Melt it down and start fresh
The older I get, the faster each year goes by. And 2022 was no exception. The year started with me at another job and ending up at another one – and one that I love. It also ended with some sorrow, including several deaths in our family. But it also ended with joy, including Lisa and I celebrating 37 years of marriage and a family trip to Disneyland.
Professionally, the year ended with a new marketing team, a robust marketing-communication plan, and a roadmap for a marketing team focused on a simple three-fold goal to help our organization get more members, keep the members we work so hard to te, and grow our relationships with our members to ensure they’re taking advantage of all the benefits OnPoint Community Credit Union has to offer.
For all the accomplishments this last year, plenty of things didn’t get across the finish line. And some things didn’t pan out quite how I planned. But that’s one of the nice things about the flip of a calendar to a New Year. There’s nothing magical about this time of the year, but it is an excellent time to stop, evaluate, and set new goals for the coming year. And while New Year is a beautiful time to do this, we can do this anytime we want. That’s a lesson I learned from my dad.
Those who know me know how much I loved my dad – and the lessons I learned from him. For those who don’t know, my dad was the metal shop teacher at Crook County High School in Prineville, Oregon, before he passed away in 1988.
In seventh grade, while I was waiting for him in his shop after school, he taught me how to create a metal sculpture by creating a mold, melting the metal, and pouring it into the mold. The first sculpture I created was horrible. He showed me how to file it, shape it, and mold it further. After days of work, I still did not like my metal creation. “No problem,” he told me. “You can just melt it down and start afresh.” I would go on to melt, re-melt, and re-melt yet again. Finally, after multiple attempts and dozens of hours of work, my creation was complete. And I liked it.
His lesson was to not beat me up for what I didn’t get done or for not getting something done the way I wanted. Instead, focus on starting over – starting fresh – and keep working on it. I also learned that every new effort benefits from work done before. So that first sculpture was somehow embedded into the final version.
As 2023 gets underway, I encourage you to take enough time to reflect on your accomplishments, work, and projects in 2022 – whether personal, professional, or both.
- Find what worked and what didn’t
- Find the things you didn’t get done last year and determine if you want to do them in 2023
- Find the work you want to keep and the work you want to melt down
Asking questions like these will give you a chance to take some of your work that you may not be proud of and toss it into the crucible. Let the heat melt it all down, burn away the dross, and then use what’s left to start afresh and build on your old efforts.
What an excellent way to start a New Year!
