Bonjour & Merci
I love setting set BIG GOALS. Even if I don’t meet them all, the mere act of setting them sets in motion a year of tremendous potential, anticipation, experiences, progress, and pride.
For 2023, I said I would step down from leading the nonprofit water safety/drowning prevention community I founded, but not until I found a worthy successor. I did.
I said I would leave the day job I loved for 12 years (yet not so much in years 13 and 14, except for my CTSA involvement), but not until I found a new job. I did.
And, I said I would launch this new side hustle, offering to be a Communication Counselor via digital online courses and one-on-one coaching for elite communication professionals like you, but not until I was ready. I’m almost ready, so stay tuned!
Annnnnd, I said I would finally venture out of the Americas and visit Europe with my wife Susie and our boy Johnny. I did.
How? I heard something profound last year about why people never get around to taking those big vacations:
We put it off until someday, which often never comes. When we’re young (20s-30s), we have the time and the health, but not the money. In the middle years (40s-50s), we have the health and the money, but not the time. And then of course when we’re older (60s and beyond), we have the time and the money, but not the health SO WE NEVER GO ANYWHERE!
This epiphany really hit home and I took it to heart. So for Christmas, we all got a flyer in our stocking for a European Vacation, complete with the Griswold family from the movie of same name, setting things in motion for a trip to London, Paris, and Rome. (We later decided Rome would be too much, but two out of three ain’t bad.)
Susie immediately signed up for French lessons on Duolingo. I figured if she did that, I could get away with a few well-placed bonjours and mercis so I focused on saving money for the trip, set for July.
Long story short, it was the trip of a lifetime – everything we dreamed of and more. Susie planned and booked so many details that were so fun and memorable (she could do digital courses on travel planning). From meeting locals at an English pub to a rock & roll bus tour (complete with recreating The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover) to seeing the Mona Lisa at The Louvre to watching the sunset from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Whoa.
My point in all this is that you should set your sights on somewhere you’ve always wanted to go and make a plan, Jan! Make it hap’n Cap’n!
Decide RIGHT NOW where you’re going and feel free to post it below. Don’t wait until someday. You already know. You can do this!
P.S. If you want to see photos from that trip (some of the best I’ve ever taken), befriend me on Facebook and you can check them out.
