A while back, during a conversation with a friend, the question of how we motivate our teams and make them better came up. Out of that conversation, The Friday Food for Thought was born. Initially, they were short writings about topics I found important that I sent out to my team. After a few weeks, I discovered they were forwarding them to friends and 
family, who in turn wanted to be included on the distribution list. I mentioned this to some of my friends, who wanted to receive them as well. Now these posts are widely distributed! It’s crazy to think that the first one was sent out 5 years ago today, time flies when you are having fun!
Since this is the 5-year anniversary of my weekly brain farts, I thought I would revisit them and share 5 that I really enjoyed writing.
Let me start by saying that I consider myself a bad writer. When I first began writing these, I believed that I would stop in a few months; either because I would get tired of writing them, people would have no interest, I would be out of ideas, a multitude of things. Then, during a year-end wrap up meeting, the J2 team participated in an exercise called Stop, Start, Continue. A member of my team suggested that I continue my Friday thoughts. Not wanting to disappoint a team member, this small experiment suddenly became an obligation. It felt daunting at first, but as time went on I began to love writing them.
One of my early favorites is “Who Is Packing Your Parachute?”. The blog was about gratitude, but the story was also about having success as a team. It is important to realize that many people and things play a role in helping us succeed, even milkshakes. ?.
Many of you know that travel is a huge passion of mine. One of the aspects of travel I enjoy is learning about different cultures, and the way locals view things. For instance, while in Japan I learned about ichi-go ichi-e. That term taught me to treat every encounter as if it was the first, which meant that I should be present and in the moment. Despite the last few years having been hard in a variety of ways for us all, I find applying ichi-go ichi-e has significantly enriched my life.
The story of the “Two Wolves” drove home for me that though we live in conflict, the side you pay attention to is the one that shines. That is certainly true with someone like me, who is an mix of an introvert and an extrovert. I play different roles at different times.
The concept of the FFFT began as an exercise for me to help my team become better, and have fun while doing it. I would like to think that we accomplish that every week, however the byproduct has been that through this process I have become better. I guess I should be careful what I ask for…
I have to say, it was fun revisiting some of these older posts, though my top list would be not complete (and many of you may even be disappointed) if I did not include a thought about my favorite bourbon. The best one remains the one you enjoy, Cheers!
“Time flies when you are having fun, but sometimes you need to stop, and look at the beauty of each second.”– Olivia Brandfield
Which topics have you enjoyed the most? Please let me know, it might give me an idea for the next one!
Have a great weekend,
V-