who doesn’t like to hear their name?

In the four years that have passed, I still have fond memories of being a small part of history. I hope that those runners and volunteers participating in the Orlando event feel exactly the same way four years from now!

In the last few months of 2023, my family and I decided that we would set a few goals together for the new year. One goal was to visit somewhere outside of the country (outside of Canada and Mexico) and the second goal was to take on a physical activity challenge together. #StrengthinNumbers

The first goal was fairly easy. We decided that we would go visit Costa Rica in March 2024. We only received good feedback about what a beautiful place Costa Rica is and no one said that they regretted the trip. In fact, they wanted to or had gone back multiple times.

The bags are not packed just yet but planning in under way (checklist created) and we are ready to set out on this adventure.

I hope that I learn many valuable lessons (that I can apply to all aspects of my life) from visiting a new place and this is the beginning of other ‘out of this world’ adventures.

The second goal was to complete the ’75 soft challenge’. I am sure that many of you have heard of the ’75 hard challenge’, but this is the beginner version. LOL

The original challenge involves: 2-30-minute workouts per day, reading 10 pages of non-fiction, drinking a gallon of water daily, no alcohol, sticking to a diet and sleeping (at least 7-8 hours per night) for 75 days. We knew this would a bit difficult with work schedules, school schedules and everyday life situations that occur.

The ’75 soft challenge’ involves: 1-30- minute workout per day, reading 10 pages of non-fiction, upping water intake, sticking to a diet, no alcohol (unless a special occasion), sleep for 75 days. I tend to believe that this challenge was created for most of us who want to start something new that can transition into our new habits for daily living.

As a write this, we are on day 21 of the challenge. It has been a great reset to workout daily (45 minutes per day has been the target), read daily (almost finished my second book), no alcohol, healthy eating, and prioritizing sleep. I already felt like I was healthy, but this provided added motivation.

2024: My year of Personal Growth and Adventure! I hope you will come along for the ride. 🙂

As I entered July 2023, I felt like I needed to make a change to my daily routine. I am one of those “early birds” who does not need an alarm to wake up and I have the greatest amount of energy first thing in the morning.  I work remote most of the time and felt like my morning routine was getting pretty stale. I would brew my coffee, feed the dogs, hop on my computer (many mornings before 5am) until 7am before a quick workout and then get back to work. I found most of my days that I was stuck on the computer and was not any more productive than days I would wait until later in the morning to start working. I could tell it was time for a change and decided to create a mid-year resolution. 

Why did I make a resolution? I had not made a mid-year resolution in previous years, but I felt like I was getting into a rut professionally and wanted to change what I was currently doing. I thought if not now than when. I would say that I am the furthest thing from impulsive, but I felt like this was a good plan to implement quickly.

What was my resolution? Well, I decided that I would learn something new weekly. The weekly turned into most days of the week. I leveraged LinkedIn learning to find topics of interest and kept them to 45 minutes or less.

How did I create my plan? I reviewed a few sites where I had done previous learning- Coursera, LinkedIn Learning and Khan Academy to get some ideas. I thought I would be more motivated to see daily results and I settled on LinkedIn learning. I reviewed the website and saved some trainings of interest. I picked four areas of focus: leadership, personal growth, negotiation, productivity tools and resources. 

Where am I now? I have learned three-four new things weekly (which has been great). Last week, I leveraged a sales negotiation learning to help give me some fresh ideas for client contract negotiations. Also, I have found several more interesting content creators to follow on LinkedIn. This has been a great add to my daily routine and it has upgraded my thinking. 

I realize that it may not be sustainable every week, but I can always learn one new thing weekly, read a book or connect with someone new.

There is always an opportunity to learn and grow!

“Always walk through life as you have something new to learn, and you will.”

Vernon Howard

When I awoke on 1/1/22, I realized that 2021 felt like a much faster version on 2020 (AKA The year of several groundhog days). The day was full of conflicting emotions. I was excited about starting out a new year with all of the personal and professional possibilities, but I was also worried that we did not have everything in our rearview mirror yet. I realized that I took New Years for granted. 

2022 is going to be different. This is at least what I have told myself. I have big goals for this year! 

I plan to start another Masters program in Human Resources.

I plan to run my second half marathon in Napa and my FIRST marathon at Chicago. 

I plan to see my friends for our first girls trip in three years.

I plan to read a book a month.

I plan to volunteer monthly. 

I plan to raise money with my husband for the MS foundation.

I plan to complete a Master class or LinkedIn learning session monthly. 

I plan to work on becoming better at meditation and my yoga practice.

I plan to make new breakfast recipes and seek out new cookbooks.

I know that my goals do not rely only on me. There are MANY other people that help me bring my big plans to life. I have friends, family, colleagues, and strangers that support my dreams.

Without them, my goals are only words on a piece of paper.

Cheers to those communities that love me, support me, guide me and challenge me to a better version everyday!

In 2020, I began a challenge to read a book a month and write some key learnings that could continue to build my leadership acumen and run a 5k every month. We all know what happened next, a pandemic hit.  I spent several months working from home and moving to Dallas, Texas (another story for a different day), but I still got stuck. Most of my goals for 2020 fell by the wayside.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. The pandemic has been an opportunity to help me figure out what I want personally and professionally. It has allowed me to get outside of what’s comfortable and routine to see what is possible. 

Once I felt energized again, I would decide to continue my goals, update, or abandon them for something different. It didn’t matter the time frame. I would use this time to be kind and understanding of myself. I would remind myself that I need to treat me like I treat my best friends (with compassion, kindness, and love).

When I began to think differently, the inspiration started flowing. I thought ‘If I can’t achieve goal A, maybe goal B would work out better’. For a point of reference:  goal A for 2020 was running a 5k every month. It became train for the Rock n’ Roll half-marathon in San Antonio, TX in December 2021 and join a local running group.

This change in mindset for updating a goal has allowed me an opportunity to meet new people that I have become good friends with and have had several running sessions where I have run longer than I thought was possible. I have learned about different recovery (Normatec & Lily Trotters compression socks) and fueling methods (Honey Stinger energy chews & Nunn Hydration). I even tried Ariel Yoga with my daughter as a recovery method. 

My reading goal transformed as well. I went from a goal of reading a book a month to finding other ways to learn. I have begun listening to new podcasts (How I built this, Worklife & The Growth Equation) and leveraged LinkedIn Learning. I am still reading books but have given myself grace to go at my own pace. I have learned that I prefer to read a hard cover book and enjoy picking out new topics to learn every few weeks with LinkedIn Learning. 

My main takeaways from my ‘Goal Transformation’ journey are:

1. Change can be unsettling at first but provides a TON of opportunity to grow.
2. Allow yourself the opportunity to transform or abandon your goals.
3. Believe that anything is possible!

Until next time….Heather 

In the last 18 months, I have had several moments of reflection. I have had many new experiences that have brought about change in my team and myself. We have learned many lessons. Some of them were easy to learn, but many of them were difficult.

As a leader in the retail healthcare space, I have learned that what I thought I knew in early 2020 is nothing compared to what I know now in 2021. Typically, the experiences that shape you as a leader are fleeting. They are gone just as quick as they started. That’s not the case with leadership in the ‘new normal’. The lessons that I have learned have been iterative. One lesson building on the next.

I wish I could tell you that I knew what to expect in the past 18 months or going forward. The truth is I don’t know. I am certain that I want to protect those under my care as a leader. I am certain that I want to protect my peers and my family. I am certain that I want the customers and patients that we interact with to feel cared for.

If I had a platform to tell the world my message I would say:

“Be patient. We are all doing our best to care for one another”

“Be kind. A simple act of kindness can create a massive tidal wave of positivity”

“Be bold. If you need something ask, we all want to help each other”

“Be brave. We all need superheroes. Sometimes we need those around us to lift us up”

The most important leaderships lessons I have learned from the COVID pandemic is: be adaptable, be kind, be vulnerable and always take care of others.

Till we meet again (hopefully past the Pandemic)……..Heather

This may be an unpopular opinion, but everything did not magically change when the clock struck 12am on January 1, 2021. 

I woke up Friday morning and started my normal routine: drink some coffee, check my email, let the dogs out, and then run with my husband. I did notice that the thought of what 2021 could bring put a smile on face. It was that thought you get when you buy a lottery ticket for the BIG jackpot and think of all that exciting things that you can help with and do  when you strike it BIG. You know, that excited feeling that anything and everything is possible! That is what Friday, January 1, 2021 brought me.

As the day wore on, I reflected on 2020 and my hope for 2021. I reflected on 3 key lessons from 2020 that I will carry into 2021:

1. Health is a gift! Don’t take it for granted. I do not have to be perfect, but I should always have a few guiding principles.  a. Drink enough water daily b. Sleep 7-8 hours a night c. Eat Whole Foods (fruit and vegetables) at least 3-5 servings daily d. Everything in moderation-wise words from my mom the Dietitian. e. Exercise is fun-set a goal and find new things to explore.
2. Goals were made to be set and changed as needed. I started 2020 with several goals. As the months went on, some goals I met easily and some I had to modify. Even if you start the year with goals, break them down, make them achievable, create momentum that is sustainable. 
3. Kindness, Gratitude and Giving Back are connected to each other. This one takes an open heart and mind. As the year wore on, I got frustrated because I wanted  to do more. So, I sought out opportunities at work  and in my home life to make a difference. I included my entire family and created opportunities to carry me into 2021. 

2020-you thought me that my attitude is my responsibility and that change can be good. For all the lessons that you taught me, I will always be grateful!

Cheers to 2021! New Year, New Possibilities

Heather

In reflection on 2020, I am struck by the amount of change, uncertainty and opportunities created. This year has provided an opportunity for growth and reflection on my leadership style.
I started this year with a plan to improve my personal and professional life:

1. Run one 5k per month with my husband having a goal to progressively get better (speed wise). I made it to March.
2. Read two books a month with the objective to write one blog post a month on how it could improve my leadership skills. I made it to April.

When we decided to move from Atlanta to Dallas, I made a decision to update my plan to provide myself some flexibility and give myself a break. 

1. My 5k run turned into running consistently at least 5 days a week and signing up for the Peachtree 10k virtually in November.
2. My read 2 books per month turned into listen to one webinar or podcast on leadership. 

I like to stick to a plan and make some minor adjustments, but this year forced me to start-stop for months-reflect-start again. 2020 has taught me many leadership lessons that I wasn’t expecting. I learned to: expect the unexpected, be open to new opportunities, be thankful for everything, don’t take health and wellness for granted, help others, be selfless, be bold and most importantly that everything will be ok!