Author: Andrew Embry

If you mixed diet mountain dew, funk music, dragons, hip hop, superheroes, and lightning in a blender you’d end up with Andrew Embry. He is part wordsmith and part alchemist, able to use his Batman utility belt to turn anything and everything into a story worth telling that is equal parts insightful, memorable, inspiring, humorous, and entertaining. Andrew is comfortably creative in almost any setting, but especially when he is performing spoken word poetry. His enthusiasm for words comes from the way he loves people and the little nuances of life that make it worth living.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales- Milestones and Unclear Paths (2-3-21)

This week we are going to kick off a series inspired by the video game Spider-man: Miles Morales. We will focus on video games, milestones, and unclear paths.

In this game you play as Miles Morales as he embraces his role as Spider-man. In case you aren’t familiar with Miles, he is biracial with a Black dad and a Puerto Rican mom. (You should also watch Into the Spider-verse). He is new to his powers and just coming into his own as a superhero. When you start the game you know that you’ll ultimately have to save the city, but you have no idea the path you will take to do this. While you don’t have a clear path that shows exactly how you’ll beat the game, you do have milestones you need to reach. For instance, a dot will show up on your map telling you to go there. You go to that destination and learn about what is going on in the game. After you complete that objective, you gain more insight into what the next step is. You go to the next dot on your map and repeat the process. As you complete the series of objectives you gain new powers and momentum that aid you in your quest. By the time you get to the final battle you’ve achieved a series of short-term goals that have set you up for ultimate long-term success.

What does this have to do with anything? I’ve come to accept that dealing with ambiguity will be one of the few constants in life. Things are more complex and changing faster than ever. It’s impossible to always have step by step instructions on how to reach your goals. This lack of clarity on a precise path forward makes it easy to freeze up and feel lost when facing a messy situation. Have you ever felt this way? In times like this, I think we have to take the video game approach. Instead of being paralyzed because every step isn’t laid out in front of us, we need to be willing to look at the situation, identify a few milestones, and start moving in their direction even if we don’t have every other step perfectly laid out. Similar to the Spider-man game, making progress on our first objective will give us the learning and momentum to better define and progress along a path toward our ultimate goal. It just requires us to be brave enough to keep moving forward even if we can’t plan out every little step.

The challenge: When faced with ambiguity, how will you find a way to move forward?

Bonus thought: Whenever I’m faced with an ambiguous situation I tend to ask myself these questions to try to bring clarity:

What do I believe the end goal is? By the end of this, what should people think/feel/do? Who can I bounce this thinking off of?
What is the from to for this?
What are 3 major milestones I’ll need to hit between now and the end goal to be on the path toward success? I’ve found I can always identify 3 milestones.
What is an immediate step I can take right now to move things a little bit forward? This could be anything from scheduling time with someone to connect to pulling together rough thoughts to show someone.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Self-Care is NOT a Luxury, it’s Required Maintenance (1-27-21)

This is the final entry in our 2021 Reboot series. We started by identifying our 1 word for the year. Then, we reflected on our habits and processes to see if they would get us to where we want to go, and last week was about giving ourselves grace when we falter. This week is about how self-care isn’t a luxury.

Pretend for a moment that you’re driving, and your oil change light comes on. What do you do? I assume that you get the oil changed sometime soon. You might not do it immediately, but you’d get it changed. Would you ever ignore the oil change light? Would you ever keep driving miles and miles and miles, never changing the oil? Do you know what happens if you don’t change the oil in a car? It ruins the engine. Everything locks up, and it’s extremely difficult to recover after that.

What does this have to do with anything? In the above example, no one would say that changing the oil in the car is a luxury. They would say it is an important part of maintenance to keep the car running. I wish we did a better job of applying this thinking to self-care. In many ways, I feel we have romanticized self-care as a luxury, a special treat to ourselves. Over the past few years, I’ve shifted my thinking in this regard and realized that self-care isn’t a luxury, it’s necessary maintenance. Can I ignore self-care for a period of time? Yes, just like I can ignore the oil change light when it first comes on. However, if I go too long without practicing self-care, my engine locks up. I break down, and then it’s so hard to recover from that. As a result, I’m making attempts to make self-care a priority in life. For me, self-care looks like getting enough sleep, going on runs, getting outside at least once a day, working out, making sure I’m eating healthy on more days than not, going on walks, meditating daily, getting plenty of time with my family, and taking me time to read, write, or play video games. I need these things to function at my best and to perform at a high level. This isn’t a luxury, it’s a requirement.

Challenge for everyone: How are you practicing self-care in 2021?

Extra challenge for leaders in formal positions of authority- I admit it’s unfair, but so much of setting the standard on whether self-care is a luxury or a necessity is on YOUR shoulders. Your actions shape the culture that makes it okay to stop working like a robot and start living like a human. Let’s be real for a minute, we survived 2020, but I think it’s safe to assume that most people are still walking around with the check engine light on. What actions are you doing to create space for self-care for your people?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Giving Ourselves More Grace (1-20-21)

Last week was about analyzing your habits to ensure they will lead to success. This week is about giving yourself grace when you falter.

Back in November in 2020 I looked at my life and realized I had fallen off the wagon when it came to working out, and that this was having negative consequences. I made a goal that beginning December 1^st, I would do something fitness related every single day, so I could become a healthier version of myself.

This new fitness habit was going great. My workouts had been awesome. I was making so much progress. Then a leg day crushed my spirits. When I started working out that morning I felt really great. I get halfway through the workout and my legs die on me. I’m struggling. I decrease my weight, I go without weights, and I eventually stop halfway into the workout because I just can’t do any more reps. I’m upset with myself and feel like a total failure because I fell short of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I see my whiteboard, where I make a tally mark for every day I do something fitness related. I realize I have 25 tallies. This tells me that for 25 days in a row, I’ve done something fitness related. This tells me I have 25 days of positive progress. Seeing that gives me perspective. While I might have struggled during the workout, it was one more step toward being a better me. While I might have struggled in that workout, screwing up didn’t make me a failure. In the grand scheme of things, this bad workout was just a blip on a trajectory that was taking me into a positive direction. I could either dwell on this one hiccup or I could say, “I’ve made amazing progress. Let go of this. Tomorrow is another day.”

You might be seeing the connections. I don’t know about you. I know that I over sensationalize my mistakes. My small mistakes quickly turn into colossal failures. When I do this, I lose sight of how much progress I’ve made and how often I’ve done things successfully. I lose sight of how this is one small blip on a path that is leading me to something better. I lose sight of the fact that the one stumble doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Do you ever feel this way? If you do, it’s important to give yourself a little grace and pause a moment to put this situation into perspective. I’m sure you’ll see things a little differently when you do.

The challenge: We are all striving to be our best, so let’s give ourselves grace if we fall a little short from time to time. How are you keeping your shortcomings in perspective? #moreselfgracein2021

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Analyzing our Processes and Habits (1-13-21)

Last week was about choosing our one word or phrase to set our north star for the year. This week is about examining our habits and processes to see if they could lead to our north star. This entry is inspired by the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.

If I’m going to EMBRACE this year, I also need to EMBRACE the right habits and processes to get the results I’m looking for. For example, if I’m going to be healthier this year I need to look at my habits and processes as they relate to nutrition. If I continue doing exactly what I’m doing now will I be healthier in 2021? The answer is no. Since that is the case, what is the disconnect, the root cause of potential failure? What change will you need to make to be successful? After reflecting I realized it’s too easy for me to make unhealthy food choices if I haven’t meal prepped ahead of time. This year I’m making meal prep one of my focuses. By changing that one process, I’m not eating better and making fewer poor choices.

How does this apply to work? We could all benefit from taking some time to reflect on our habits and processes. In the above example, I applied this to overall health. We can apply this thinking to softer skills too. When is the last time you stopped to truly reflect and analyze the habits and processes that make up your leadership skills? If you continued doing everything you are currently doing would you become the type of leader you want to be in 2021? If no, why not? What is the root cause? Why aren’t you becoming the leader you want to be? What change will you need to make to become this leader?

Last year I did some reflection and realized that if I wanted to be a better leader, especially in my role in the Alliance, I needed to do a better job of casting a vision and how we will get there. I called this “laying the tracks” and that became my phrase for 2020. I overinvested time in making sure I was slowing down to identify/communicate a clear vision, lay out the right milestones, and bring the right people in along the way. This took A LOT more effort than I was used to, especially because I had to navigate across the two companies. However, this effort paid off ten-fold when things went smoother than they had the year before. I’m still not perfect, but I am so much improved, because I took the time to analyze my leadership skills and identified ways to get better.

The challenge: Will you reflect on your habits and processes to reach your north star? How will your habits and behaviors need to evolve for you to become the leader you want to be?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Rebooting 2021: What is your one word for the year?

Happy New Year! We are going to kick off the year with a series about rebooting ourselves for 2021. We will start by reflecting to find our one word or phrase to be our north start this year. This blog is partially inspired by a conversation I had with Bronson Hayes at the end of 2020. Thanks my man.

One of the practices I go through at the beginning of the year is taking time to reflect on and choose a word or phrase that will be my north star for the year. To get there I ask myself things like: What went well? Where could things have been better? What do I want to achieve? How do I want to feel about things? Here’s a blog with more ideas on how to identify your one word.

This year my word is EMBRACE. As I reflected on last year, I realized I allowed myself to believe I was more powerless than what I really am. I found myself feeling small instead of leaning in. This year, I need to be different. My family needs me to be different. My team needs me to be different. This year instead of shrinking away I need to lean in and EMBRACE everything and everyone that comes my way. By EMBRACE, I mean that I will actively try to wrap my arms around things. I will EMBRACE moments and lean in, even if I’m scared and unsure. I’ll EMBRACE the suck and the crappiness for what it is. I’ll EMBRACE the process for the results. I will EMBRACE the people, and I will hug and hold them so hard they will feel the love through their computer screens.

How might this connect with us? I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that sometimes it is easy to get lost in the variety of goals I set for myself. Over time, I’ve learned that the clearer the vision I have for where I am going, the more likely I am to reach my destination. Having this north star helps me move in the right direction and tends to ensure I take care of all the other meaningful things in the process.

The challenge: What is your one word or short phrase for the year? What is your north star?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

I Hope We Grow like The Grinch (12-16-20)

This week will be the last blog of 2020. If you’ve been on this distribution list for a while, you might recognize that I usually end the year with this entry. I feel it is just as relevant now as it was in years past. Besides, we watch the same holiday specials every year, so we can revisit the same holiday themed blogs, right? 😉 For our final blog of the year we will look at How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

During this holiday season I hope we are all like the Grinch. Pretty strange thing to say, right? Let me explain why I feel this way. You may know the story of the Grinch. He is a grumpy creature who decides he will try to steal Christmas from the Whos He concocts an elaborate scheme and then steals all of the presents, decorations, etc. in an effort to ruin their holiday. This negative attitude is what we often associate with the Grinch, but this isn’t the end of his story. The Grinch grows as a character, and life is all about growing, changing, and becoming better.

The Grinch has stolen the gifts, and then he hears the Whos singing. All of a sudden it hits him right as his sleigh full of gifts starts to go over the cliff. “And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And then – the true meaning of Christmas came through, and the Grinch found the strength of *ten* Grinches, plus two!” He saves the gifts from falling over the cliff, rides into Whoville, and serves the roast beast at the feast.

The reason I hope we are all like the Grinch this year is because he grows and becomes a better person. He begins filled with apathy, malice, and grumpiness, and then he allows love in and it fundamentally changes him. How have you changed and grown this year? Wherever you are right now, we have the chance to be better. Imagine how different the world be if all of our hearts grew like the Grinch’s.

Here is to all of us knowing what it feels like when our hearts grow three sizes in a day.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Jingle Jangle and Dreaming

This week is about Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey and continuing to dream. Minor spoiler alert.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a new holiday special on Netflix. It has a great cast, awesome music, and a story that gives you all the feels. The film is about an inventor, Jeronicus Jangle, who dreams of the most amazing and beautiful toys. He then makes those dreams a reality and builds the most imaginative toys and gismos of all time that bring joy to people of all ages. If you’ve watched any movies you know there needs to be conflict, so you can imagine what happens. Something occurs and he loses this ability to dream big and loses his ability to create these amazing inventions. The rest of the story is about losing this and trying to repair it again.

What does this have to do with anything? 2020 has been a hard year for everyone. I don’t know about you, but when I’ve been hit with hard times this year I’ve felt myself retreating. I’ve shifted from being in a world to thrive to trying to merely survive. When I’m in this survival mode, it’s about self-preservation and finding ways to make it to the next day. This is understandable and okay. At the same time, I’ve found that when I’m stuck in this mode I don’t dream. I don’t imagine. I don’t dream as much. I don’t see a world filled with possibilities. Instead, I see a world of scarcity and fear around every corner. Seeing a world of fear and scarcity makes me shrink and be smaller than I am. As we start to move toward 2021, I wonder what we will be like. Mainly, I wonder if we will all start to dream a little more again. I hope we dream more, small dreams, big dreams, bright beautiful dreams, and then I hope we make them a reality.

The challenge: Will you dare to dream?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

An Open Letter to 2020

Dear 2020 | bedroomsoliloquies - YouTube Happy Wednesday,

The year is coming to a close and I find myself in a reflective mood. Below is my open letter to 2020.

Dear 2020,

I have so many feelings right now as you come to a close. Scratch that. I have so many conflicting feelings that I’m still sorting out. I wonder who you have shaped me to become.

I have never cherished health and loved ones as much as I do now. Thank you for that.
I feel blessed I had another year with my family. My daughters are growing up, and I’m so happy to see their imaginations are still wild and free. My wife is closer to normal. These women are my sunshine, and you solidified that for me this year.
I feel blessed, because in the grand scheme of things, I’ve been fortunate enough to not have my entire life destroyed by a pandemic.
I feel guilty that somehow I have a life that was inconvenienced by COVID while others live a life that became broken. I’m not more special than the people whose lives were destroyed.
I feel angry. You brought health problems to my wife and those are months I lost and won’t ever get back. I’m still not over that or the worry she might never fully get to 100%
I can’t decide if I’m proud or disappointed about work this year. There is pride in great work and there is pride in sometimes just managing to keep moving forward through the challenges even when the result isn’t perfect. At the same time, I sometimes feel like a failure because I didn’t hit the goals I set for myself.
I feel exhausted. At the end of 2019 I said, “There is no way that 2020 could be crazier.” #wrong. There were more obstacles than I could count I’m tired of it, all of it, and pray I can gain energy back.
I don’t know if I’m better at forgiving myself and giving myself grace, but you gave me more practice than I’ve ever had. One day that will turn into something.
I feel stronger, because you didn’t break me. The pandemic didn’t break me. My wife in the hospital, while I tried to balance taking care of her, loving my girls, and doing work didn’t break me. The constant obstacles at work didn’t break me. The exhaustion didn’t break me. Feeling disconnected from others didn’t break me. I am bruised, not broken. I was weak and continually fell short. I embraced the fact that I’m human, and am coming out of this loving others harder than I have before.
Even though I feel stronger, I’m still not at peace. The strength came at a great cost, and one that I didn’t pay as much as others. I still don’t know how to feel about all of this.
I feel loved by so many people, and I can’t be thankful enough for that.
You were so many things that I can’t really figure out what you were and how to feel about you yet. I only hope I take whatever I learned from you into a 2021 filled with new possibilities.

Those are some of the thoughts that continue to swim around in my head. Some of yours might be similar and some of them might be radically different. Whatever you are feeling is okay.

The challenge: If you haven’t taken the time, take a few moments to reflect on 2020 and the lessons and emotions it gave to you this year. How will these shape you moving forward?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Showing Thanks and Appreciation (11-18-20)

Last week was about pumpkin spice and letting people love what (and who) they love. This week is about saying thanks and showing appreciation.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and it’s likely to be very different from past Thanksgivings. This causes me to reflect and be even more thankful than I have in the past and more aware of the blessings and people I’ve taken for granted. I am so fortunate to have amazing people in my life. It’s been a crazy year, and I know I wouldn’t have made it this far without my friends and family who helped care for me and my family through everything.

You might be wondering where this is going. During the holidays we often focus on being thankful for blessings, friends, and family. I think this Thanksgiving we can make an effort to be thankful and show appreciation to our colleagues as well. Recently I read this article about how remote workers want appreciation from their leaders more than ever. With everything going on right now, individuals tend to feel more undervalued than they ever have before both at work and at home. Have you felt that way this year? I’m guessing it’s safe to say we all have, as we’ve adjusted to so many new normal and constantly burned the candle at both ends trying to navigate life and work.

While the article points out this issue of feeling underappreciated, it also points out possible solutions. Doing simple things such as telling people thank you and that you appreciate them could go a long way to helping them feel valued. This small act doesn’t take a lot of time and effort, but it can have a HUGE impact. What are you thankful for? Who are you thankful for? Have you told them lately?

The challenge: Reach out to someone today and let them know how thankful you are for them and how much you appreciate them.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Pumpkin Spice and Letting People Love What They Love (11-11-20)

Last week was about trying something new and making Halloween costumes. This week is about pumpkin flavored things and letting people love what they love.

As soon as it gets close to fall, the pumpkin announcements begin. You know what I’m talking about. The announcements from all the restaurants about all things pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice lattes. Pumpkin custard and ice cream. Pumpkin flavored beer. All of a sudden, pumpkin is EVERYWHERE! Once those announcements start, there is another wave that comes. That wave is the wave of hatred for all things pumpkin and for the people who love pumpkin flavored things. It sounds like this, “Pumpkin is gross! Why in the world would you want pumpkin in your drink? Why would you ruin good ice cream with pumpkin spice?”

What does this have to do with anything? I personally don’t like pumpkin flavored anything. At the same time, if that’s your thing, you do you. One of my main philosophies in life is that as long as the thing doesn’t hurt the person or other people, let folks love what they love. If you are a person who goes pumpkin wild in the fall, go get it in! Life is too short to miss out. If you have some other fall thing you love, go get that too. Just don’t waste your time hating on the people who do love pumpkin spice. (All of this also extends to people decorating for Christmas. If you want to put those up now, enjoy! If you like to wait until after Thanksgiving, that’s cool too.)

Now, while this all is kind of silly because we are talking about pumpkin spice, can you see how it applies to other things? Have you ever judged someone because of a passion that they had? Have you ever looked at someone who believed something different than you (that didn’t really matter or negatively impact anyone) and judged them for it? I know I have. I know I can be better.

The challenge: Can you let people love what they love? More than that, can you be excited for them finding what they love?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry