What Color is Your Milestone?
While walking (uphill) on a treadmill at the gym I have been patronizing for the past 20 years a message popped up on the screen indicating that I had reached 7,500 miles of recorded running and walking since I started logging in before working out years ago. It is my lot in life to be a gym hamster as opposed to a gym rat.
Crossing that threshold, achieved in six-mile daily increments, did give me pause to consider several other milestones I had passed in 2019. Each one of these milestones was worthy of recognition, if not celebration, but each one also said something about me and gave me pause to consider what milestones I’d actually LIKE to surpass in 2020.
I turned 60 a few weeks ago. I am still years (decades?) away from retirement and I still feel and tend to think I behave like a 20-year-old - for better or worse. But there is no question I am 60. I am getting a physical today mindful of family members with cancer diagnoses, but comfortable in the knowledge that my 93-year-old mother is going strong.
I surpassed 17,000 LinkedIn connections. I am still looking for a downside to engaging on the LinkedIn platform.
I surpassed 200,000 followers of my LinkedIn blogs. The instant feedback is priceless especially considering there is no “thumbs down.” ;-)
I surpassed 3 million miles on United Airlines. It’s a privilege and responsibility to represent my employer.
I surpassed 1,000 nights at Marriott – earning Lifetime Titanium Elite Status. Marriott has a lot to learn from United when it comes to customer service.
Next year, I am looking for something more meaningful in my milestones like “lives saved,” “customers served,” and “carbon footprint mitigated.” Where I can find meaning in 2019 is in engaging directly with clients to help them solve problems as well as to learn about new challenges facing the industry.
My two greatest achievements of 2019 included helping a friend find a new job and hiring a gifted candidate to add to the already successful Strategy Analytics team. Eleven years ago I was fired on Christmas Eve. Since joining Strategy Analytics’ global automotive team I have contributed to an effort that has quadrupled the size of the automotive research and consulting portfolio.
It’s hard to find good help these days and it’s even harder to help someone else find a position. I want to refine my employment-finding assistance skills in 2020. (Don’t send me your resume!) I have a feeling the real level of unemployment is higher than is reported by the government since so many people just give up. I will be keeping track of the less meaningful milestones like the ones listed above. Like it or not, they keep coming.