Do you remember when you first started your job? Or perhaps your new career? If you are anything like me you were excited. You were fired up. You were passionate about what you were doing. You were likely the most productive you have ever been. You likely had big ideas that you freely shared and your enthusiasm was contagious and inspiring to those around you. Imagine what life could be like if you lived like that every day! How much happier would you be? How much more productive would you be? How much more inspiring would you be?
Take a few moments to think back on when you were “new”. What was the reason that you started? What was your “Why” that drove your “What”? Do you still have that? Take some time to sit down and really capture that internally – to go back and visualize that feeling of being new and excited. Embrace it and relive it as much as you can. Find yourself an anchor, something that can take you back to that time and help you recapture that feeling. Was there a song that you liked at that time of your life? Revisit it. Was there a way you dressed? A way you behaved that was different from what you do now? (fashion faux pas taken into account please). Do as much as you can to recreate that feeling, that excitement, that passion. Rekindle that fire in your belly. Read a book, see a speaker, discuss with colleagues, but do what you need to do to get back that feeling of “new”.
I had the good fortune of attending our national professional association’s (CAAMP) golf tournament this week and was paired in a cart with our new Manager of Professional Development, Renee Dadswell. Over the course of 18 holes of golf I quizzed her and challenged her, as I am prone to do, on what our association represented and how she would represent that. Renee is 7 weeks into the job and she is passionate about the role she plays within the organization. She rose to the challenge and answered all of my questions and challenges with enthusiasm. She outlined some new ideas that she had for the organization to accomplish some of their objectives and how she hoped to help implement them. Her passion for our industry and the job that she has been hired to do was evident. She was eager to get feedback on her responses and was excited to get out and talk to our membership. At one point she made a comment about being new so she had lots of ideas and thoughts. I sensed a little bit of “I’m sure I’ll settle down once I am fully entrenched” which prompted me to say to her “Stay new. Forever!”. If you have the opportunity to meet Renee you will immediately see what I mean. Her enthusiasm is contagious.
My statement really got me thinking. One of the best things about giving advice to others is that it really forces us to assess whether or not we are practicing what we preach. For me I try hard to find things every single day that remind me why I started this journey and give me the Passion, Pride and Purpose that I had when I first started. Hopefully that shines through in my actions. Congratulations Renee on your enthusiasm and contribution to the organization. It is truly appreciated.
Note: It should be noted that there are a lot of the staff that exhibit this trait every day so I do not want to take away from their efforts but did feel compelled to share my thoughts on “Staying New” and Renee just reminded me of the importance of this.
Well said Mike! Thanks for a fun day on the course. Your message reminded me that each and everyday we wake up is a new day so ‘staying new… forever” make sense (if we want it too!). Having spent my entire career with the same company ‘staying new’ can feel somewhat daunting but spending time with people like Renee, whose enthusiasm seems to have no boundaries, was exciting and invigorating. Kinda added some fuel to my daily flame! I hope that she does not ‘settle down’ at CAAMP and countinues to be her passionate and excited self every single day. We, CAAMP members, are lucky to have her 🙂
I’m so thrilled Renee has joined our team!
Michael, very inspiring, thank you for sharing. We do sometimes lose site of this amongst all of the balls that we are juggling in our daily lives but after reading this, my daily life will include “staying new” and sharing with everyone that I know because the fire is within us all.