Skip to main content

Moving Day

 

Today is moving day. I do NOT like moving. Thankfully, this is “just” an office move and I am not moving my primary residence. Furthermore, the space into which our company is moving is quite the upgrade, both in size and quality. It is a good thing, a great thing, even if I don’t like moving.

But I am still feeling the stress of the transition. Many moving parts. Utilities that must be transferred over. Forwarding addresses. New furniture and décor that must be ordered. Just the simple shift from the “norm” adds stress and discomfort. There are a lot of little pieces that must fall into place.

But as I am packing up my office, I am finding precious treasure. Not silver or gold, but treasure far more valuable.

There are notes from my children stuffed into drawers and envelopes that I have not seen in years. Notes that were scribbled by kids who were kindergarteners at the time but now are almost as tall as me.

I came across letters and cards from my wife. Family photos. There are trinkets from the old office space and relics from how we used to operate as a business that are reminding me how much we have grown and how far we have come.

And I do not just mean the growth of the business in number of employees, revenue, valuation or some bottom-line accounting measurement – although I am so grateful for how those metrics have changed. But I mean the growth of us as individuals and collectively as a team. The growth both in competence and comradery. The blood, sweat and tears from battles fought alongside one another as we struggled to find who we really are and what we could accomplish together. The growth that comes with a strange balance of both confidence and humility that we have gained as we navigate a challenging, volatile and ever-changing industry.

Today is moving day, and despite the strained relationship I have with a physical move, I am feeling a calming sense of gratitude. In this moment I am more focused on all the intangibles that have moved along my journey. I am not the same person who moved into this office six years ago. My business is not the same. My team is not the same. My family is not the same. We have all moved. And for that, I am grateful.

I still do not like moving, but I have been reminded this morning of how I am immensely blessed beyond measure, both in my career and in my personal life. And in our new office, we have an obligation, a duty, to move others. To bless others with the blessings and opportunities we have been afforded. To help those around us get to where they need to be. May we always be assisting others in moving toward a brighter future. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on

Primed for Progress

Just as some pumps need to be primed to work effectively, our lives need to be “primed” to flow efficiently. Good mornings and productive days don’t happen by accident, and by “priming” your day, you can set yourself up for better results. Does it mean you won’t have bad days? Of course not, but it’s making your day happen instead of just waiting for what happens. Once again, it’s a choice of being proactive rather than reactive. You will still have challenges and difficulties, but how you face those hurdles and respond to the struggles will be different with a primed mindset. I am sure there are many ways to prime your day and set the tone for the hours ahead, and what works for one won’t necessarily work for all. However, the process of creating a plan or a model of how things should unfold is a great place for anyone to start. Also, as I have mentioned before, how you actually start the morning is critical - the battle with the alarm clock is your first chance at victory for

Flower Among Thorns

About six or seven years ago, my wife was around three months pregnant as we eagerly anticipated the birth of another child. One night, as I lay sleeping, I had a dream that our baby was born. It was a beautiful little girl with thin, wispy hair and large, bright eyes punctuating her beautiful face. I held her proudly in my arms and stared down at this precious little creation. I carefully handed her off to her older brother, who was just a toddler himself, as he sat on the coach, arms outstretched, anxiously awaiting the chance to hold his baby sister. I helped him prop up a pillow underneath his little arms to help support my daughter and then stepped back to take in the amazing sight as he gazed down at her with both pride and amazement in his eyes. As I stood there watching them, the dream quickly faded. When I woke up, my eyes met the tearful glance of my wife. “I’m bleeding,” she said as she fought back the emotions, “I think I am miscarrying.” Those words sunk deeply i