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.

Performing a Personal Quarterly Check-in (3-22-23)

This is a one-off entry about taking the time to do a quarterly review in business in life. This is inspired by a blog I wrote last year around this time.

I don’t know about you, but I feel my meetings this week have all went like this, “Let’s talk about how X went in Q1. Here is the performance. Let’s take a moment to celebrate some of our wins. Now, what gaps do we still see? We need to start addressing those gaps now, while we still have time. What plan can we put in place and what actions do we need to take to gain/keep momentum?” It didn’t matter if the topic was brand performance, tactic creation, finances, or executing on the plan for the rest of the year. For whatever reason, now seems like a perfect time to take a moment to pause, evaluate, and figure out what we need to do next.

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 2023? How did you do with them in Q1? Have you stopped to CELEBRATE your progress? SERIOUSLY, I hope you are celebrating something. If you are reading this, I know you’re doing something cool. Whether you are doing something small or large, you’re definitely doing something worth celebrating. After you get done celebrating, what gaps do you see? How can you address them NOW, so you can see the payoff later this year?

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.

Protecting my Peace (B)- This is my overall goal for the year. This is about ensuring I’m making the time to take care of me and putting the right boundaries in place. Things did get busy at times in Q1. However, I’m proud of myself for prioritizing sleep, saying no to certain things at work, and taking steps to release the stress of day-to-day life. I just need to focus on taking care of myself.
Career (A)- The goal is to feel like I’m delivering magic. I feel proud of my start in Q1, and I feel valued right now. I delivered on some great projects and partnered with some amazing folks to deliver an awesome National meeting, strategy, and IVA. For me, it’s all about keeping up this momentum. I can do this by being crystal clear on my priorities and carving out some time to whiteboard and think through a few things before shifting hard into execution mode.
Physical Health (B-)- The goal is to make sure I’m taking good care of myself, so I can do the things I want to be able to do. I did good on the sleeping, and I’m proud of myself for completing my race in January. I have two gaps. One is better fueling my body in a healthy way on a more consistent basis. I probably stress ate more than I should. Good news is that I’ve kicked my Diet Pepsi habit, and now am starting to find a groove. The other gap is I need more upper body strength, so I can complete more obstacles. I need to do more pull-ups and work in grip training. I have a plan for that, just need to execute.
Financial (C)- The goal is to hit our financial savings goals. We haven’t fully established what those are, so will need to do that before I can take action.
Family (B)- The goal is to feel like an amazing husband and dad. Parenting has just been hard for a wide variety of reasons with a slew of challenges my wife and I are still trying to figure out how to navigate. If you’re a parent, you’ve probably been here. Also, over the past month, I’ve put in a lot more hours at work (especially on the weekends), which has upset a little bit of the work/life integration. I’m hoping to better balance that out, so I can focus more on connecting with my family.
Fun/Social (A)- The goal here is to plan out vacation days. Everything is booked for the year, and I’m looking forward to family trips, a fishing trip, and some “race”cations.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Quarterly Reviews in Business and Life (3-30-22)

This is a one-off entry about quarterly reviews in business and life.

It’s hard to believe that the end of Q1 is tomorrow. The first quarter is always integral to the success of the year for a few reasons. First, the momentum generated in Q1 is often what carries the business to its goals for the rest of the year. Second, if things aren’t quite going as well as the company hoped they would there is still time to make changes. With this in mind, the moment Q1 officially ends, businesses across the country will begin analyzing their books to see how they are doing. They will calculate sales and growth. They’ll look at selling, general, and administrative expenses. They’ll look at their investments and evaluate ROI. As they perform these calculations, they’ll ask 2 simple questions. How are we tracking toward our goals? Are we investing our resources wisely? From there, they will adjust things as needed.

What does this have to do with anything? What if we applied the quarterly review process to our own lives? What if we spent just a few minutes asking ourselves the two questions outlined earlier (How are we tracking toward our goals? Are we investing our resources wisely?) If you paused a moment to do this, what would you find out about yourself? How might you adjust things?

The challenge: Will you take the time to do a quick quarterly review? What adjustments will you make after doing one?

Bonus: Here is my mini-quarter review based on the dimensions in my life I set goals for. Sharing in hopes that it might spark your reflections.

Career- (B+) The goal is to feel mastery and magic in my role. I’m tracking toward that, but not there yet. Q1 was a hard grind, but I’m feeling good about things and have momentum taking me into Q2. I’ve learned a heck of a lot and contributed in meaningful ways. As I look at Q2 I know my personal career success will hinge on my ability to prioritize and on my ability to take care of myself (Physical Health) so I can perform. On the prioritization front, I’m blocking 2-5 every Friday to make sure I pause, plan, and prioritize. Each week I’ll focus on 3 things I HAVE to get done.
Physical Health- (C+) The goal is to get stronger and feel energetic. I’m a bit of a mixed bag with this goal. I’m on track with my goal of completing an obstacle course race every quarter with one done in January and one coming up in May. That’s a huge positive. However, while I’m doing good on the physical activity front, I had about a month during the meeting cycle timeframe where my nutrition and sleep were non-existent and I didn’t do the things I needed to do to process stress. I have to do a better job on those fronts. For me this all comes down to finding and sticking to a routine.
Financial- (B) The goal is to hit our savings/investment targets. Things are going well here. I’ve found that if the money isn’t in my account I can’t spend it. Every year we do a lump sum save, so we can hit that goal. The majority of the money we plan to save for the year has already been moved into the right accounts/investments and my financial advisor is telling me I’m in good shape. With that said, we can do better by not spending money on all the small things that quickly add up.
Family- (A) The goal is to feel like I’m being an amazing husband and dad. I feel I’m doing great in this area. I’ve been really focused on being present and patient in all things. I feel I’ve made some great improvements here. As a bonus, my wife and I have date nights set up for the rest of the year, which is awesome! Side note, you know you’re married with younger kids when your date nights often turn into going to a bookstore, picking up Yats, going on walks, and just low key chilling with no responsibilities.
Fun/Social- (A) The goal here is to plan and take all my vacation days. All of my vacations are booked for the year! Almost everything is planned. I just have to go on them now!

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry