What I Learned in 2019
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

If you have been following my posts and The Next Page podcast, you have heard me talk about my year-end reflections, and how much I gain from them. I thought it was only proper for me to share some of what I learned with you. Remarkably I had 52 key takeaways or learnings and 28 events or highlights that spoke to me. Let’s start with a few learnings that you might find helpful:

• When you are obsessed (in a good way) with something, it will wake you up in the morning.
  • I love this one because it tells me that having things in my life that I am truly passionate about will have me waking up before my alarm and ready to jump out of bed
• Because – Be the Cause that brings you what you want. Don’t look for excuses in life.
  • Too many people are looking for excuses that they can use to explain why they didn’t achieve their goals or dreams. What they should focus on instead is being the cause that brings that change about.
• Highly successful people do two things very well. They start well and finish well. Only one of those comes naturally, and the other they need to cultivate.
  • Wow, this really spoke to me. You rarely, if ever, find a person who starts and also finishes well because it takes two different skill sets. Entrepreneurs are great at starting but often fail because of a lack of follow-through. If we want to succeed, we need to strengthen what we do well and cultivate the skills we are missing.

The events and highlights that spoke into my life were amazing again this year. Our family welcomed a new grandson, and our youngest son graduated from his Physician Assistant program and landed his dream job. These would have been outstanding, even if I didn’t reflect on them. “Smaller” highlights may have been overlooked without my year-end reflection and I would have missed out on truly enjoying those moments again. On July 3, dear friends of ours asked if we wanted to join them on their boat to see the lighting of the flares on Otisco lake. Had they not invited us, this would have been the only time in about 50 years that, weather permitting, I would have missed the lighting of the lake. A precious memory that I was able to relive once again.

If you would like to hear more of my experience wrapping up 2019 and preparing for 2020, please join Marisa Norcross and me for Episode 134 of The Next Page Podcast as she questions me on what I learned, why it was important, and what I will do differently in 2020.

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