10/2 sent from Montgomery, AL

The Note is an email to share MY reflective practice with YOU... click reply, let me know how you are!

2022 - Y.4 N.17

*If you wanna share "The Note" just send this link to your friends: https://sendfox.com/jw 

Heya ,

Happy Sunday from Montgomery. As it has been two weeks since I wrote to you, I had to drop by the inbox with a few thoughts...things on my mind. Before that, however, I wanted to check in to see how you are. Let me know! If I can see you in the next couple of months, I'll be traveling to Colorado Springs, San Antonio, Orlando, Marin County, and probably Washington, DC.

Over the past two weeks, I attended the AFA (Air and Space Force Association, "Air, Space, and Cyber Conference" at National Harbor. Then, that Friday, I participated in the WIT (Women's Initiatives Team) off-site, for the first time in four years, as a participant, not a facilitator.

Also, Tuesday of last week, I got to welcome - alongside my three A-MAY-ZING co-instructors - the 12 wonderful human beings attending our incredible Leader Development Course.

Today... coffee in the garden, a 22-mile bike ride, and patio pancakes (thank you, Jodi!). 

From those last 14 days, I've had two things on my mind:

1. Answer (more) questions
2. Welcome (more) leaders

In doing so, I've answered questions and am experiencing the life I'm living today. Some questions I answered a LONG time ago. Other questions I answered last week. Now, I'm making a list of questions that, as I respond in each next present moment, future me will live life as a result. 

Answering questions is more than just reading questions in some leadership book or having a friend ask me to answer them. The kind of answers I'm talking about I can only see in my handwriting.

I like writing more than typing when I'm answering questions. The reality is if I only think about the questions I'm asking, I get to "let myself off the hook." Something is different when I see something in my handwriting. 

When I commit something - for now - to paper, the game changes when I answer a question one day and then come back to another, it's pretty darned cool, 'cause I don't get to argue in the land of "what I think should be..." 

Instead, I get to see what I thought last week, month, or year. And, when I look at the questions I answered before and compare my life to them now, I get to ask new ones.

I'll leave you with this: "What's a question you need to answer next?" Write it down - AND write the answer - so you can look at it later. Future you will be proud.

Someone asked me today if I miss my old life running the company with Jodi. I shook my head side to side and said, "Not. At. All." (I even put the periods in there!) You see, all I do now is welcome (more) people to the rooms where I work. My most important job - now - is to get to those rooms where the magic can happen. 

I am beyond thankful that each day I drive to the building that there are humans being there waiting to sit down (or stand up, or walk around) to "do the work." This personal/professional development we ask people to do is organized to get them to think before they have to, to talk things out in a practice session, and (of course) to write things down so they can see what they think.

I'll leave you with this: Sometime in the next week, you will welcome people to the room you're in. Whether an event or a meeting, a celebration or a "tough conversation," as you think about the first three minutes of that encounter, I challenge you to wonder how it COULD go!

It's 5 pm, which means it's happy hour. I'm going to head downstairs and share some stories of the day with Jodi!

Have a great week...

Much love,

Dr. JW

How did The Note* from MGM (Montgomery, AL) begin?

Jodi and I moved to Alabama in 2019. After being here for just less than a week, I opened up my email to send a note to my family in friends in California and beyond. Jodi was on her way to join me here, so I took some time to reflect on this significant life decision/change I had initiated. That Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019, I sent an email at 9:38 pm (or, as I was beginning to learn: 2138). Here's how it started:

Today was my first day as an employee of the United States Air Force. And, I am bold enough to say I've never been prouder or more excited to serve a community.

Though I "moved" to Alabama last Wednesday [Jodi plans to be here Monday], I went to my New Employee Orientation just today. The 90-minute briefing culminated in me taking the Oath:

"I, Jason Womack, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well; and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

All at the same time, I felt pride, Honor, and a hefty dose of responsibility. I'm helping leaders on a grand scale.

*The following Sunday, and many subsequent Sundays!, I've sent a note to my family and friends. Thanks for reading, and gratitude (more!) for clicking reply and letting me know what YOU'RE reflecting on!