Thank You

Written by: Craig Twombly

Published: January 2013

As 2013 starts, I sit here and stare at the computer screen is sheer astonishment. It appears another year has flown by in record time. Well at least in my eyes it has flown by. This time of year we at Priority Learning reflect what the year has brought us. It is also a great chance to give thanks and look at the road ahead in 2013.

I find myself reminisent to all of the people I have worked with this during this past year. As a facilitator I have learned so much from the people involved in their own personal development. Over this past year I have enjoyed watching individuals grow personally and professionally. The privilage of having a front-row seat, watching people take on challenages,winning a few battles and losing a few too has been nothing short of iinspirational. What has inspired me most is how people deal with the diversity that comes along their path. Unfortunately, no matter how hard you work at perfecting anything, there will always be a variable that hinders the plan or sends you a few steps backwards. Getting back up and brushing yourself off are signs of a truly coragous person. This always inspires us at Priority Learning. It is great to see people at their best. There is much debate as to what truly defines us. Are they bumps in the road or potential future successes? Whichever way it turns out, it is great to watch people respond positively when they are knocked down.

So as I sit here and write, I am saddned so deeply by all the violence that has transpired over the last year. You can easily find yourself in a funk by what has transipred. Although we should be saddened about the violence, we should also stop for a moment to be greatful and thankful for everything that we been lucky enough to have. I do find myself inspred when in the face of adversity we pick ourselves up no matter how painful and move forward to some of the tragedies that have transipred. I cannot even imagine how difficult this must be. The human spirit amazes me at times, yet as the new year begins and sadness grows distant, the hustle and bustle of regular life will take over again. The going to work and making time for the meetings or trying to make time for your spouse or whatever it is will sneak back into our lives and occupy our time. The shock and sorrow will become a distant thought in some far away place until adversity finds us again. I hope in the coming year that the adversity we face in 2013 is that of business and dealing with people far removed from the violence in the forefront of everyone's mind today.In the coming year we will all once again find ourselves stressed and trying to make it to wherever or whatever on time. We might actually find ourselves complaining about someone we work with and how they are making life difficult for us.

In the Leadership series at Priority Learning we ask individuals to present on a topic they are working on between sessions. As I sit here and stop feeling heaviness to all that has happened, I reflect back to a wonderful person I had the privilage of working with this past year. After a session when we discuss Appreciative Inquiry and the effect it has on teammates/coworkers, she came in and discussed with the group what she had worked on between sessions. I asked her after her presentation why she had chosen that topic. She spoke of how we can get wrapped up into life and the challenages we face daily. If left unchecked and all you focus on is negative, all you will find is negative and you will see the world as all dark and gray. This does not mean live in a fairy tale world and pretending nothing bad happens. No matter what we do or how we act or what we do to prepare, bad things will sometimes happen. What she worked on with her team seems so simple and yet has tremendous value. During every week, she asks each employee to share something they are grateful/happy or thankful for. Sometimes the response she reciueves is something simple like my lunch or sometimes something much larger. By doing this exercise every week I believe she has found her team more positive and energized. There is no standard to what makes each of us thankful or greatful. What is important is the neeed to occasionally stop and recognize that no matter how rough the week is or what challenges the customer might have given you, there is still good to be found. By doing this we can look for the good, even if your day starts out badly.

So as the new year starts because the world hasn't come to an end due to the Mayan predictions, we will all be faced with what exactly our new year's resolution will be and the daunting tasks of daily life. My new year's resolution will be to do more of what is above. I will at the minimum do this once a week, so thank you to the individual who shared this with me.

I challenge all of you to stop once a week and share what you are thankful for.

Craig Twombly

Craig is the primary facilitator at Priority Learning, he is responsible for conducting an array of leadership series offered and consulting assignments from communications to team development in organizations ranging from the service industries to finance, manufacturing and more. Having extensive experience at balancing the business needs with the wants and desires of people are Craig's strongest assets.