My Mid-Year Reflection (6-25-25)

This entry is focused on a few key lessons I’ve learned from reflecting at the mid-year point. As I reflect, I truly believe this is one of the best quarters I’ve had in life in a hot minute. If you want you can read the attachments, where I noodle on the different aspects of my life. Between the attachment and the lessons below, I hope something inspires you.

Give yourself permission to focus on 1 or 2 key things– This can be really scary, because if you truly focus on 1 or 2 key things, then this ultimately means there are dozens of things you won’t pay as much attention to. Inevitably, those dozens of things will not be done perfectly. This is the scary part. The realistic part is that those dozens of things likely don’t need to be perfect anyway. At work, my main focus was the rollout and adoption of our synthetic respondent tool. I truly believe that giving it the attention it deserved has already led to a lot of great things. Outside of work, my main focus was on my physical health and more specifically lifting/working out on a more regular basis. I was willing to forgo everything else, and my focus on that one area helped me physically get stronger and mentally feel better.
Stop tinkering and just be consistent– This connects to number 1. Even when you’re focused on something, it’s so easy to feel you have to constantly optimize. The issue is that all the effort spent constantly trying to optimize is effort you don’t spend executing. I had to learn to stop tinkering, so I could go execute.
People and vibes matter, so surround yourself with good ones– It’s amazing what the right people and energy can do. I’m so blessed to be surrounded by some incredible leaders and colleagues right now There is no fear here, just excitement to explore and shape a new future. This is my fuel. I’m soaking it in and using it to propel myself forward.

The challenge: Will you set aside the time to reflect? What lessons will ring true for you?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

My Q2 Quarterly Review

Rebuild (Q1B+, Q2A)- This is my word/theme for the year. I wanted to make repairs AND extensive changes. I’m giving myself an A for Q2. I built up some positive momentum in Q1 and have continued to capitalize on that. Hopefully, a lot of these things will become engrained as habits.
Mental Health (Q1A, Q2A)- The goal is to feel like I’m in a good, strong, solid mental state. I’m feeling great. I’ve focused in on a few key things that are helping me improve all aspects of my life. There’s a lot to love and celebrate in life right now, and I’m making sure I take the time to celebrate.
Physical Health (Q1B-, Q2B+)- The goal is to build strength, aiming for increasing strength by around 15%. I might have to adjust my strength goals, because I had a bit of a leg injury that will sideline me from heavy lifts for awhile. However, I’ve been more consistent than I have been in YEARS and I’m feeling the positive results. I’ve completed 2 obstacles course races and have a strong lineup of future races!
Family (Q1B+, Q2A-)– My son is 11 and my daughter is now 13. There are A LOT of big emotions every day. I’m proud of how well my wife and I are handling those things. It’s hard to give space to a dragon as it breathes fire, but there is strength in knowing you can stand in the fire and not get burned. The real strength is in walking through the fire to give the dragon a hug. I’m getting better at that each day.
Career (Q1B+, Q2 A+)- The goal is to feel like I’m delivering magic. If this isn’t the best quarter I’ve had at work in a while, it’s definitely been one of the most enjoyable. I told my boss the other day that I’m actively trying to dial my energy down a few notches because I got so much swagger right now it could hurt someone. Lol. In this quarter I watched things that had been over a year in the making come to life and become successful in such a short time frame. That was awesome to experience. The crucial thing is that it’s not just that I’m delivering magic as an individual. It’s that I’m so blessed to be working with different crews who believe in and are all delivering the impossible right now. That kind of stuff fills my bucket. I need to keep surrounding myself with these people and prioritizing what matters most.
Financial (Q1B, Q2B)- The goal is to ensure we are saving/investing money in the right way. I think I’m doing a bit better than Q1, but not better enough to warrant a higher grade. I think that’s okay. We are enjoying life right now.

Chasing MacGuffins (5-7-25)

Explore the mystery of the Ark of the Covenant with Indiana Jones on ...

This will be the final entry in the series inspired by storytelling tricks and mechanics. This week is about chasing MacGuffins.

A MacGuffin is a plot device that serves as a catalyst for action throughout the story. It’s something that characters are motivated to acquire. Often, the MacGuffin is an object, but it could also be a goal or an idea. For example, a popular object MacGuffin would be the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This was from the first Indiana Jones film. The movie follows Indiana Jones, an archaeologist, as he goes on a globetrotting adventure to find and secure the Ark before the Nazis can get it and use its powers. All the action, conflict, and movement all are driven toward acquiring this MacGuffin. Without the MacGuffin, there wouldn’t be an Indiana Jones story. There wouldn’t be anything driving him forward to achieve.

Let’s connect this to life. Sometimes, I find myself working and running around endlessly. Then, I pause for a moment, and I realize that I’m not sure what I was running toward or why I was running. Has this ever happened to you? Maybe we all need a MacGuffin to bring clarity and lead to action. Sometimes, my MacGuffin is a medal, which serves as a catalyst for me to train and prepare for a race. Sometimes, my MacGuffin is a specific deliverable, which causes me to really focus on what matters. Sometimes, my MacGuffin is the idea of being an awesome dad, which causes me to be a lot more in tune with how I’m parenting.

The challenge: What is a MacGuffin worthy of your pursuit?

Bonus fun question: If your MacGuffin is an idea, what physical thing would embody that idea? Maybe it’s embodied by a statue, a diamond, or something else.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

One Word, One Phrase, or One Question for the Year (1-4-23)

Happy Wednesday and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you had wonderful and relaxing holidays. For the past couple of years, I’ve started January with a series to help us have a strong start to the year. This week we will reflect on our north star for 2023.

At the beginning of every year, I take time to reflect and choose a word or phrase that will be my north star for the year. I’ve found it helps ground me vs. getting lost among setting too many goals. To identify my one word/phrase I ask myself things like: What went well last year that I want to continue? Where could things have been better? What do I want to achieve? How do I want to feel about things? What do I want others to notice and say about me?

In 2022 my phrase was, “Channel the chaos” and I did that and then some 😉 Everything was crazy from the start, and while I was able to find ways to channel a majority of the chaos into progress it did take a huge toll on me. With that in mind, my phrase this year is, “Protect my peace.” The phrase is a reminder that my primary goal is to find peace, which I view as that feeling of stillness and connection with the important things in life. Protect my peace is about understanding that I will need to take ACTION in order to maintain this peace. Inaction will allow life and its challenges to erode this peace. I’ll need to be disciplined and deliberate about creating the time and space for me to find and remain in a state of peace. Part of protecting my peace will be about putting the right boundaries in place in work and life. Part of it will be about putting the right habits in place, so I have the fuel and mental/physical/emotional health to handle life’s challenges.

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

Bonus: A few weeks ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn from Eric Johnson, co-host of The Inside Job podcast along with Dr. Nayla Bahri. He shared a story about a co-worker who decides to go with a question of the year instead of a word/phrase of the year. For example, “How are my actions aligned with my vision?” “How am I growing?” I thought this was a really cool approach. Nayla and Eric dove deeper into this idea of a new question to start the year in the most recent episode of their podcast. Go HERE if you want to give it a listen. I’m going to keep noodling on my question. The first thing that pops into mind is: How would the person I want to be respond in this situation?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Centered vs. Focused->Customer Centricity vs. Customer Focus (2-9-14)

Has anyone else seen that Nike is going to make Marty McFly shoes! That got me daydreaming about going on a day trip in a Delorean.

Let’s take it all the way back to the late 1400s and early 1500s. If you were like most people at the time you would think that the sun is bright and worth focusing on, but the earth is the center of our galaxy. Then, one day Copernicus came along and theorized that actually the sun is the center of our galaxy, not the other way around. Talk about blowing minds and shattering paradigms…

Now, let’s come back to the present. What is your life centered on? What are things that you focus on in life? For me, my life centers on and revolves around my family. Everything I do I do for them. Now I focus on a few things, being a great partner at work, writing poems, performing slam, etc., but everything I do always connects back to my family. Do you see the difference between centered and focused?

I bring this up, because one day a colleague pointed out to me that we use the phrases “customer centric” and “customer focused” like they were interchangeable, but they aren’t. Being customer focused means that we are only this way when we are really thinking about it. On the other hand, being customer centered means that everything we are doing, big or small, revolves around helping customers. If the customer is the sun in our solar system, then that light and gravity should be dictating everything that we do.

Are you customer centered, patient focused, or neither?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry