For the past 5+ years, I have chosen a word for the year that helps guide my decisions and keeps me on track for my goals.
This year was the first year in which I felt like I wanted more than one word as 2020 has been… well a year!
So with that, I am challenging myself (and us) to look at the word for the next QUARTER instead of the entire year. What word do you want to focus on for Q1 of 2021 that will keep you motived, get you going and help you reach your goals?
My word for Q1 2021 will be: REACH!
To me, this word means many things:
I want to reach new heights.
I want to reach out.
I want to reach for things I usually wouldn’t try.
I want to reach new levels of speaking.
My word is going to be REACH. What is your word going to be?
Every year my family and I select the number of photos that correlate with the last two numbers of the year. This year we will select 20 (for 2020). Last year we selected 19 (for 2019) and so on.
We select the photos from our cameras that best represent the year for us and we share them with each other. This is a very fun and eye-opening experience to see what your year was all about and hear from your family about how they saw the same year.
My challenge to you starting this week is to select the 20 photos that best represent your 2020 and share them with your family and friends.
Ready… set… go!
Many of us are starting to look at setting our goals for 2021.
When doing so, here is one small difference I found that makes all the difference in motivating me to want to follow up and follow through with goals I have been contemplating.
Try it out this week with any decision you have and see how it changes our ability to act on our ideas. Here is the video…
Every year in America, millions of families sit down together to talk about and share what they are thankful for. However, one thing we don’t talk about is… what are we NOT thankful for?
In this week’s notes I challenge us to think about what we are NOT thankful for and why. Here is the video:
What are you not thankful for and what can you do about it or how can you change your perspective around the thing you are not thankful for?
In this week’s video, I share with you the difference between the definition of entertain vs exercise when it comes to our ideas and why it matters to us as being THE leader! Here is the video:
What can we do this week to exercise on one of our ideas that we have been entertaining for too long?
Keep being THE!
Taking a look at all that is going on right now, there are three “A” words that come to mind for how we can get better results and be THE leader. Check out the 4-minute video this week (with a cameo from my son)!
What can we all do this week to pay attention to something outside of what we usually do, change our attitude to improve our character and look at our approach to better our results?
I am reading Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is The Way (highly recommend) this week and one thing that stood out to me is this excerpt from Andy Grove:
“Andy Grove, a former CEO of Intel, outlined when he described what happens to businesses in tumultuous times: “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” Great individuals, like great companies, find a way to transform weakness into strength.”
What is ONE way we can transform ONE of our weaknesses this week into strength?
Ready… set… be THE!
This week I had to be creative while being on the road and in a hotel room to deliver one of my virtual presentations. Here is the set up!
My challenge for us this week is to get creative the next time something comes our way that we are not used to or puts us in a different environment.
Where can we get creative this week? Ready… set… go!
Why should we have a routine?
This week I looked into what differentiates A leader vs THE leader when it comes to routine and why routines matter so much to us!
This week’s notes come from taking a look at Ryan Holiday’s Ego is The Enemy, research from various publications and listening to friends who cheer us along the way!
Action Items of the week: #1 Think about who you want to be vs what you want to do and #2 Come up your routine around the PPP.
Here are the 17 events in 17 photos that best describe my 2017. What are yours? Use #17in17in2017 to connect with others and share your year in 17 photos!
The Avery Family (Penny is the one next to me)
Finding Aunt Penny
I have never been more surprised in my life! Earlier this year we found out that my grandmother had another daughter and after 33 years of searching, Penny, my long-lost aunt, found us and I am so glad she did! My father now has an older sister, my mom now has another sister-in-law and me and my sister have another aunt! Crazy! (Yes, this caption deserves that many !)
Keynoting in Frankfurt, Germany for The Global Leadership Conference
75 Keynotes
I am beyond grateful for what I get to do for a living. Speaking allows me to provide for my family, work with thousands of leaders around the world teaching them how to be strategic communicators and every day in an unbelievable adventure. With my daughter turning one this year, Chelsea and I have decided that I will be capping my keynotes at 75 events a year. This allows me to spend enough time on the road and be back enough for my family. I have 52 keynotes booked for 2018 so far and looking forward to securing the other 23 soon!
One of my many cooking classes this year 🙂
Cooking New Foods
From homemade Baklava to vanilla Macaroons, this year was full of baking, decorating and eating! This is my creative hobby/outlet and allows me to dream, create and produce and the best part is, each time I create something it gets eaten which means it goes away and does not have to stay in the house! Cooking/Baking is the perfect hobby for those of us who don’t like clutter!
Me and James at our Book Launch Party!
Motivating Millennials
I am so proud of this book and everyone who helped make it a #1 best-seller. I am even happier that I got to co-author this book with my friend and amazing Harvard-Educated Lawyer, James Goodnow. James is a great guy, super knowledgable and the perfect co-author for Motivating Millennials. Thank you to everyone who purchased a copy, wrote a review and more importantly implemented the strategies found in the book!
Me and Carole with our inspiration (Atlas) 🙂
YES, OH YES, SHE DID
Wow was this book fun to write! After hiding it as a surprise with Atlas’ great-grandmother (Carole) for more than 6 months we published our first children’s book together. I am so thankful for everyone who bought a copy and 100% of the profits from this book go to non-profits supporting young girls around the world. We wrote our first $1,000 check to Girls, Inc. of Metro Denver.
Me and Chelsea at Tom Petty’s 2nd to last show
Chelsea
From flying to Beverly Hills for the night to see Tom Petty’s 2nd to last show to keynoting together in NY we had one heck of a year together. I enjoyed our dates, massages, parenting, running AveryToday, Inc, walks, working out and so much more with you this year babe! I am looking forward to 2018 (and 93 more years) and so glad I get to live our life together!
TEXAS + IRONMAN = AWESOME
70.3 IRONMAN
All I want to say about a 70.3 is that it is 10x better than a 140.6 🙂 Got to do a race down in my home state this year and am so thankful I have the health, money, time and energy to race in these competitions. It keeps me fit and challenges me to be healthier and better. I use everything that I experience as an IRONMAN and implement it in my daily life. Excited for our relay next year 😉
Asian Theme Poker Party (Each month is a difference theme)
House Parties
From AMAZING poker parties to my Grammy’s 90th Birthday party, we used our house this year as THE house for parties and I am so thankful we did. Having parties make you realize how much your parents spent on you as a kid and how much hard work entertaining is. I hope we get to have even more parties in 2018.
The Avery Family in Hawaii
Travel
This was an epic year of traveling. From spending my birthday weekend with my family in Hawaii to spending two weeks keynoting in the UK with Atlas and Chelsea! I knocked some states off my list like New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey and now have 4 more states to visit before I have keynoted in all 50.
Our inside dinning room table
The Dinner Table
From the flower arrangements to the recipes this year to the place settings and the guest, we got to entertain our friends and family so many times this year at our dinning room table and outside table on our deck. This table means a lot to me because it was the first real piece of future Chelsea and I bought and every time I look at it, it makes me feel so proud and like an adult.
Night diving with my sister in Honolulu
Scuba Diving with Manta Rays
Hands down one of the coolest experiences of my life! I have been waiting five years to do this dive and I finally got to do it. Any the cherry on top? I got to do it with my amazing sister. What an unbelievable out-of-body experience. Scuba diving with 13 Manta Rays at night.
I mean look at my dog…
Gardening
I am not going to lie, gardening is way harder than I thought 🙂 On our property we have plums, grapes, apples, quince, hops, strawberries, so many herbs and more variety of plants, flowers and trees than we can count. It was a blast learning about what we have and how to take care of them. It was even more fun to see Atlas enjoy the yard and spend quality time together outside in the sunshine!
This smile makes me smile 🙂
Atlas Turning One
How in the heck is Atlas one? It has been SUCH an epic year being a dad and am so glad she is in our life. I can say with 100% certainty as much sleep as I did NOT get this year she is worth every hour of sleep lost and besides marrying Chelsea the best decision I have ever made!
Part of our new headquarters
The New AveryToday, Inc. Headquarters
Game changer! We built an external office for us to work because come to find out working from home with a toddler is near impossible. Now we have our own space with no kids allowed and gives us the place needed to run AveryToday, Inc.
12,000 feet up!
Paragliding with My Dad
I cannot wait to do this again. One of the coolest experiences. If you have not done this, add it to the top of your bucket list and make it happen at least once. You literally feel like you are flying with the birds.
We had a lot of meals out on the deck this year!
Family
I am so blessed to have the family that I do. From family trips to bike rides with my dad to meals with my mom to seeing my sister and aunts/grammy/cousin more than we ever have. To seeing the eclipse in Kansas City with all my in-laws to having my amazing mom/dad and mother in law/step-father-in-law and father-in-law help so much with Atlas all the way to random family dinners. Family is the most important thing in this world and I am so thankful I get to spend my life with mine.
BFFs who hid in a trunk to pop out so they could surprise me!
Friends
From Andrew, Jef and Marcos flying down from Texas and NYC for my book signing, to Cassie meeting us in San Fran, to dinner night with Jimmy and Steph to Devin and Jessica to my BFFs Matt and Alison giving me of the best surprises ever to sending magnets to Martin to my accountability buddy Taryn to my Facebook buddies and college roommate David to all my friends I got to meet in cities that I flew into for the night, this year has made me realize how lucky I am to have the friends that I do!
I am very thankful for 2017 and looking forward to 2018! Thank you to everyone who made 2017 special! I hope you had a great year and I am looking forward to seeing your #17in17in2017
