2015 – ACT 1, Scene 1

Lights, Camera, Action

Our world is filled with things that come in 3’s. The Three Mustketeers and The Three Stooges. In baseball it’s three strikes and you’re out. A hockey game is three periods. Red, white and blue. Thirsty? Do you want small, medium or large (or tall, grande and venti if you’re at Starbucks)? There is a Holy Trinity in religion. You plan your day around mornings, afternoons and evenings.

So what if you had to build your year around three words? These words would serve as a theme, slogan or map for everything you aim to do between now and the start of 2016.

Each year since 2006 blogger Chris Brogan has challenged his readers to choose their “Three Words” that will serve as their guideposts for the year. Brogan believes that it’s easier to choose three words instead of coming up with resolutions that are nothing more than cliche’-filled dreams for most people. Brogan’s words this year are Plan, Leverage and Fabric. If you want to know the reasons behind his words, click here.

My Three Words

I have been following Brogan since reading his book Trust Agents, which he co-authored with Julien Smith. Brogan is a prolific blogger and has become one of the thought-leaders that I listen to on a regular basis. No, I don’t agree with everything he says. Oftentimes I totally disagree with him but, much like Seth Godin, Brogan isn’t necessarily looking for parrots to echo his words. He’s just challenging people to think about what they are doing in their business and personal lives.

I have never take part in the three word approach so this year I figured I would give it a try. I thought a lot about my three words, changing them several times over the last week or so because they just didn’t feel right.

Here are the three I have settled on:

Appreciate; Challenge; Teach

Appreciate is designed to make sure I am thankful for the opportunities I have been blessed with, both personally and professionally. It’s easy to become a “victim” these days and always wonder why you can’t keep up with the Joneses. We may not have everything we all want but we sure are better off than many others.

Challenge means not being satisfied with the status quo. It’s so easy to be a “C student.” I need to challenge myself daily to exercise, do the work, ask “is there a better way?”, help make those around me better and never be okay with not giving my best. It doesn’t mean I will always be operating at 100% – who does? It just means that I need to get better at calling myself on it…even when no one else sees it.

Teach – In my role as the Director of Agent Development for the Coldwell Banker companies in Columbus and Greater Cincinnati as well as a speaker & blogger, that’s part of what I do anyway. But there are way more opportunities to “teach” when I am not in front of an audience of people. I am a father so I get to teach every day. I am a spouse so I get to teach (and learn) every day. I am a member of many communities that I can teach every day.

You’ll also notice that my three words form an acronym – ACT. None of these three words will just happen by themselves. I must take action to be successful in all of them.

I’ll be writing these three words on some index cards that I can keep in front of me throughout the year. I’ll add them to my white board at the office. I’ll subconsciously think about them as I fall asleep. I’ll hopefully have an opportunity to do all three each day.

Oh, don’t worry. I’m also going to try to build relationships, solve problems and have fun each day too. I hope you will as well.

Photo Credit: c_pichler via Flickr

Photo Credit: [PK] via Flickr