Happy Sunday Everyone-
First Sunday Thought was 10 years ago. Taking advice from my dad to prep for an hour on Sunday to have a better week ahead. I was in a motivated headspace, so I decided to forward that thought to my coaching students with a little background to it, and a rally cry to try it for their own week ahead. The following week, decided to share a win with the same group, and what I learned from it. Week after that I shared a loss and what I learned from it, and here we are today.
If I’m choosing words that I want to aspire to be, I’d say humble and confident come to the forefront. I say that because I’m confused on how to share something I’m so incredibly proud of without sounding like a brag. I’m back-to-back weeks on word definitions-
- Bragging: excessively proud and boastful talk about one’s possessions or achievement.
- Proud: feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one’s own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated.
Allow me a little leniency as I try to keep this on the proud side vs. bragging.
A few weeks back I received a response on a Sunday thought from the head of the FBI for Arizona, official title, “Special Agent in Charge”, it read.
“Hunter, I’ve been sharing your messages with my team for months now. What I love about your messages is they are not from someone that works for the government or in law enforcement. Your messages transcend career paths or profession! Know that the Phoenix FBI Executive Management team discusses your topics frequently! Take Care AD”
AD is friends with one of my old coaching students. He asked awhile back if he could add AD to the distribution list. I thought nothing of it. Fast forward to his response above, I called him. We were excited to talk with one another. We talked about Sunday thoughts and their use for them. We talked about leadership. We talked about teams working together. I was laughing to myself, I’m talking about processing/underwriting/sales working together, he’s talking about human trafficking, cyber security, and counter terrorism working together. He’s talking about Sunday Thoughts when I was running and said hi to the stranger (Patty) as an example, their team discussing reaching across department lines to get to know someone, and how knowing someone makes you more committed to solving problems together because of it. We talked about A leaders attracting A players and vice versa. We talked about his team rising to the occasion when things are exciting, but how important it is to stay committed to the mundane, how you get teams to stay committed in slower times. So relatable to our world right now. Net net-I loved it.
So aside from threading the needle of bragging and being proud, my own lesson to myself is recognizing that I can’t think of a single time when stepping out of my comfort zone didn’t help me, like hitting the send button 10 years ago on sunday thoughts. I literally can’t think of a single time when I threw myself out there, and I didn’t grow from it. Question I’m asking myself as I sit here is how many more opportunities exist in this world if I step out of my comfort zone more. What is there to lose? I wouldn’t have the opportunity to speak with AD and his team if I chose the comfort zone. I need to keep growing.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.