Live. Learn. Lead.

I have been false starting on this work for the better part of a year. I decided this year, my word for the year is FORWARD. In addition to being motto of the great State of Wisconsin, it is the direction I want to go this year in all facets of my life. I want to move forward in my relationships with family and friends. I want to move forward in my personal wellness journey, which includes another year of marathon training. I want to move forward in my home improvement projects and forward in my world of work.

Specifically for Live. Learn. Lead. I want to continue to move FORWARD. Creating snippets of content to share. Regularly (weekly) posting to this blog. Finding opportunities to present to educators or others who are interested in systemic improvement. And, moving FORWARD on the book I started last winter.

I hit a wall. I got busy. I lost focus. Other things became a greater priority. And that, I think, is one of my most significant learnings from the last year. I told myself a story that I could only be really good at 1 or 2 things at a time and that if I tried to do more, I would dilute my impact and be marginal at a bunch of things.

I am no longer convinced that is an entirely accurate story.

I believe that with systems and intention, I can make positive FORWARD progress in a lot of areas of my life. I decided this year to create a habit tracker and identify things that I wanted to focus on a month at a time. While some items will likely remain from month to month, others will morph and change based on learning and feedback.

My January habits (as of right now) are:

• Count macros (eating habit) at least 2 meal per day
• No added sugar (no cookies/dessert)
• No alcohol (Dry January)
• Run (3-4x/week)
• Strength train (2-3x/week)
• Read something (ideally a book or article) 10 minutes/day
• Write something (like a blog post or LinkedIn content) 10 minutes/day
• Maintain an updated budget for the month (at least 4 check ins)

I can already see gaps in my list. I can already imagine additions, changes, and updates. But it’s a start. And in order to move FORWARD you have to take the first step.

PS if you would like a copy of my 2024 Habit Tracker, feel free to download it. I have tried to find and fix any calculation errors but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something that snuck through. If you like it and feel like donating, you can Venmo @principalbrent.