Clean Push for 2025
Welcome to 2025!
I tend to be less of a fan of resolutions for the new year. Resolutions often seem to be a list of aspirational yet broken promises to ourselves. That is generally not a very attractive start to whatever growth or success you want to experience in the upcoming year. I suggest a different picture to hold in our minds.
If you have ever watched Olympic bobsledding, you quickly understand the success of an entire run down the course starts at the top. The strength, coordination, and timing of the first few steps of the team pushing the sled at the top of the hill dictates how well the entire rune will go. Then, after that big initial tightly choreographed push, the ride becomes all about the navigation of tight corners at high speed without creating friction.
The cleaner the push at the top, the faster the run. Also, ironically, the faster the speeds, the more challenging it is to control a friction free run, avoiding brushing the walls or worse, losing control and rolling the sled over at 90 miles per hour.
The push, the speed, the navigation, the reduced friction, and the confidence and courage to “let it ride” are key to the most competitive results. The scores highlight competition between teams but when you carefully listen to the team members discuss their performance, you notice something. At every step of execution from how they push, load the sled, break or steer, they are competing with themselves, looking to achieve their personal best for every stage of the run. It’s a team sport with an intense component of individual performance. When strong individual performances come together, the end result can be a multiplier for elite execution and results.
What does this have to do with 2025? I like to think that the January of a new year is like that push at the top of the hill. It sets the stage, sets expectations and aspirations, takes courage and is where you get to build your best momentum for the best results at the bottom. It’s a beautiful picture where every run is full of potential and opportunity.
When you show up for your 2025 run, your preparation, your mindset, and your execution of all you have learned and practiced previously comes together to drive your own personal and professional growth towards great results at the bottom of the course. Better yet, you can have great runs and not so great runs but are still able to get better and keep growing.
I think this makes for a better strategy than the classic approach to resolutions and depending on willpower to magically help you accomplish your best. For 2025, dare to put yourself in the driver’s seat.