A Head Start
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

Would you like to have a head start over your peers? How about a head start over your competitors? While I was at my Maxwell conference last week, I heard this great quote, “Growth gives you a head start over your peers.” This quote is timeless but may actually be more important today than ever before. When the change around us is greater than the growth within us, we will quickly become obsolete. With so much information at our fingertips and the ease of tapping into AI, those who can think original thoughts, apply them, and know how to leverage them will have a huge advantage. Let’s take a look at five activities you can do daily to keep growing.

1. Learn something new every day – Bette Midler said it so well, “Don’t be a know it all, be a learn it all.” I have heard so many people say they feel they have learned enough. What they are actually saying is that they are ready to stop. Ready to surrender the balance of their life to a steady decline in success and relevance. I find this mindset so sad. When was the last time you read something other than a social media post?
2. Reflect – Take the time each day to reflect on what happened and what you learned. Reflection heightens your awareness. When we learn something and don’t reflect on it, we are just regurgitating someone else’s ideas and trying to apply them to new problems. When we reflect, we give our mind the time and space to convert the learning experience into insights that catapult the learning to the level of original thought. The results are priceless!
3. Write – You know that I struggle with journaling and writing in general. I don’t allow this challenge to deter me from writing down my key thoughts. Whether you are a free-flow journaling person or someone like me who follows a series of questions, write your thoughts down. Here are three tips that will help:
   1. Capture the thought before you lose it. – The system or method doesn’t matter. Just make sure you can capture it and find it later. I’m still working on getting better at this.
   2. Clarify the thought so you understand it. – After recording the thought, revisit it to ensure it’s worth keeping.
   3. Change the thought so you can use it. – Don’t be afraid to change or adjust the thought to make it useful. Ask yourself where you can use it and who else needs to know it.

Since I still have two more activities to share, we will need to continue this next week. In the meantime, pick up a book and start reading. Have a great week!