For those of you who follow Depth Not Width regularly, you’ve noticed there’s been a break in the pattern. You’ve always heard from me at least once a week, and at times, more often than that. For the last three weeks or so, I’ve been absent and quiet. To be completely transparent, I’ve taken some time to regroup.

My world, like many of yours, has become a little more full over the last month. Not only are the kids back in school, but activities have resurfaced, and life is beginning to return to normal. I’ve been hustling my own kids between school and practice and auditions. In the past week I’ve sat in the stands at lacrosse games and in the audience for a choir concert. As a dad with amazing kids, this feels pretty awesome. 

At the same time, the shift has taken a bit of getting used to. To be transparent, the excitement of stepping into this new world also comes on the heels of some personal pandemic fatigue. I’m tired. This experience over the past year has been a grind. Working from home. Kids at home. Personal connections ground to halt. For an extrovert that loves building relationships, it’s been a long ride.

I’ve spent some time reflecting on all of this over the past few weeks. When I got quiet, I had just wrapped up my blog series on “success” and how we define it. With that in mind and my Defining Personal Success tool in hand, I did some soul searching over the last few weeks. What does success really look like to me? One of the things that kept coming to the surface was this…

Success for me shows up when I’m investing in people. It’s why I do the work I do every day helping run my agency, and it’s why I started writing Depth Not Width. I want to help people – and I want to do it as authentically and real as possible. It’s why you’ve heard me openly share many of my challenges as well as the things that are helping me stay focused on my goals. It’s also why I keep challenging each of us to be positive in the midst of adversity and to keep doing the sometimes uncomfortable things that will help us reach our potential.

This pandemic taught many of us that life is never as predictable as it seems. When there are things in life that you want to do, you need to do them now rather than put them off until tomorrow. 

Tomorrow the way we envision it is never guaranteed.

So, with all of that in mind, I’m back!

I’m back from my break and my time reflecting. I’m back from some much-needed rest as well, which we all need from time to time. I’m back to keep working hard, helping all of us stay focused on our purpose and the things that matter.

It’s good to be back. You’ll hear from me again soon…

John

Thank you for taking this journey with me. To stay connected and receive weekly encouragement and motivation, follow me here! – John