Is it survive to 2025, or put the pedal to the floor in 2024?

While crafting our vision for 2024 we have been called back to the mental discipline of a United States Medal of Honor recipient. 

Carrier Air Group Commander Jim Stockdale’s plane was crash landing over North Vietnam in 1965. He was 40 years old and knew his age and rank would be held against him and in the 30 seconds that he parachuted down from his aircraft and into the middle of an angry North Vietnamese village he estimated he would spend the next 5 years of his life as a prisoner. The torture Stockdale and his fellow captives endured was inhuman and led to the creation of the Stockdale paradox he penned upon being freed after 8 years.

Whilst sequestered in our home in April of 2020 we published an article about what we could all learn from the Stockdale paradox and the principles of endurance and persistence. Looking at the 4-year anniversary of that experience in the face we think it rings as true today as it did then. We wondered then and still wonder today if the pandemic is really a 5 to 7-year calamity. 

All the major institutions like the federal reserves and the federal governments made decisions that while having certain short run impacts created medium term consequences. It has been a turbulent time for business owners and their employees. As we turn towards year 4 post covid the Stockdale paradox would advise us to not think about a terminus date like 2025 or 2027 but rather to be convinced of our ability to survive and make living at this time the defining moment in our careers and all the while stick to our daily basics. 

What are the basics?
 
We wrote a book about the basics called “The Next Gen Almanac” in 2016 and will be highlighting the essentials in our 2024 editions of Branches & Roots. We created a quick diagnostic for the key areas of your life so you can easily handle what life throws at you and keep adapting and moving forward. Here are the categories.

• Faith – How to feed your mind, body, and soul.
• Fuel – How to create your own energy.
• Work – How to align and apply your interests, strengths, and style in your career.
• Network of relationships – How to make a positive impact in the lives of those you know.
• Recreation – How to refresh and restore yourself with diverse pursuits.
• Community Involvement – How to enrich your life and that of others with causes greater than yourself.

In 2023 we compiled a leader's guide to team success with the "Nine Essential Elements of Close Knit Team," and our aim in 2024 is to empower you and your teams with the right information for individual competency and make it easily accessible when they need it. 

Look for some fun announcements in this area in 2024 as the new AI tools continue to allow all of us to productize our offerings in new and hopefully impactful ways. 

Thank you for your readership and friendship in this our 10th year as a company, let’s put the pedal to the floor together in 2024!

Drew & Sara

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