New Year's Resolution

“When life gives you lemons, ask for more”.....this quote came from, Natalie Maronski, the second person to get kicked off Season 16 of Top Chef this year. She was the Winner in Round 1 and the one going home in Round 2, talk about a big swerve and the true essence of Top Chef. And, how did she handle failure? With grace, insight and love. She gave us that quote—how incredible is that quote—have you ever heard lemons put quite that way? I sure haven't.

What a wonderful nod to stoicism (a great read I recommend on stoicism is Stoic Philosophy of Seneca). With her words, Natalie demonstrated for us what both Seneca and Ernest Shackleton would tell us which is:

that this failure is actually a vote for a higher self in which one now has more information on how to do better next time.

Another incredible leader, and arguably also a philosopher in her own right, Haley Bosco would tell you that for any ultramarathon race the mantra is

“Fall down seven, Stand up eight”. 

This mantra is so powerful that Haley tattooed it on her ankle, not just printed on her, but now part of her.

Which brings me to News Year's Resolutions. We are 11 days out from January 1st, have you decided what your “New Year's Resolution" might be? How do you all feel about this concept begin with? Ideas on this topic can certainly range from condemnation to inspiration. But, I'd like to propose a new way of thinking about this. What if we called it "Continued Resolve" instead? Stick with me on this.....

In the past, I've built New Year's Resolutions to be about WHAT I did. For example: Learn how to open a straw. Learn how to do a Rubick's Cube. (spoiler alert: I’m now great at straws and still working on that Rubick's Cube). 

I’m far more interested and curious in HOW I play the game, like Natalie—the values that govern my decisions, the principles that are ingrained in me, how do I bring them with me when those

lemons are getting hurled at my head?

That’s what I’m interested in seeing, working on, demonstrating and feeling this year in 2019. So, what are my values? Simple. They come straight from Barby Bosco and Joe Bosco:

Be Kind, Be Brave, Play for forever.

And, in this way, it’s not a “new” resolution, because these are the values that have always governed my life. And, it’s not a resolution, rather, it’s simply “resolve” to continue to live this way and bring these values to the surface in all that I do. So, maybe it’s not a “New Years Resolution”,

it’s “Continued Resolve”.

What is your Continued Resolve in 2019?