Happy Sunday Everyone;
Happy 4th of July!!
I love words. I love definitions. I love finding the meaning of things. Maybe I should have been an English teacher? Imagine my delight when Kim came to me yesterday and said “I want our family to focus on a few different words for the next 6 months”. It’s normally me coming up with some “thing” to work on, which gets the rest of the family super excited. Kim and the boys love my unrequested coaching as much as I love raw broccoli (I hate raw broccoli). I sat down with excitement and asked her what she was thinking. She talked about the need for a 6 month review and regroup and what she wanted our family to be about the remainder of the year. The words she wanted to focus on were intentional, present, and healthy. I of course had to ask “why” those words. Here are her thoughts.
Present: Definition: The period of time now occurring. Jack is heading into his senior year and will leave the nest shortly. She wants us to enjoy this period of time that is unfolding in front of our eyes. I love that definition, the period of time now occurring. Here we are folks, let’s make it count and let’s make it count NOW!
Intentional: Definition: Done on purpose, deliberate. No wall flowering at the Marckwardt’s. If we’re going to do something, make it count and know why we’re doing it. Kim’s way of thinking of this is in alignment with being present. If you get present and intentional working in tandem, you know where you’re going, why you’re going there, and enjoying the ride while its happening.
Healthy: Definition: Indicative of, conducive to, or promotion good health. BORING, but necessary. Truth is this word is coming on the back of post covid travel to Mexico and Nashville. I’ll just leave it with boring but necessary. Whether it’s an over indulgence of food or booze, covid gave us an imaginary excuse to get less healthy and we want our health back.
I love this exercise. Before Kim said it, the word “intentional” has always been one of my all-time favorites. It’s a prerequisite to purpose. Kim’s exercise in its own self creates intentionality and purpose for our family to think about what we want, create reminders, and then move in that direction. Probably sounds cheesy as hell but Jack and 8 of his buddies were in the pool yesterday while I BBQ’d for them, I had the presence (which isn’t always normal) to give Kim a hug and say “this is what you mean by being present, this is awesome”.
So if you’re up for it, I might suggest you go through the same exercise. You can do it for yourself, you can do it for your family, for your team. What are the words you want to live by, even if just the next 6 months.