Latest / The Growth Project / Episode 334: Mid-Year Reflection

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Episode 334: Mid-Year Reflection · The Growth Project

• 0:00
  You.
• 0:03
  Welcome to The Growth Project, a podcast brought to you by it. Great to be here today. Doctor Drew Brannon joined by doctor Corey Schaefer. We are in the studio and we are great to be here. Great to be here. Okay, Corey. So we are diving in today and I'm going to kind of set up this topic a little bit.
• 0:26
  We're talking about the summertime, which I'm sure you know, if we were sophisticated enough, as I said, that we would cue up what Will Smith and Summertime. Come on. That's going to be wheelhouse way there. There are a few options. No, but I say that's the option. So if you're listening to this and if you want to hit pause and shout Connor cue either way.
• 0:51
  Either way. So yeah, we're talking about the summertime. And I'll kind of set it up this way. Although my kids are older now and they're not really asking this question as much as they used to, or really at all, but they used to always ask me this question shortly after they get out of school. We would be sitting there one day
• 1:08
  and they would be like, dad, do you still go to work in the summer? And I would say, yes, I do. Although there are some professions out there that don't go in the summer. I am not in one of those. I mean, to be honest, I we do.
• 1:24
  You know, we do a lot of work in college sports. College athletes asked me that question all the time. It's come in, you know, come back in, you know, August or September. Like, how was your summer? What do you do? What would you do with your time off? And I'm just kind of like, what do you mean you.
• 1:36
  Yeah. That's not how this works, man. Yeah. No we are we're on in the summer as well. But you know, the fact that my kids ask that question, I kind of I loved it there and thought it was layers and still do. So yeah, we're still on in the summer, aren't we? Yes, we are on the summer. But,
• 1:51
  you know, I do think and that's why we're going to talk about this today for those of us that are in industry that do work through the summer, it can be a great opportunity, for us in a number of respects.
• 2:03
  And so that's really kind of the focus of a day of like, all right. Instead of just letting the summer or what we tend to think of kind of June, July, August be three more months on your calendar. How could we think about this a little bit differently, a little more thoughtfully, intentionally, strategically, in order to really maximize what it could be?
• 2:22
  So that's where we're headed today, with respect to the summer.
• 2:25
  Yeah. So I think, the first sort of major talking point that we wanted to hit into is, or get into is, how summer, can be a good opportunity, for sort of a seasonal annual, let's say, reset and can be, for some depending again, maybe on industry and just the seasonality of your work.
• 2:49
  A time for reflection. So as I introduce it in that way, through which direction you want to take it in. Well, so here's where my brain goes as I think about kind of this reset thing. There's there's two big things that pop up here. Most people have, some form of kind of like a goal or a target or a plan they're working toward.
• 3:10
  And we'll say in this case, we're talking about over like kind of a calendar year type format. One of the more common mistakes people make is they set that goal or that objective, maybe even like the latter part of the prior year, and they begin working toward it in the first part of this year, and then they really aren't giving it a ton of thought until the end of the year.
• 3:30
  It's like, hey, I'm chasing this thing all year long. I'm hoping that I'm going to be there at the end and the place I want to be, but they aren't doing nearly enough. Assessing, diagnosing, adjusting whatever you want to call it, this is a great time to do that. This is a really, really great time to do if you're halfway through your year and whether that's kind of your maybe professional type goals that you might be thinking about, it could be your personal stuff as well.
• 3:56
  Maybe you set out this year to do a bunch of things personally. This is a vital time to pause and just see you see where you are. Yeah. Yeah. Before we even jumped on here and, you know, kind of press record. I was thinking for myself, like, to be honest, I'm probably more reflective. In the winter and sort of towards the close of the year and as the, as a new year starts up, and I and I stand by that, I think there's truth to it, but I also am pretty deliberate and diligent, you know, this time of year.
• 4:31
  I'm with you. It's the halfway point. It serves as a natural time to check in and to have time.
• 4:36
  Yeah. Exactly. So just to kind of take stock of first six months of the year, looking back, you know, what's been accomplished, what has been done, what's working, what's not working? What do I want to tweak or adjust as we, you know, kind of turn the page into, the back half of the year or the second half kick off, so to speak.
• 4:53
  Right? So, yeah, I'm with you. I think it's a there's opportunity here for, sort of a mid year check in. That obviously is how it works within the calendar. I think there's two degree of seasonality of this as well. A lot of a lot of industries, a lot of companies. The pace does seem to slow a bit during the summer.
• 5:15
  And so if that if that works for you in the industry that you're in, then, hey, maybe with a little bit more of a slower pace and some free time, it sort of naturally lends to the opportunity to do this, because that's one of the reasons why I think people will tell you they don't check in more regularly, just like I'm too busy.
• 5:33
  Right. The the the pace is too fast. How do I slow down and do that? Well, now the pace is slower. You've already slowed down, so let's do it. Yeah. Great point. And I think even as let's go back to what you said a second ago as we're thinking about like, okay, this is half time and we'll do a sports example here.
• 5:52
  Everybody, I think a lot of folks listen to our podcasts are aware we're heavy in the college football space. How do we generally think about and how do we designate the best coaches in college football? And you know, there's it's not just about one metric, but one of the metrics that I think matters the most is who can adjust the best.
• 6:12
  So when you go into halftime and you're able to, you know, get off the field and have a few moments to kind of huddle with your staff. And you can look at the app now with the new technology, you can look at the iPad a little bit more extensively and see what's happening. We can get together with our guys and talk about what they're seeing out there.
• 6:27
  Whoever adjusts the best often wins the game. And like that's kind of where we are right now. And so for leaders out there that are listening to this of what are you doing to adjust and to help your team adjust so that the second half of the year gives you the best chance possible to accomplish the things you want to?
• 6:47
  Yeah. The one the one thing I'm not even pushing back on, but just like a little bit of a rental, throw in that, when I hear you describe it in that way, I'm almost assuming, like what? Sounds like it's a close game. So what I would say is, I think really good coaches, in my observation, even when they're winning, yeah, they still go in halftime and make adjustments for sure.
• 7:07
  And that's how the second half is usually pretty crisp. And you know, maybe you widen the lead as opposed to like let the other team come back in it. So just making that point around, hey, even if the year has started really well for you, you can still do this totally. In fact, you should still do this out of you.
• 7:24
  Yeah. Because okay, let's go with the college football example. What's one of the most important things to do in college football right now? Build depth. Well, it's hard to build. Like if you're going to halftime, you're up by two touchdowns. You're not you're not playing your twos and threes up by two scores. You're not doing that. But if we can go in up by two scores maybe go up then by 17 points and make adjustments really really well we come out score in our first possession kind of widen that gap.
• 7:49
  Now we're getting close to you know what. Like get the threes in there. Get the twos in there. And now we're building depth. So exact there's value to that. Yeah there's value to putting your foot on the gas pedal. And similarly if the if the year hasn't gotten off to, you know a great start or hey, we're down at halftime.
• 8:04
  It's it's not like we just throw in the towel on the year or a game, right? There's hey, let's see if we can kind of climb back into this. What can we do? To sort of right the ship even at this point. Like, if it's, winning the game is out of reach. But, like, just to show that there's progress being made.
• 8:24
  And so, I mean, again, you can you can see the parallels there. So, absolutely worth doing
• 8:30
  the, the reset piece of this, I think. So that's in terms of using this as like an opportunity to, to reflect, I think the reset, I hope a lot of people feel that again, there's seasonality to it. Right? Some industries are peaking during the summer.
• 8:44
  Yeah. Right. And there's no reset. Yeah. Could be your busy season. So I acknowledge that, for, for a lot of people, a lot of industries, I think us to a degree, was trying to use this as a little bit of a reset, especially since you just brought it up with like, college football looming in the distance.
• 9:03
  I think we understand and probably you in middle, especially given how long you guys have been doing this. Like, man, it's about the it's about to go right when that calendar flips to to August and then especially September, it gets going fast and the pace becomes so, so quick. This is the time, right? With that, you know, in the distance to kind of reset things and recharge a little bit.
• 9:31
  And so I, I don't know if you feel that Tony, I've started to feel that. And I'm only, you know, a couple of years into this. It's interesting I was even contrasting like,
• 9:38
  again, I'm talking from a sports standpoint, so bear with me here. If you think about the seasonality of sports, well, what's the really the only sport that goes on during the summer?
• 9:46
  Truly all summer is baseball. Think about the pace of baseball, right. Like, are you anything? I know they're making changes to make the game faster, but it is still slow in contrast to you. Think about football in the horizon in the fall and everything that kind of comes from there. Like things just get fast. So to me, that's always what I feel like, you know, beginning in the spring is just like, oh, things are starting to slow down.
• 10:10
  It's baseball season. Yeah. And then as baseball starts to close out, it's like things start getting fast again. So yeah. No. And I think one, maybe one final comment in that, Corey, there's a quote we've used a bunch in football over the years by a guy named Henry Clay, and I'm not entirely sure who Henry Clay is, I should know.
• 10:25
  But the quote is, he says the time will come when Winter will ask you what you were doing all summer. And that's kind of what you're saying right there. Once, once the season comes, or if you think about if you're thinking about your calendar year, that would essentially be kind of like Q4. Like, you know, when you get to Q4, the odds are you put yourself in shape to either look good or not so good.
• 10:46
  Part of it was what happened during, you know, part of Q2 and Q3. Well, and then the other thing I'll mention here, and then we can move forward. You know, I always use the analogy like college kids get this. It's like how rested you are going into finals week is probably going to determine how you come out of finals week, because you're not going to rest during.
• 11:06
  Exactly. But if you go, you know, classes end bender on the weekend, straight into finals week and long days and long nights and studying and cramming and all that, there. You know, you're already spent before you've even started it. That's probably not going to go well. No. Right. So it's a little bit of that like you're saying is just like, man, if you've already burnt the candle from both ends had in Q4, Q4 is probably not going to go well.
• 11:29
  Yeah. So how you go into the back half of the year or the left final quarter of the year, however you want to think about that, that matters, but it matters. Then what are you doing now. So absolutely okay. Let's get into this next one here. There's going to be three kind of big areas we want to cover today.
• 11:43
  The second one is kind of the category of I'll just call kind of travel and perspective. And look, again, I think you made a really good point. We realized that, traveling in the summer might be even more difficult for you if it is your busy season. I think the the nuance here. And we realized not all of our leaders or listeners have families.
• 12:07
  Many do, but some don't. And one is certainly not better than the other. But kids are not in school in the summer. And so let's talk about travel a little bit in the kind of the value and importance of that. If you do have kids as they're older and I'd say old enough to travel without it just being parenting in another location,
• 12:25
  Yeah, I'm gonna let you take this one. I travel for me with kids right now. Is parenting in another location, so but but like, you know, let's talk about what that is and why. And I'll tell you, as a parent of one kid who's already in college and you know, two others who will, before I know it, kind of be there, you definitely do not get those days back.
• 12:43
  And everybody who's listening to this knows that, you've got this kind of fixed window of time in life where, you can kind of hopefully find a way in, like, we're not saying that travel needs to equal like, oh, we're headed to Switzerland this summer or something like that, you know, if you are, good for you. But what an incredible time, to make memories with your family.
• 13:08
  And you can do that, at Lake Hartwell. You know, you can do that. It, the beach. You can do it so many different places. And the thing that I will say that is to kind of keep on your radar for everybody as well. And those that have had kids that have progressed through high school and college, you know, this, that life is, has only got like it's hard, school is hard.
• 13:30
  And kids are different in the summer than they are during the school year. There's a lot they don't have on them. And I think that as a result of that, it just provides such an awesome opportunity for families to make the most of it. So travel can be a bunch of things here. I'm just speaking to like one specific form of it where I think it's a it's a awesome time, and I do want to challenge our listeners to think about with respect to the family example, how can you find ways to create some great memories, with your family in the summer?
• 14:03
  Yeah, in travel, I think, it may or may not be related to sort of a, I guess a little bit of a subtopic here within this, but like just nature being outside, right? A lot of the time the travel is to a location where we're spending the duration. The majority of our time is spent outdoors, in nature, in a lot of ways.
• 14:24
  And you don't have to necessarily travel to do that. But that is one of the things that comes, with this time of year. And my wife, my wife would tell you, I don't always love outside in the summer. It is so stinking hot in the south. Spring and fall are my sweet spots. But, you know, there's still plenty of time spent outside, and there's boatloads of research to support, being in nature.
• 14:50
  Green spaces. Yeah. Water, like, all of these things are really, really good for us. It's actually really fascinating. Some of the research and I don't have any specific studies to point to, but, there's just a lot of good that can come from that. And, you know how that connects to this idea of like perspective. Yeah. I think is, is pretty cool.
• 15:11
  So what would you what do you want to take it from there? Yeah. I just think that what we're really saying here is finding a way to to kind of shift. I think when you shift your perspective, you shift your perspective. Right? I mean, I think when you that's exactly what we're saying of like, hey, when I, when I find a way to take a step back and instead of doing kind of my normal week in and week out here, like, we're gonna take a vacation and, you know, I hear, like, we work hard and I'm all about working hard.
• 15:43
  But when I hear people say things like, I haven't taken a vacation in four years and it's, kind of a badge of honor type thing, it's really not a great idea. Yeah, it's really not a great idea. Now, unfortunately. Are there some folks out there that can't take a vacation? We respect that. And that's unfortunate. But those of you who can, I just want people to recognize the, the value of that and how healthy it is.
• 16:11
  Because again, what do we say? It's half time. It's half time. And if you can, while at half time, take a step back and get out of your normal kind of treadmill life and do something different, it will pay dividends down the road. Yeah, yeah. Agreed. And I mean, again, I describe this like we're in a stage of life where we're not doing big kind of weeklong trips, you know, to the beach or anything like that.
• 16:31
  We do a lot of like weekends. Yeah. You know, these are like bite sized little opportunities for us to do what you're talking about, which is great. And all you need. Yeah. Shift a perspective. Maybe get out of town. Not necessarily. But the point is to to slow down, to shift, to get away, as you said it, from kind of the normal routine.
• 16:52
  And that's the stage of life that we're in. It'd be nice at some point to take a nice week, but like, we're just not there. So we do these little, you know, overnight trips or a weekend here or there, and is sort of at this stage of life that my kids are in like a great dose of them to, to get out of their normal routine, to experience something new.
• 17:10
  I personally, I find so much value, like there is such a calming for me at least, like peaceful like around water. Oh yeah. Right. So to get to a lake or to to go to a beach or something like that, I found for me is one of the best things that I can do in terms of really actually shifting perspective and feeling refreshed.
• 17:31
  So we try to be intentional about that kind of stuff when we can be. It's not always possible. To be honest, I don't know if we have any trips like that planned for this summer. But there will be plenty of opportunities for us just, to get away from the normal day to day. And that's kind of the point.
• 17:44
  Yeah. And I think it looks so go to the there's a construct actually, that is what we're talking about of just the whole principle of just oscillation. That's kind of what we're saying here. And yeah, if you're if you need to get the visual of your oscillating fan, that's, that is exactly that is just that of how it's like, you know, it's turning and it's turning.
• 17:59
  But the idea is think of yourself. We must put yourself in the position of the fan, right? If it's not oscillating and it's just sitting in one place and it's just blowing air, if you try to do that indefinitely, you burn out. You get just sick of it. It gets repetitive, you get frustrated like you need to to oscillate.
• 18:21
  And that's kind of what we're saying of like find a way to do that not just in the summer, but summer often represents an ideal time to do it. Yeah, it shifts your perspective.
• 18:31
  let's get to our last one here. So now we're talking about, and there's a little bit of a similar vein, but I think it's important to get it more to the granular here of this idea of like rest, play and recharge, rest, play and recharge.
• 18:43
  So, Corey, what are some initial thoughts on what that might look like or how how a person could do that effectively? Yeah, I mean the the reality is is, is first of all, there going to just be individual differences here. Right. Like that's going to look different for everyone. What rest means, what play is that kind of thing.
• 19:06
  So I know just for example, one that'll probably resonate with quite a few of our listeners. But, you know, during the summer months especially, how many people find themselves outside playing golf? Yeah, right. Like that's play, for, for an adult, you know, in their 40s, 50s, 30s didn't matter. Right. Like, we're not running outside playing tag.
• 19:31
  But how many people get out and play golf or pickleball or those kinds of things, right. Like that type of play. Even seasoned individuals well into life and careers and so on. Like it's kind of interesting, right? Like how that now exists more just because the weather's nice and we're outside a little bit more and that type of thing.
• 19:51
  So, I think that's a piece is in and there's, you know, a ton of good for just learning and understanding. What are your hobbies and things that you can do that bring you joy? And that sort of fit under that category of play? They don't even necessarily have to be competitive. I know pickleball and golf can be competitive.
• 20:13
  That's not the point, right? It's just about being outside and doing something and challenging yourself and that type of thing. Yeah. Well, and part of what you're saying there is take advantage of the opportunity of longer days. Right. You know, it's I mean we're not quite there. I think June 20th is the longest day of the year. Typically when it gets dark at like 9:00 at night and you think about the contrast of that to the the doldrums of like late November, early December, where it's 515 is dark.
• 20:42
  Right? You think about how much less you see your neighbors, think about how much less people are out water and their their plants and walking around and, and these sound like kind of just benign things, but they really aren't. Because what we're saying here is this promotes community. It promotes fellowship movement. It's just really healthy stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:01
  And I mean this is one, two where if you do have kids, like my kids are at a very funny age for totally wanting to do thing. I mean, I was sort of poking fun at like adults are now playing tag, but like, that's what my kid wanted, wants to do. And he wants to throw water balloons and, like, run through a sprinkler.
• 21:19
  And so what am I doing? Yeah, I'm running through sprinklers and throwing water balloons, you know, and tapping into that. And just, you know, the joy that comes from doing that, especially, you know, with your kids, it's hard to imagine that that doesn't feel like it fills up your cup. Sure. Well, there's a whole body of research on play, right?
• 21:39
  I mean, there just is. And we are so good, especially in this country at, taking ourselves too seriously. This is such a great time year. I think one reason why adults can find a lot of enjoyment in summer is what does it kind of bring us back to? Is is like memory, right? Memories. Right. Great memories of summers when we were a kid and the fun that came along with that.
• 22:01
  And so I think there's a there's an opportunity there. And frankly, it's a miss on our part. If we aren't doing something with that, if we aren't kind of connecting to the memories of that, and then I think we then begin to kind of bear the responsibility a little bit as parents as well. I want to pat, I want to give that to my kids.
• 22:16
  Like if I look back and I have great memories of summer and all that that entailed, well, then, like I want to offer that to them by helping design and creating, examples of how they can do that. Yeah, yeah. Again, I think if there's sort of a take home message here, it's there needs to be some deliberate that's it or intense nature around this.
• 22:39
  And even if maybe you recognize after having listened to this like, hey, I'm not doing this very well right now, well, at least have the courage to experiment and try some things. Like, you got to figure out what works for me, what helps me feel rested, what helps me feel recharged, where can I add elements of play, to what I'm doing?
• 22:58
  Again, it's going to look different for everybody. Yeah. And if the way that you recharge is you just, you know, sit in a hammock in your backyard, fantastic. You're probably doing more of that now than you do in January. Yeah. Yeah. So, so the point being, like, you might not be ready for this winter, but, you know, just take advantage of it, you know?
• 23:18
  So, I think that's what's important. Again, find what works for you. Prioritize it. Ideally I think that's important. But I want to go back to that word you just said. It's it's interesting that you went in there because I was going to do the same exact thing of whether you use the word thoughtfully, intentionally, deliberately. They're all of the same, you know, kind of flavor, obviously.
• 23:39
  And that's just a really, really I think, vital way to be. And, you know, it might be, you know, kind of the week take on even a podcast like this would be like, like you guys are doing a whole conversation around summer and my or some of the. Absolutely. And that's the that's the whole point is if you're going to design a life in which you are doing just that, where you're thoughtfully navigating what you're doing and how you're doing it, then you take periods of time in the year very seriously.
• 24:10
  And so, you know, and that that's not meant to be like a hard transition of what you're just talking about. Joy and fun. It's like, well, yeah. Like I'm thinking seriously about how do you create that? But I want our listeners and as we think about kind of the, I guess, what we might call kind of the grassroots movement and growth of the growth project is if, if there's anything we're getting right, I hope that our listener and community are increasingly living lives that are thoughtful and deliberate.
• 24:33
  Yeah. No, I agree with you. In and not to be insensitive again to to like if you're in an industry that's kind of flipped. Yeah. The season finale. That's right. A lot of these principles are still going to apply. During different months of the year. Again, there's some challenges now maybe associated with that shorter days and maybe less time spent outside because of weather and so on.
• 24:53
  But a lot of the principles remain true. Yeah. And let's it because that's I said. And the thing I want to press on at least a little bit is let's think about the objections that definitely for a minute, because there's always objections. And so, challenge yourself when the voice in your head that pops up and says, oh, but I can't challenge that.
• 25:18
  Don't allow that, that quick, kind of dismissive voice that might be in your mind to be the thing that wins the day. Find ways to create some version of these things that we're talking. Yeah. And I guess, too, as we're thinking about it, I can even challenge, the challenge of what I just said a minute ago, and it'll apply to us later in the year.
• 25:38
  But if this is your busy time period, recovery, rest recharging is so important. Oh, yeah, it's just in it's in tighter windows because now it's kind of day to day. Man, it's a grind. Long days, long hours. Whatever. Crazy busy. Okay, well, what do you do at night now? And how you, you know, rest up and recover, recharge for just the next day like that matters.
• 26:02
  There's a premium on it, right? Right. Your ability to do that again and again and again throughout the summer months, if this is your busy season, is probably going to determine what the summer months end up looking like right from like a performance or an output standpoint. Even for us, right? When if things really pick up, let's say, in the fall, well, it's just as important then that, like, hey, when we get opportunities to, to disconnect or unplug or reset or recharge, you got to do it.
• 26:26
  Yeah. You know. Yeah. It's just again, you're working with tighter windows and the margins are a little bit smaller, maybe because of the pace. But again, the point being here that like the principles that we're talking about are still true. Let me make one last comment on that. And then we need to kind of like move to a close here.
• 26:44
  Here's one of the observations I've made and a lot of working professionals over the years. About maybe why they don't do some of these things. And that is so classic. Behaviorism often prevails here, and that is we get conditioned a certain way. And then you think about the earliest two years of your career. Well, what what are those typically me.
• 27:01
  Well, you've you're young, you've got a lot of energy, you've got a lot of ambition. And those are the prime type of things that often can effectively compensate for bad habits. And as a result of that, you might not really do any things like this of like, oh, hey, through my 20s, maybe even through part of my 30s, I didn't do any kind of like half time reset because I didn't feel like I needed it.
• 27:26
  And to be candid, there might have been some truth to that. And so what you're effectively doing is you're training yourself during the, you know, decade plus perhaps more that oh I don't need that. And you get to a little bit different chapter of the book or later stage of your career and you've got bad habits. You aren't doing these things, and yet you need to be doing these things.
• 27:47
  So just recognize, you know, think about where you are and kind of your arc of your career and, and recognize that, hey, there's there's a real possibility that you didn't do these things early, and yet you really need to do them to set yourself up. Well for what lies ahead. Well said. Okay. So, just one more times or what's that song again that they need to be sure they look at the summertime.
• 28:12
  Well, Joe Smith, summertime and, deejay Jazzy Jeff from Fresh Prince. Come on guys. So this podcast was inspired by. Absolutely. So that's that's what's going on in my mind. Throw a dart at any country music song and you'll probably say something about Summer Buster. And we're going outside the box here. Okay. Well, we are always grateful to our listening community.
• 28:32
  Let us hear from you on Apple Podcasts reviews, Spotify. We always love to hear, how we can improve or what you might be getting out of these conversations, but hope that today is one that can be worthwhile for you, and we look forward to the next chance we get to connect on the growth project. Thank you.