It’s not a typical Thanksgiving, but there is an opportunity to be thankful for even more this year, or at the very least, appreciative for the opportunity to give thanks.
For me, drinking cold brew concentrate with some of my family members this morning is a blessing that makes me stop and think of the joy that simple thing brings me.
It makes me illicit one of my favorite sayings ‘It doesn’t get much better than this.”
Thanksgiving is in part different this year because there was no Thanksgiving Eve night out at the local bars in your family’s town. If you haven’t experienced that special night yet, it’s truly a distinctive event.
Thanksgiving Eve is when we usually connect with old high school and family friends that comes with so many “It’s been so long, how are you?”
I’m confident next year’s event will be the best one yet, as it will be two years since we have seen some of our local stars.
So, in light of no Thanksgiving Eve, I challenge you all to reach out to people you haven’t chatted with in a while, especially those who have made a substantial impact on you.
Be mindful of the ones you feel you could make a positive impact on too.
Better yet, pull out the pen and paper, get a $.55 stamp, and craft some hand-written notes. If you don’t know their address, write a hand-written note and send it via text or email.
There is a 100% chance it will make an impact on the receiver.
It’s been true in my life.
Reaching out and expressing gratitude has changed my life forever.
It has opened doors for me in such unique ways.
So, enjoy Thanksgiving and be thankful, even if it’s just for the opportunity to be so.
I’m curious: in what ways do you express gratitude?
It is exciting to share that my thesis for the Schreyer Honors College has been submitted and accepted.
It was research on organizational culture and a study of the culture within two competing companies in the same industry. Thank you to everyone for your continued support.
It culminates a two-year journey that helped to make my Penn State experience special.
To save you from the 65-pages, there are three big takeaways that are applicable across disciplines that you all should know:
1) Emotional Safety and Trust.
There are a lot of problems and threats that individuals and companies face daily, and they are anywhere from small to large “hills” that need to be climbed.
The ability to conquer those “hills” without having to worry about people second-guessing your actions from the bottom of the hill, enhances performance.
2) Feedback and Motivation.
Be relentless in finding your “why” and helping others find theirs.
Working with driven teammates in an environment where feedback is shared and accepted in the pursuit of shared excellence, enhances performance.
3) The Power of Momentum.
Action creates momentum. Take action and be bold.
Celebrating what you want more of, personally and as a group, and leveraging past successes to guide future efforts, enhances performance.
I have seen the power of these through my time as a Division 1 swimmer and teammate, as an intern at growing and powerhouse companies, running an apparel company, and with mentors and peers who allow me to ask deep questions with a smile.
A proposition that can be pulled from this (putting my new-found qualitative research hat on) is asking the simple question of, “How am I working?” This is not in regard to employment, but rather in respect to whatever our daily grind revolves around.
My findings would suggest you answer that question with that you trust people to be great and that you support them in flexing their “can do” muscle.
It would recommend that you discover your passion and help others find theirs. That you take time to provide feedback to support others, accept input when needed, and that you remember people who have invested so much in you.
It would encourage you to be reliable, be bold, and take action to develop momentum. The research would say to celebrate your successes and not to shy away from building on current momentum from yourself and your teammates.
My Mom and I were on a walk just yesterday, and she asked me, “Nate, what is your next learning curve?” Well, perhaps it is to help companies to cultivate a culture across all stakeholders that focuses on Appreciation, Reinforcement, and Community (more on that later).
I challenge you to all ask the question of “How am I working?” We are in unique times, and I hope these takeaways can help in some way.
If you are interested in reading the entire thesis or chatting more, comment below or send me a message.
P.S. Thank you to all of the frontline workers, including my oldest brother Brad, who is a doctor in Baltimore. All of your courage and dedication is special. Thank you.
There is a lot of noise coming our way to do more as we social-distance. It is important now more than ever that we filter in the right information and guide our actions. Combining strategic thinking when applicable, with our increased efforts, can yield extraordinary results.
We hear the call to action to learn something new, practice yoga, clean the house, do things we don’t usually have time for, and there is great value in doing so. However, there is a lack in the call to action to take time to figure out how all of our efforts fit into our master plans.
We have to evaluate our master plans, or perhaps create one, and draw the outline in pencil of the puzzle before we start playing with the puzzle pieces. How do our actions align with our long-term pursuit of excellence and our unique daily discipline needed to achieve it?
We can plow through life, but if our actions are not aligned, we could be plowing snow back into the same spot it was just in. We need to gain and demonstrate expertise to grow influence but let’s make sure we are taking time to obtain the right knowledge and check-in that we are not only growing, but growing in the way we want and need to.
We can leverage the passive investor mindset of preparing ourselves for delayed gratification, staying the course, and the keystone notion that this too shall pass. But how about we combine the indelible outlook with an active investor mindset, closely monitoring our routines and individual actions to exploit every single chance to better ourselves.
Our society often rewards quantity over quality of actions and can confuse them to be the same. This carrot can encourage momentum, but we need to point the slingshot in the right direction.
Let’s
Be strategic in our master plans
Be tactical in the needed actions, and
Be an operator by making it happen.
If we forget to do step 1, I’d bet steps 2 and 3 do not get utilized to their full capacities.
Now would be a good time to turn on and turn up your favorite song. Take a pause, a few deep breaths, and hold onto the feeling of confidence.
If your composure has left you at all recently, that’s OK. It’s waiting for you to take it back. Let’s play our aces and leverage our support system.
How will we look back on these moments in 6 months? A year?
I’d say with a smile from ear-to-ear knowing we gave it all we had. Because amid endless uncertainty around us, we leaned into adversity rather than shying away. We met trials not as an unexpected visitor, but as a special guest at our social-distancing gathering. We showed courage by less of slaying the dragon, and more of making progress in the face of endless opportunities not to.
In closing, one of the best professors I had during my two years at La Salle University was Dr. Kennedy, and he would always sign off with noting, contact me anytime. Dr. Kennedy was a Penn State grad and helped me in my entrance into Schreyer’s when I transferred.
It’s beautiful how things end up like that, but that’s almost always how it works. Whatever we are looking for in life, we will find.
So, take time to be strategic, re-balance, and let’s live life in the present because if we can do it, it will last a lifetime.
Nate Woodman 