Tag: goals

Mario Kart Cup Challenges, Stretch Goals, and Performance Reviews (8-20-25)

Golden Dash Cup 3 stars 150cc (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe) - YouTube

Last week was about Mario Kart, and choosing the right set up for the right task.  This week is about Mario Kart cup challenges, stretch goals, and performance reviews.

In Mario Kart you can do grand prix cup challenges, where you race on 4 courses to earn championship cups and stars.  On the easier difficulties I have gold cups and three stars on all of the courses.  This isn’t true on the hardest difficulty.  My stretch goal is to get all gold cups and all of the gold stars, but I’m not there yet.  On the hardest difficulty I have some gold cups with stars, some gold cups without stars, some silver or bronze, and some without any cups. 

With the information you know, would you say I’m bad at Mario Kart?  I’d hope not.  I hope that you’d say that I’ve demonstrated mastery at some levels, and now that I’m playing at the highest level I’ve shown I can perform well, even if I haven’t perfectly hit all of my stretch goals.  Even if I never get all gold cups and all gold stars at the highest difficulty, I know that I’ve delivered in Mario Kart.

So where exactly is this going?  I’m going to have a performance check-in with my supervisor on Friday.  Much like Mario Kart, I’ve set some aggressive stretch goals.  Much like Mario Kart, I don’t have perfect gold cups with three stars for all of them.  During the conversation I’ll share how I have one gold cup with 3 stars, and I’m proud of how I crushed it.  I’ll show some of my silver cups as well.  Even though they aren’t gold, I’m proud of them too.  I’ll also be honest about the challenges where I couldn’t get a cup and the lessons I’ve learned.  Maybe the course had unexpected turns.  Maybe I just wasn’t ready.  Maybe I didn’t have the right set up.  Maybe I had to choose to prioritize getting gold in one cup over other cups.  At the end of the day, I am trying to play at the highest level possible, so I understand that it will be next to impossible to hit all of my stretch goals.  Falling short is inevitable.  The only way I’d hit all of my goals is if I was playing on easy mode, and where is the challenge and fun in that?

The challenges: Will you be brave enough to set stretch goals?  Will you be comfortable when you don’t reach all of them?

Bonus thought: Since I’ve already did my performance conversation write up in Mario Kart language, am I good?  Do I need to do anything else?  If someone from HR could check on that for me, I’d appreciate it 😉

Bonus thought 2: Obviously this is a not-so-secret challenge to my boss to see if he can deliver feedback to me through the lens of Mario Kart. I’ll make sure I update you on how well he does.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

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

Q1 2025 Self-Reflection (3-26-25)

It’s a bonus blog!  I hope you’re excited 😉  For the past few years I’ve used the last Wednesday of the first quarter to share a blog on doing quarterly check-ins for work and yourself.  This will be a long email, because I’m sharing my own self-assessment.

We have our first performance management coming up in the next month.  During this check-in we will talk through some of these questions.  What are 2-3 highlights?  What are 2-3 opportunities to do better?  What are some learnings from Q1 I can apply moving forward?

What does this have to do anything?  While this is great for work, we could apply this same thinking to our personal lives as well.  What are some of your goals for 2025?  How did you do with them in Q1?  Have you stopped to CELEBRATE your progress?  Stop RIGHT NOW and celebrate something you’ve achieved.  After you celebrate, then you can reflect and see if there are any gaps.  If you have gaps, why do you have gaps?  What happened?  What got in the way?  How can you adjust to reach your goals for this quarter?

The challenge: Will you take the time to do a quarterly check-in?  What changes will you make to set yourself up for the rest of the year?

Bonus: Here is my review based on the dimensions in my life I set goals for.  Hopefully, it sparks a thought or two for you.  In case no one has told you lately, “YOU GOT THIS!” 

  • Rebuild (B+)- This is my word/theme for the year.  I wanted to make repairs AND extensive changes.  I’m giving myself an B+, because all of the momentum I’ve built back and am taking advantage of.  I’d say the trend for all categories is that the first 6 weeks of the quarter were bumpy, and from there I’ve been on a great upward trajectory. 
  • Mental Health (A)- The goal is to feel like I’m in a good, strong, solid mental state.  I feel I’m in the best headspace that I’ve been in a hot minute.  I have a lot to love and celebrate in life right now.  I think I’m also doing a better job of practicing radical acceptance and recognizing “it is what it is.”
  • Physical Health (B-)- The goal is to build strength, aiming for increasing strength by around 15%.  I couldn’t find an exercise routine or rhythm in January or February.  I’ve been crushing it in March and making sure I’m prioritizing my time to hit the gym.  I’m reestablishing my strength baselines, so I can track that more throughout the year.  I would like to walk/run more, mainly so I can make sure I’m prepared for my obstacle course races.  First one is in May!
  • Family (B+)-The goal is to feel like I’m being an amazing husband and dad.  I’m feeling pretty good about things right now.  I can feel my family start to evolve into the next phase with my son turning 11 and my daughter almost 13.  It’s cool watching them grow and leading beside my wife.  I will honestly say I’ve been working more hours than I’d like, but I think that will balance out in the future.
  • Career (B+)- The goal is to feel like I’m delivering magic.  From the end of the year through Q1, I feel like I’ve been delivering some Hufflepuff magic, and that folks are valuing it.  The whole feeling valued piece is huge.  I’m also on the verge of rolling out a few things I’ve been working on for the better part of a year, and that’s adding even more positivity.  With that said, the past few months have also been a humbling experience and a reminder that it’s impossible to juggle everything all of the time.  I’ve definitely had a few balls drop in Q1.  Some of them have been rubber.  A couple of them have been glass.  As part of the radical acceptance piece, I’m doing better at embracing it for what it is and I’m proud that despite all of the crazy I was still able to do some pretty darn amazing things.  Luckily, the crazy is starting to become more manageable.  In the midst of all the change and organizational evolution, I feel like I’m getting some stability, which might be a weird thing to say 😉.  As we continue to fill open roles, we can better distribute the workload.  Additionally, as we take confident steps toward embracing a new future, this stability will become stronger and enable the team and I to reach our potential.
  • Financial (B)- The goal is to ensure we are saving/investing money in the right way.  I’ve already shifted money for investments.  I am wasting a bit too much money on eating out right now.  I want to tighten that up in Q2.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Parenting, Cleaning, and Adapting as a Leader (2-12-25)

Be stubborn about your goals and flexible about your methods. | Life ...This week we are going to kick off a series about lessons I’ve learned from being a dad.  This week is about parenting, cleaning the house, and being flexible and adaptable when leading others.

When I was a kid and would help my family clean the house it would look like this.  My mom would blast music (usually Prince, Rod Stewart or Alanis Morisette).  With the music blaring we would all start jumping in and helping with little direction.  When I initially tried this approach with my own kids, it didn’t go so well.  In case I’ve never mentioned it, we have some neurodivergence in my house, so cleaning the way I did as a kid is EXTREMELY overwhelming for my kids.  The loud music is overstimulating and the lack of clarity on what needs to be done is anxiety inducing.  Trying to clean this way would result in everyone being overstimulated, grumpy, and the house not getting clean.  #failure

After failing a few times, I needed to reevaluate the situation.  At the end of the day, my goals are to get the house clean and to help my kids become more self-sufficient.  I’ve learned to be flexible in HOW I achieve those goals.  When I clean with my kids, we don’t play music to avoid overstimulation.  Also, I create a list of the tasks and add some gamification, so there is clear direction.  We don’t clean the house.  We save Hyrule! (a nod to The Legend of Zelda video game series)  My list might look like, “Beat the Water Temple aka Clean the Bathrooms for 50 points,” or “Straighten up Goron City aka The Kitchen for 20 points.” My kids then methodically work through the list, accomplishing tasks, and checking stuff off until the house is clean.  It’s very different from the way I grew up cleaning, but it is still very effective.

Where exactly is this going?  As a leader, it’s your job to enable the other people around you to be successful.  Often, this means being strict about the goal, but being flexible in HOW to achieve that goal.  Did my kids have to clean like I did in order to be successful?  No.  We found a way that works for them and enabled their success.  Think about work.  How often has a leader more or less forced you to do something their way, even though it wasn’t the only path to success?  What were the consequences of that?  When I’ve had those experiences, I’ve often felt disengaged and often saw how more value could have been provided if the leader would have just been a little more open to thinking differently.

The challenge: As a leader are you being adaptable and flexible enough to enable others to be successful?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Goals and Celebrating Progress (2-5-25)

This is the last in our series about goals.  This week is about celebrating progress.

If I’m being honest, I’m not particularly happy with how January played out for me.  There was travel, a lot of all-day workshops, and an illness that knocked me on my butt for like 1.5 weeks.  It left me feeling like I hadn’t accomplished anything meaningful on the work or life front. 

I was talking about something work related and sharing how I felt like a failure and the person replied with, “But look at all the progress that has been made.  It’s not done yet, but it’s come so far.  In fact, you’re so much further than I thought you’d be at this point on it.”  It was a great reminder that I had been so focused on the finish line that I had never paused to appreciate my progress. 

Let’s make some connections.  Have you ever had a week or month go by, looked up, and then felt like a complete failure?  Please tell me I’m not the only one 😉  It’s easy to get so lost in the daily grind that you don’t ever realize that all those steps you have taken add up.  I’d bet that if you would just pause a moment to realize how far you’ve come, you would feel completely different.

The challenge: Will you appreciate and celebrate the progress you have made?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Goals and Setbacks (1-29-25)

Last week was about goals and means.  This week is about goals and setbacks.

One of my goals this year was about completing obstacle course races.  My first race was supposed to be last Saturday, and it was going to be the Abominable Snow Race.  The only problem is that I came down with a nasty flu bug on Thursday, and I didn’t stop running a fever until Saturday night.  Needless to say, I wasn’t able to make the race, and that was the first goal I missed for the year.  At this point, I have two choices.  I can continue to wallow in how sad I am that I missed a goal or I can regroup and get back after it.  I may have missed that race, but I can make sure I’m even more prepared for my next one. (Pic is the Yeti and I from last year)

Now let’s make some connections.  Have you ever missed achieving one of your goals at work?  I have.  Have you ever got lost in the downward spiral after missing out?  I have.  I have sat there and stewed, replaying every mistake, listing every excuse, and becoming so fixated on the negative that I became stuck.  None of this was particularly helpful.  None of this helped me move forward.  Eventually, I had to accept the reality that I missed a goal, and the only thing I could do is regroup, refocus and go again.

The challenge: How will you regroup and refocus when you experience a setback?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Goals and Means (1-22-25)

Last week was about discussing goals with others.  This week is about being clear on the means we will use to achieve those goals.

I mentioned last week that one of my goals is to get stronger, more specifically it’s to increase the amount of weight I lift on a weekly basis by 15-20% for the year.  At this point, the outcome is relatively clear.  However, the means to get there are not so clear, and the means matter.  I could increase my strength in a lot of ways.  I could take steroids, which likely wouldn’t be good for me or my family.  I get super grumpy when I take steroids for poison ivy 😉  I could cheat by sandbagging my baseline, which would make any improvements larger than they are.  I could follow a variety of exercise splits (push/pull/legs, full body, etc).  I could workout 10 minutes per day or 3 hours per day.  The means matter.  Some of them are cheating.  Some of them have negative impacts on me and others.  Some of them involve making other trade-offs I would need to consider.

What does this have to do with work?  Often, we are clear about the outcomes we want, but we are not as clear about the behaviors and means we want to see as people deliver those outcomes.  Have you ever seen someone deliver the desired outcome, but leave a trail of dead bodies on the path to get there?  I have.  Have you ever seen someone deliver the desired outcome, but they caused way more chaos and fire drills than were necessary?  I have.  Have you ever seen anyone deliver an outcome, but they didn’t collaborate or inform folks along the way?  I have.  When people reach the outcome via poor means, that’s not a success and it likely does a fair amount of damage along the way.  The means matter.  As leaders and colleagues, we all need to be clear about the behaviors and means that we hope to see from each other.

The challenge: What are your goals?  HOW will you go about achieving those goals?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Discussing Your Goals with Others (1-15-25)

Last week was about setting goals that resonate.  This week is about the importance of discussing your goals with others.

A little over a week ago, my wife and I got a room in the library with a whiteboard and spent a few hours brainstorming goals for our family  relating to health (physical, mental, social), raising the kids, building our relationship, family trips, and things to do with the house.  Some of those are individual and some are joint goals.  Basically, it’s a kick-off meeting for our family.  Yes, it was the most romantic date ever 😉

Investing this time to share our goals with each other helps us do a few things.  First, it creates a shared understanding of individual goals, so we can support each other.  Second, talking through goals gives us a chance to make sure we are on the same page.  We both have a goal of helping our kids continue to become more self sufficient, but there are a lot of different ways to do that.  We were able to talk through what we felt we needed to focus on.  Last but not least, sharing goals helps us see potential conflicts so we can handle them.  For example, if we have goals about what major house projects we’d like to do that impacts how we will think about budgets for vacation and other spending throughout the year.

What does this have to do with anything?  Have you ever felt like you worked in silos?  I know I have.  This is incredibly frustrating.  Since the groups aren’t communicating, the different groups may not be aligned on what the goal is or they might even have goals that directly conflict with each other.  We could likely avoid more of this if we did a better job of talking to each other about what our goals were.  If we were more clear, we could align which brings power AND we could plan for how to handle things when the goals are in conflict with each other.

The challenge: How can you find ways to create a shared understanding of your goals to help achieve success?

Bonus- Here are a few goals we have this year. Sharing in case it inspires anyone.

  • Date nights- Monthly date night to be scheduled the second weekend of the month.  If it doesn’t get scheduled it gets lost in the daily grind.
  • Vacations– at least 1 weeklong trip, and a 2-3 day trip in the fall and spring.
  • Work more reasonable hours- My personal goal is to shoot more for 40-50 hours per week and limited nights and weekends.  Like many of us, I put in a lot of long days and nights during Q4.  I realized that my workload wasn’t just rough for my mental health, but had a negative impact on my family’s energy as well. #needforextremeprioritization

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Ensuring Our Goals Resonate (1-8-25)

This week we are going to kick off a series focused on goals, and we will start by reflecting on whether or not our goals resonate.   

For the past few years, I’ve set a generic goal to get healthier.  Getting healthier might be a goal that resonated with other people, but if I’m honest, it was never really motivating and never really connected with me.  It was too abstract of an idea.  Over the past few months, I’ve lifted weights on a more consistent basis and I’m discovering how much I enjoy that.  This year, instead of having a generic goal of getting healthier, I have a goal of building more strength.  More specifically, I want to increase the amount of weight I lift on a weekly basis by 15-20% by the end of the year.

I understand that ultimately the idea of building strength is connected to the idea of getting healthier.  However, the goal of building strength is so much more motivating to me.  I enjoy lifting weights.  I love the simplicity of knowing if I’m making progress or not on any given day.  I get excited about making improvements whether it’s adding in a few extra reps or increasing how much I’m lifting at any given time.  Building strength is a goal that resonates with me.  It’s a goal I can rally behind and execute against.  I don’t have that same passion for the generic goal of get healthier.

Let’s make some connections.  Have you ever had a goal that didn’t resonate with you?  Did you pursue that goal with the same zest as you did for something that truly connected with you?  Think about common work goals.  They include things like, drive sales, hit quota, decrease costs, improve market share, increase customer satisfaction, and deliver more value.  These goals aren’t necessarily wrong.  At the same time, they may not resonate with us.  Maybe the goals are too abstract or maybe they are something that don’t exactly connect to what we value.  We have to find a way to translate and create goals that connect with us.  I’ve said for years my main goal at work is to deliver magic, which means doing the impossible.  That idea may not make sense to anybody, but it gets me out of bed in the morning.  It gives me something that I am excited about pursuing and delivering.  It gives me fuel that sustains me throughout the year.

The challenge: What are your goals?  Do they truly resonate with you?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Professional and Personal Quarterly Check-in (3-27-24)

This week’s entry is about quarterly check-ins for work and for yourself.  It’s a longer email, because I’m including my own quarterly self-assessment as an example.

As we finish out the end of Q1, I find myself doing a lot of reflecting on the progress that has been made on various projects and tasks at work.  I’m asking myself things like, “Where are we now compared to where we were at the beginning of the quarter?  Were we able to achieve our goals?  If so, how do we keep up the momentum?  If not, what should we adjust to do better?  How can we ensure we regroup and are clear and focused for Q2?”  It seems like a perfect moment to pause, reflect, regroup, and plan before attacking Q2.

What does this have to do anything?  While this is great for work, we could apply this same thinking to our personal lives as well.  What are some of your goals for 2024?  How did you do with them in Q1?  Have you stopped to CELEBRATE your progress?  Stop RIGHT NOW and celebrate something you’ve achieved.  After you celebrate, then you can reflect and see if there are any gaps.  If you have gaps, why do you have gaps?  What happened?  What got in the way?  How can you adjust to reach your goals for this quarter?

The challenge: Will you take the time to do a quarterly check-in?  What changes will you make to set yourself up for the rest of the year?

Bonus: Here is my review based on the dimensions in my life I set goals for.  Hopefully, it sparks a thought or two for you.  Also, just know if things have been tough lately, you’re not the only one.  Bottom line- tough quarter, and I need to bounce back. The picture of me flipping a tire is from my most recent obstacle course race and summarizes my Q1 in a nutshell. It was all about moving heavy stuff and getting through it.  I did it, but dang it was so much harder and uglier than I wanted it to be, or it needed to be.

  • Intentionally Invest (D+)- This is my mantra for the year.  This is about being intentional about where and how I invest my energy.  Investing my energy means doing the right things that help me be the best version of myself.  I gave myself a bad grade, because I wasn’t intentional.  I got overwhelmed by a lot of things and just started recklessly spending energy.  It wasn’t helpful and it didn’t help me get to where I wanted to go.
  • Mental Health (C-)- Overall, I want to feel like I’m in a good, strong, solid mental state.  In full transparency, life and work just kicked my butt this quarter.  The stress was overwhelming and was too much for me to manage in an efficient way.  I got really lost and stuck trying to trudge through everything.  Feeling lost and stuck drained so much of my mental energy.  I spent so much energy here that I didn’t spend it on taking care of myself.  I am proud of myself for getting some help.  Moving forward, I need to use the new tools I’m developing, so I won’t get so stuck.  If I can do that, everything else will improve dramatically. 
  • Physical Health (C-)- The goal is to take good care of myself, so I can do the things I want to be able to do.  The only reason I’m not giving myself a worse grade, is because I did manage to at least hold things together enough to complete a couple of obstacle course races.  Other than that, I was inconsistent with working out, my sleep was poor, and my nutrition was abysmal.  I’m ready to do better in Q2.
  • Family (ugly hard-earned B)- The goal is to feel like I’m being an amazing husband and dad.  As they say in The Inside Job podcast, “Life gets lifey.”  It’s been a hard few months with each day seemingly bringing new challenges.  I give myself an “ugly hard-earned B” because it’s like one of those things in school where you have to put in so much effort you dang near exhaust yourself just to make it.  I was not necessarily excellent, but I found ways to hold it together.  It’s an ugly B, but one I can be proud of.  At the same time, I think some work and mental health challenges got in the way of me being on the top of my game here.
  • Career (ugly hard-earned B)- The goal is to feel like I’m delivering magic.  It’s a high bar about being in a flow state and getting incredible things done.  Similar to my Family category, challenges kept popping up and compounding on themselves day in and day out.  As a result, this quarter was filled with nothing but peaks and valleys, and they couldn’t have been further from each other.  At times I was operating at a high level, and there were other times when I felt like an ineffective burned-out piece of garbage.  This is another hard-earned ugly B that left me a little bruised and roughed up.  I believe I focused on the right things.  It just so happens that all the right things were the extremely difficult, and it was like carving through ambiguity made of marble while walking through quicksand.  It took so much energy to keep slogging forward, and I know I was burned out for a period of time.  On the positive side, I’m proud of myself for finding a way to regroup.  I feel I’m getting my energy and magic back.  All I need is a little more momentum, and then I’ll be like the Juggernaut (bonus points if you get the X-men reference)
  • Financial (B)- The goal is to ensure we are saving/investing money in the right way.  I’ve already shifted money for investments.  Some of these have been home repair things (replacing the hot water heater has been AMAZING!) and some of these are investing in fun vacations for later in the year.  I do acknowledge that I was wasting too much money on junk food and stuff as I was super stressed.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry