This was an amazing year filled with lots of miles traveled nationally and internationally, with some amazing personal trips as well as speaking events. Some of the magical moments I experienced were being the keynote speaker for IFEBP’s annual conference with over 5,000 attendees, my wife Anh Thu and I travelling to Italy to visit my former professor, my yearly get together with my three best friends, welcoming to our home our new dog, Lucky, and spending Lunar New Year with family.
It is important to acknowledge and feel gratitude for all of the wonderful things that happen over the year, accomplishments made, goals reached, valuable time spent with family and friends, and all of the things that stand out that mean something, no matter how big or how small. Throughout the year, I write down all of my magical moments. At the end of the year I take time to reflect on all that I am grateful for.
In looking back at 2023, some of the highlights include expanding our network to include serving more organizations and associations, many professionals such as dental associations, parks and recreation, cyber security, financial institutions, among many others. I was honored to be the keynote speaker and lead various workshops, helping to make a positive impact.
Common themes I spoke about during our events were the following:
-How to make meaningful connections: moving beyond just networking and asking more personal questions, being fully engaged in conversation, and showing interest in order to create deeper connections. This is important because you are present with the person you meet and you build relationships with people that you can support and that can support you in life.
-Life as a team sport: you can accomplish a lot on your own but you can accomplish so much more with a team for support and collaboration. No one is self-made and it is important to acknowledge all of the input, inspiration, support, advice, and knowledge we gain from others that help influence our decisions, reach our goals, and achieve success.
-How to turn stress into success by changing perspective, turning setbacks into comebacks, and how to reroute when faced with obstacles. Often we can get overwhelmed with stress, feelings of failure, and like we are not making progress. By shifting our perspective, changing the negative self-talk in our heads, reaching out for support, we start to see opportunities that exist.
We all have goals and milestones we want to reach, and to help us make progress toward those goals and achieve success, it is important to be able to make meaningful connections, have a support network, utilize your resources and reach out for help when needed. Also important to realize is that it is possible to overcome obstacles by realizing that your setbacks don’t have to stop you from reaching your goals, they can provide opportunity to change direction and reroute to help you get to your end destination.
Here’s to a successful year filled with many things to be grateful for. When you think of stepping into 2024, what are some goals you have and what action steps can you start taking now to prepare you for a successful year ahead?
