What makes you tick?

A new year, a new outlook, a new…well, maybe the calendar on the wall is the only thing new for you. But once again, we are almost a month into a new year and the majority of us use the time for resolutions, commitments, and taking a new stance on our future to come.

And for many, the month of January becomes dreary as we settle into old habits and kind of keep on keeping on.

2023 was a year of waiting, grieving, and taking stock of my work and purpose. It did not start that way, but by the middle of the year I realized I was in it. Rediscovering some passions and redefining the path of myself as a person, and the Lead Freely journey over the past 7 years. That 7 year thing perplexes me, partly because it seems to be a mystical number throughout the Bible, in a variety of different contexts. But also because it still seems to have a seasonal impact on us in many settings today.

As I quoted once before, a conversation from an old church member while discussing my last church, “…7 years? I guess it’s time to start looking for your next church?” and then went on to describe how 7 years seems to be the end of a stage of ‘comfort’ for a pastor and their church, and both need a change. Intriguing. I guess it comes back to what I say to individuals and groups all the time: You have to take time regularly to revisit why you do what you do.

Getting to the essence of what you do.

You may have noticed that line on the homepage of this website recently. It is a revision, once again, on my philosophy for this work I do. I love boiling down what our words and sentiments mean in our current context, I love asking people do this regularly, and I love helping people ‘get there’. Even if ‘getting there’ still requires more questions and being settled with and incomplete definition or sentence, because it might change later. And it will.

One of the points that got me thinking about this again as we settled into 2024 was the email from Gallup regarding the updated CliftonStrengths report and assessment (formerly Clifton StrengthsFinder). Much like the MBTI, which I use in coaching and teambuilding, it is a type based assessment, a tool to help people reflect and grow in their personal and social understanding. 8 years ago, and even 9 or 10 years ago, this assessment and the MBTI were very helpful in getting my mind straight…all part of my burnout story and eventually rebuilding into the next chapter in my life. You might say it was a time of enlightenment and clarification, in the midst of muddy waters and painful slugging. All that to say it was a great reminder of personal discovery, and comes back to the point of this point:

What makes you tick?

It does not take a complete burnout or breakdown to ask that question. In fact, it is much better to ask that question when you are in a healthy space. Unfortunately, we see it in spaces of faith, work, school, home, marriage, parenting…really anything that requires us to share ourselves with others, where we wait till a breaking point or a trauma in order to ask how we can better know ourselves, know others, and help everyone work and grow towards health.

So are you asking the question? I hope so. Don’t get bogged down in unfulfilled resolutions. Learn about what makes you tick!

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