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

Open Letter to 2021 (12-8-21)

Happy Wednesday!

As the year comes to a close, I find myself reflecting. Here is my open letter to 2021 about the emotions and lessons it gave me.

Dear 2021,

How’s it going? After the year that was 2020, you’ll probably most be remembered as the year that didn’t totally suck. I mean after 2020 the bar was pretty low, and you managed to get over it. High five! While I’m chilling by my Christmas tree here are my thoughts and feelings.

My family didn’t have the health problems we had last year, but things still aren’t entirely smooth yet. This is just another reminder of how easy it is to take good health for granted. I feel this will always be the top lesson that’s reinforced throughout the year.
Thanks for finding ways to nudge me to not worry so much. It’s easy to get wrapped up and become consumed about how the pandemic, life stress, and other things are having a negative impact on my girls. Then, I see them laughing, coming up with ideas I never could, and showing such incredible kindness to others that it makes me realize it is never as bad as I fear it is. Plus, they still think I’m funny and they’ll still snuggle with me from time to time.
You brought some exciting new challenges to tackle. Preparing for them and overcoming them gave me so much energy. You also brough some soul sucking challenges to tackle. I didn’t love them, but I made it through and am stronger. Thank you.
If you look at my phone, I’ve stopped to take more pictures of flowers, trees, sunrises, and sunsets than I ever have. It makes me happy.
I feel like the entire world is kind of like a bunch of teenagers right now. We are going through so much and all struggling with who we are and we hope to become. I only pray that we are kind to each other as we go through these growing pains.
I’ve always been a big proponent that BBQ sauce can cover a lot of cooking mistakes. BBQ sauce doesn’t help with failure or disappointment though. You just have to work through that, and working through never happens as fast as you’d like.
I have a lot more stress related behaviors than I realized. Being aware of this has been huge. I hope to continue to improve my coping mechanisms in the next year.
There is something glorious about running in the cold darkness. It’s one of the few times when I can hear the universe/energy/God. Thanks for that peace.
I believe people change. I believe it usually happens so slowly it’s hard to notice. I feel myself changing though. Not sure who or what I’m changing into. Not sure if it’s good or bad. It just is. I often wonder if I’m losing something I had or if I’m gaining something new. This probably doesn’t make any sense, but it’s one of the more human things I’ve felt this year.
The thing I’m most proud of is that I feel like I’m finding my flow/vibe again. It’s different, but it’s mine.
I am loved by myself and others. That is more than enough.
2021, you were definitely a wild ride and 2022 is already shaping up to be an adventure.

Those are things going through my head. Yours might be similar or different. Whatever you’re feeling is okay. Your feelings are your truth.

The challenge: If you haven’t taken the time, take a few moments to reflect on 2021 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

What Do Our Goals Tell Us About Ourselves? (12-1-21)

This week we will start a 2 part series about reflecting on the end of the year. We’ll start by reflecting on the goals we set earlier this year and what those goals can tell us about ourselves.

At the beginning of every year I set goals for myself across a few categories: career, financial, physical, mental, and relationships. I wanted to lead a successful launch meeting. I wanted to save X amount of money. I wanted to complete an obstacle course race. I wanted to read at least 20 books. I wanted to go on a couple of date nights with my wife every month. As this year comes to a close, I’ll stop to look at which goals I achieved. I had some hits and I had some misses too.

In an achievement obsessed culture, it will be easy to just focus on the accomplishments. It will be easy to say, “I’m good, because I achieved A and B goals.” And “I’m bad, because I missed on X and Y goals.” I’d argue life is more than just achievement. There were some goals I accomplished and realized they weren’t as important as I thought they were. At the end of everything I didn’t feel different and I didn’t learn anything. There were some goals I accomplished and realized it wasn’t about the goal at all, but the journey I went on that transformed me. On the flip side, there were goals I missed in life. Some of those misses hurt. Some of them didn’t hurt as bad as I thought they did, which continued to show me what is truly important in life.

What does this have to do with anything? As we wind down for the year, I hope we all take the time to look at the goals we set for ourselves in work and life. When we do, the first thing we will ask is whether or not we achieved our goals, but I’d encourage us reflect further. I hope we take time to ask ourselves more questions about what it means when we hit or don’t hit a goal.

If you hit a goal– What does that signify to you? Is hitting this goal as important as you thought it would be when you set it? What does that tell you? How did you hit that goal? Is this something you want to continue focusing on? Do you want to build on this success? If so, how?

If you missed a goal– What does that signify to you? Is missing this goal as important as you thought it would be when you set it? What does that tell you? Why did you miss achieving the goal? What was in your control and outside of your control? What did you learn? How will you adapt in the future? Will you keep this as a goal or will you go in a new direction?

The challenge: What do your goals tell you about yourself?

Bonus: Happy Hanukkah to all my friends celebrating.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry