Hey!

Are you in an ideal season right now? Or one that feels really difficult and discouraging?

Either way, there’s an opportunity to pursue Worthy Wins.

Three summers ago I was in a mess of a season. I was about nine months into leaving Nike to become a consultant.

Like most new ventures, the work and thus the income, were inconsistent.

So, when a project popped up just before that summer I had to take it. That specific opportunity came and required me to be gone a lot… and I ended up being gone 30 nights in that summer window. For a young family with kids out of school, that was less than stellar. We made it, but it was rough on me and my family.

Fast forward to two weeks ago - at the end of summer - I got on a plane for the first time in two months. That meant I was basically home the entire summer with my family. I was still working, but I was around and present!

Talk about a difference. I would absolutely choose this summer over the one from three years ago. This summer was ideal. That summer not so much…

What it reminded me of is that so much of what we experience is in seasons. The length and intensity of each one can vary drastically, but ultimately we move from one season onto the next.

But here’s the thing about seasons: Sometimes we get to choose them - and sometimes we get stuck with them.

Did I make some choices to ensure I was home more this summer? Yes.

Could I have made some choices to ensure I was home more three years ago? Maybe, but in that moment and reality - I had to do the work. I had to go. That season required it.

Yet, it was a season.

We grew through it, I learned in the process - and now I know as much as I can, I want my summers to not be a season where I’m gone a lot. But there might come a time in the future where I don’t have a choice. And the only option will be to do the best I can with what I control.

TWO TYPES OF SEASONS

What it feels like is that there are really two types of seasons we find ourselves in….

The Ideal Season - Dreamed, strategized, and planned. It’s natural that we all want the flexibility and freedom to make every season an ideal season where life is good and we are optimized to live out our best days.

But that being every season is not reality.

Should we dream, strategize, and plan for the ideal seasons? Absolutely. They just might not be the season that is immediately in front of us. Should we stop dreaming, strategizing, and planning even if right now that season is far off? No! The proverbial harvest seasons are built from the work done in the planting seasons.

Which brings me to the other season we often encounter in our lives…

The Irrespective Season - Challenging, demanding, and out of control. It’s the season that comes - or stays around - irrespective of how you feel, what you have going on, or what you would want the season to be. “It just is what it is.”

This is not me saying I throw my hands up in the air and quit, but rather accepting that some seasons are going to be full of things out of our control that are not ideal.

As much as I see what people’s idealized lives look like on the internet, what’s clear to me is that this type of season is what most people are going through the majority of the time - even if the highlights on social media don’t show it.

In my Irrespective Seasons - I’m prone to think and act like I’ll just wait til things get better…

But what if it’s a long season? Am I just supposed to keep waiting?

Proverbs 27:1 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible and it is the reminder to not wait until later. “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Irrespective Seasons are not the times we love, but they are still realistic parts of our lives. And if we wait for them to be over before we start living, then we will miss out on big chunks of life.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS - EVEN IN TOUGH SEASONS

So what are we supposed to do in an Irrespective, “It Is What It Is” season?

Since I believe that we spend more time in these kinds of seasons, this is super important.

And it might sound morbid to you, but what if the Irrespective Season goes on for years or even worse, decades? Or until the day we die?

None of us hope for that obviously, yet that is reality for so many.

We weren’t made to just squeak by each day - even in those tough seasons. But when the margin is so thin for anything, it’s critical to decide who and what we do want to give that margin to.

That’s where Worthy Wins come in and why deciding what truly matters - and what does not - is so important. Worthy Wins are a combination of who and what.

These questions look really simple, but they unlock clarity for us.

• Who is most important to me?
• And what are the most important accomplishments to me?

Even in the Irrespective Seasons, how can we invest that little bit of margin we do have into the people or meaningful accomplishments that are most important?

I can spend a full day doing a workshop helping people plan and get clear about these two questions - but it can also be super simple. And that’s what is needed in the Irrespective Seasons.

• Can you commit to a daily phone call or text to one of the people who is most important to you? Or spend a few minutes every day
• Could you spend five minutes of working on a project that you’re slowing moving forward?

The Irrespective Seasons don’t have to - and shouldn’t - completely stop us.

What is worthy in the Ideal Seasons is also worthy in the Irrespective Seasons - it just takes even more intention and patience.

That intention in those difficult times helps set us up for more Ideal Seasons down the road. And the patience of things not being ideal helps us accept what we can do even if it’s limited.

If I rewind the clock back three summers ago, I was present and invested in my family when I was not traveling. It wasn’t an ideal season, but I was doing what I could to ensure that I was investing in the people most important to me.

I hope regardless of where this finds you - Ideal or Irrespective Season - that you’ll be encouraged to keep chasing what is worthy.

Much love,

JO

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