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January is the new December.

I’m not even sure December happened with all of the preparation and travel and busyness of the holidays. When I look at my calendar I can see that I had meetings.  I can see the results.  I know that at home we lit candles for Advent…but I didn’t experience Advent.  I don’t feel like I took the time to prepare…for anything.

January is here now and I am already reading new blogs, about new plans and strategies, about new words (3 or 300) that people are writing or using to guide them.  It feels like some sort of starting gun went off and I’m not even sure what course I’m supposed to be running on.  I want to yell out…”wait for me!”
OK, Maybe I am being a bit dramatic.  I’m really not behind and I have begun to work on some significant changes for 2009 and beyond, many are however still in idea/plan stage and haven’t moved into full on strategy and implementation stage.

Truth be told, 1/1/09 was not a starting gun.  Today and tomorrow are opportunities to begin and where would I end up if I didn’t take time to acquaint myself with the course.

So, perhaps I’m right on schedule.  I have had the chance to reflect and plan some, strategies are forming and implementation must be right around the corner.

All that said, so far I like 2009.  Hey, what’s not to like, it’s only a few days old.

Here are a few things I like so far.

1)  I like that I get to enter this year with so many new relationships.

In the past year I have found opportunities to connect with new people and have connected with old friends in new ways.  Thank you Facebook and Twitter and….
2)  I am entering 2009 with some interesting new perspectives based on 2008 experiences.
A few things happened to slow me down in 2008.  Some of my growth plans for the agency were put on temporary hold.  A key member of my team has been out for an extended period forcing me to take on some of additional responsibilities and dig into her role in new ways.   She is extremely valuable to this agency and her work is broad.  This experience of digging in to her role will allow me to support her in new ways and will support the long term health and vitality of our agency.

3)  My whole family feels like it has renewed energy and focus.

I am excited about the possibilites.  This isn’t some sort of New Years resolution, it is something that has been building.  It is something that we have been cultivating in our relationships.  Meg works hard to keep our home engine running smoothly.  Each one of us has their primary and supporting roles on our journey.  We have always been flexible enough to toggle between the two categories when necessary.  We are on the verge of a renewed understanding of this partnership as a couple, as parents, as friends and as managers of the business of family Hatch.  I appreciate her greatly and know that exciting things are on the horizon.
So, if you didn’t get your plans in order for 1/1, remember that January is the new December.   Now hurry up! 

It’s hard not to see yourself in your children sometimes.

Punk #1 turns 9 today and I am awash in a broad spectrum of emotions. I can transport myself almost instantly back to the hospital room where I lay side-by-side, face-to-face on a cot with 1 day old Aidan while his Mama tried to rest and recover.

I can remember thoughts of hope and anticipation and wonder as I thought of who he would become.  And while nothing turns out quite as you would expect, the surprises have been like beautiful fulfillment of hopes I simply couldn’t conjure.

As any parent does, I love this boy.  More importantly though, I like him and appreciate who he is and who he is becoming.  I know that there will be more surprises along the way and they may not always be as fulfilling as I would hope.  What I do know is that I am his parent and partner on this journey and I could not be more proud as we discover together who he will become.

Happy 9th Birthday Aidan.

People who have known me for years have come to expect a certain response from me. I have a tendency towards playing the “Devil’s Advocate”. Sometimes I do this for fun, sometimes it emerges in the moment as my way of providing perspective whether or not that is what has been asked for.  Sometimes this annoys the snot out of people.
2008 was a year of growth and change. It was a year in which circumstances have taught me a lot about how I impact others. I’m quite certain that I haven’t learned all the lessons and even more certain of my inability to master them.

Here are a few things I am certain of:

I can’t be helpful without understanding what someone is really looking for.

Time spent listening with an earnest desire to understand allows for more discovery.

Earnestly wondering with someone about what will happen is a helpful exercise in developing this understanding.

Over the holidays, I sat with people who are holding on to pain and hurt because people they know and care about  are in pain, hurting and not reaching out to those closest to them for support.

I have been watching them struggle with the how of helping and observing the oscillation between their own hurt of not being sought out for support and the concern for the hurt of the other.

I am trying to understand with them what their intervention will bring. Right now, there are still no clear answers, but I do know so much more about these people who care about this hurt and want more than anything to have relationships filled with trust and support…because they care.

http://maine-lymegin.blogspot.com/2008/11/dear-president-elect-obama.html

A few things to note:

I read non-fiction.  My last book was Thomas Merton’s autobiography and before that a book about Thomas Merton.  I haven’t read a work of fiction since just after college.  I don’t know why, it’s just been my preference.

So, having graduated in the early ’90s, one can guess that a few works of fiction have been published since then.  In fact, entire series of books have been published.

I stumbled upon one such series that I thought was worth sharing with all of you.  I mean, I would feel just awful if I held onto this information and you, my readers, and others who you might encounter were deprived of knowing about this wonderful gift to the literary world.

I cracked open the first book in one particular series the other day.  Being a reader of non-fiction, I am used to books engaging me, but they’re not necessarily page turners.  This book captivated me from the first page.  The descriptions of the characters allowed me to create some of the most vivid pictures I can recall in fiction.

Throughout the book, the author’s use of language was clever as well.  I was also struck by how well she planted references for what was to come, either in this book, or in others to follow.

Contrary to my typical reading style, what I might term as “methodical plodding”(librarians hate me), I tore through this book in just a few days.

So, with all due haste, I simply had to tell the world that this “Harry Potter” series, by J.K. Rowling is good stuff.  I didn’t want to keep it from any of you.

They should make a movie about it.

I wrote a post a long while back called “Go with What Got You Here“.  In it, I talked about the fact that I frequently spend time reflecting on my successes in an effort to remember the path I took to achieve them.  In this way, I build upon the lesson of the success.

Success Repeated

One of the atributes I have routinely utilized in my career, is to circumvent hierarchy in order to get a seat at the table and be able to participate more actively in decision making for the organizations I have worked for.

The Story

My first memory of becoming aware of this tendancy, was early in my professional career.  I was working as a Preschool Teacher in a growing child care company with twenty or so centers in Massachusetts.

Given my position, there were two levels of administration between me and the Center Director and beyond her were 2 or 3 more levels at the Corporate office.  As a result, I frequently brought ideas to my spervisor or even to the director only to hear, ‘Corporate won’t do this’, or ‘Corporate says we can’t do that’.

The result, was a building frustration for me as an employee because I thought I had some ideas of merit and value to the larger orgainzation, I just couldn’t find the right venue for sharing them.

The Letter

With the permission of my Center Director, I drafted a letter to the company’s CEO (I wish I still had a copy of it).  In it I talked about the challenge of communication within a growing organization and offered a few ideas for improved means of communication from employees to the Corporate office and vice versa.

A week or so later, I received a call from the CEO asking me out to lunch.  We met one day around noon, we talked for awhile, he listened to some of my ideas  and in the end we created something called the Employee Council.  It was a representative group of elected employees from each of the company’s child care centers who would meet monthly to exchange new information coming out of the corporate office and share ideas and concerns from employees at the center.

I served on the council for three years, co-chairing it for one year.  It spawned additional committees which served the company well in it’s dramatic growth, reviewing benefits, educational programs and maintaining clear lines of communication.

The Rebel

I’ve always looked at this and some other similar examples as a way to feed some sense of myself as a rebel, that I had somehow bucked the system.  This explanation has fallen flat in recent years, even though similar methods and similar results have been utilized and achieved in a variety of different contexts.  I have continued to find myself at tables in which various decisions, affecting my organization or the people I am serving, are made.  It is a constant.

It’s about relationship

I have come to realize, that what I wanted to see as some sort of rebellious nature, is really a strength in being able, in a professional and respectful manner, approach people with something to offer and being willing to listen.  It is about developing relationship and being willing to think together and contribute to that relationship.

So, a picture of myself has been brought into focus and the fuzzy lines that I thought I once walked can bee seen with a clarity of purpose and a willingness to contribute.

Who would’ve thought?

Yes, you!

I’ve been writing off and on here for over two years now.  I have written about business and government, friends and family.   I have written about being better, about relationship, networking and a few other things.  I don’t write as often as I’d like, but I keep plugging away right here, and you keep stopping by.
Some of you have come by and stayed for awhile.  Some of you have commented.  Some of you have not.  Some of you find me by Googling my name and come from as far away as Dublin.

I would love to learn more about you, why you stop by and what keeps you coming back.  If you’ve commented before, thank you.  If you haven’t, consider dropping a short message and a link to your site or if not yours, than others that you find interesting.
I want to know more about you folks than Google Analytics tells me.  I want to know about you.  Who are you?

Before I get to work on some of the 8 things that Jon offers, I wanted to sit with him for a moment around my table, pour him a cup of coffee and listen to him.

So Jon, my dear friend, here’s a cup of hot coffee for you, black, waiting on a table in Maine.  It will be here on your birthday or any other day in which you decide to pay us a visit.

Happy Birthday friend.

Punk #3 is 4 years old today.  She was so excited that she couldn’t fall asleep in bed last night.  Punk #3 brings energy and joy and laughter and lots and lots of talking to our family.  She loves to chat at the end of the day and will lay in bed and tell me all that she is thinking about, everything that happened during the day and everything that will happen tomorrow (per her agenda).

Punk #3 loves to be with people.  She loves her brothers and her cousins and her friend Annie, whom she talks about every day.   Punk #3 is independent and strong willed (read independent and strong willed in the best senses of the terms).  She is the baby.  Punk #1 and #2 have always called me Papa.  Mama refers to me as Papa.  She calls me Daddy.  I tried a few times to correct her…she just looked at me funny and continues to call me Daddy.

Punk #3 is 4 today and I appreciate and celebrate all that she is.

Happy Birthday Lucy!

In our world of constant movement, constant change, continuously doing more and more….you simply never know what effect you will have just by being who you are supposed to be, what you are supposed to be, where you are supposed to be.