If I’m being honest, I can be pretty hard on myself – which might explain why the celebration of a new year isn’t always my favorite.
For those who have ever taken the Clifton Strengths test, I am high in the “Executing” category. In fact, my top five strengths are executing strengths. Simply put, if you need help getting something done, I am your girl.
This sounds great – and it often is – but like anything, it has its downsides. With these executing strengths, I tend to take psychological ownership of everything I commit to. When I don’t fulfill a commitment or reach a goal I’ve set for myself, I take it personally. It’s something I am working on.
As I wrapped up the year watching 10 days of the National Finals Rodeo (NFR), I was not only impressed with the physical endurance of many of these professional athletes, but mostly for their incredible mental resilience that got them to that point.
Take, for example, Utah cowboy Josh Frost, who earned the world title in bull riding. Bull riding alone requires immense focus and the ability to manage fear, but Frost’s journey goes deeper. After finishing second in the world for three consecutive years, he finally secured the gold buckle. “I’ve been close three years in a row. That was a huge motivator to keep coming back,” Frost said in an interview.
Then there’s Kassie Mowry, the 2024 world champion barrel racer, who lost her fiancé in June of last year. Her championship title brought a positive end to an incredibly difficult year. It all came down to the final round – and, literally, to tenths of a second. That’s how close the barrel racing world championship was between Kassie Mowry and four-time world champion Hailey Kinsel.
“I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high,” Mowry said in an interview. “The goal was getting [to the NFR], and that was it. I never thought of anything past that. Everything else was a bonus. This was a heck of a bonus.”
We see professional athletes do this all the time – they use setbacks as motivation for growth in the year ahead.
In the basketball world, I recently came across a clip from 2023 where a reporter asked Giannis Antetokounmpo, power forward for the Milwaukee Bucks, if he considered the 2023 season a failure after the team’s NBA championship win in 2021. Without hesitation, he said, “Working toward a goal is not a failure. It's steps to success. … Michael Jordan played 15 years and won six championships; were the other nine years a failure?”
What a mindset! It’s crucial to acknowledge the steps we’ve taken toward our goals. While we may not have fully realized them yet, every effort brings us closer. We all need to take a moment to celebrate those wins, however big or small.
In this issue, you'll find articles reflecting on Idaho agriculture in 2024. While there are areas for improvement – some of which may be beyond our control – there are also significant successes to celebrate as we move into 2025. (You can find those articles here and here.)
So, if you're anything like me and find yourself stuck in the "shoulda, woulda, coulda" mindset at times, let’s shift our focus to the progress we’ve made and the opportunities that lie ahead.
Now that's a new year worth celebrating.
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