Good morning!

Three years ago this week I was soaking in my last days as a Nike employee. At that point there wasn’t much work left for me to do. It felt like I was retiring and getting to slowly say my goodbyes.

On my second to last day I had five or six coffee (tea) chats with dear friends catching up and bidding my farewells.

As that day was coming to a close, my team threw a party for me on patio outside the Serena Williams building. (I'm so grateful to my leaders, Rami and Drew, who were willing to celebrate my journey with the team!)

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Our immediate team gathered and long-time friends rolled through to wish me well. They shared kind words about me. They gave me a gift. We laughed.

It was a great time.

And then ninety short minutes later it was over.

Just like my ten year journey was about to be.

That night I stayed at the office until well after 7pm.

It was quiet.

I could hear the vaccuum cleaners faintly being run in other parts of the building.

The automatic lights started to turn off on me.

But I was slowly going through my desk - taking my time reminiscing on ten years worth of amazing memories and experiences.

As I reflected on and thumbed through all the incredible opportunities I had been given, part of me wondered, “Are you sure? Are you really walking away from this?”

That wasn’t the first moment those questions had crossed my mind. I had wrestled long and hard about the decision.

Yet, the truth was that I wasn’t walking away from Nike, I was walking towards what had become most important to me.

I couldn’t have just walked away. It would have been too difficult to leave something that was great in many ways and had played such a pivotal role in my life’s journey.

So, rather than just walking away, I pointed my life towards my Worthy Wins. And doing so - for me - meant I had to leave behind a company that had given me so much.

THE BLUR OF LIFE

Prior to my decision to resign from Nike, my life had been a blur. Young kids. Demanding job. Covid chaos all around. It was all a blur.

Even though that was all happening for me in 2020, that’s how life feels for most people these days - a blur.

We are all going so fast - and I truly believe every single person I come across is trying to do the best they can amidst whatever circumstances they are in.

But I was forced to slow down because of my Dad’s accident.

My life went from a blur to a standstill.

And it showed me the two unescapable truths about time.

TIME TRUTH #1: Time is uncertain.

TIME TRUTH #2: Time is running out.

My circumstances and those truths compelled me to ask:

• What’s most important to me? What really matters? Towards my Worthy Wins?
• And importantly… Is my life pointed towards those Worthy Wins?

Because if my time is running out and it’s uncertain when it will ultimately run out - I want to ensure I’m winning where it’s worthy.

If the answer to the second question is ‘no’, I realize it can feel daunting. It’s difficult to consider making changes when life is a blur. Survival is the focus - and its much easier to say I’ll focus on that (whatever that is) later.

But making an important change moving towards a Worthy Win doesn’t have to be dramatic.

It can start with one decision and one step.

JESUS' SIMPLE INVITATION

In the New Testament, we see multiple stories of Jesus making invitations to different people to take steps towards something new. While there is a lot of cultural and situational context that makes the stories even richer than they seem on the surface, what I see from Jesus is simple invitations to take one step in a new direction.

Take Matthew 9:9 for instance:

There is a lot of depth to the story of Matthew and why this is so significant - in terms of lifestyle, following Jesus would have been a 180 degree change. He was living his life and going in a direction that would feel difficult to turn back from. He would have been living a certain type of blur of his own. But Jesus knew that the starting point for change was a single decision.

The invitation to follow was an opportunity to not just try and walk away from his life, but rather towards a new story with one simple first decision and step.

And, it’s the same for us today.

TOWARDS MAY NOT BE MONUMENTAL

On my last day at Nike, I showed up at the office for one final time.

It was a WFH (work from home) Friday so it was mostly a ghost town.

I spent the last few hours going through my desk and taping up my remaining boxes.

Then it was time to hand in my computer and badge to my friend, Kristin Roach, who had (very) patiently waited for me to finish up.

And finally I stepped outside into a warm, fall afternoon in Oregon - headed towards an entirely new future.

For me the change was BIG. And it was the final step in a complete life shift.

But the pursuit of Worthy Wins doesn’t require a career change. Or moving across the country.

(Even though both were true for me.)

Pursuing Worthy Wins does not have to be about changing everything.

There is however an opportunity for almost all of us to more intentionally point ourselves towards what’s most important - what we believe is most worthy in our lives.

To start with one simple step.

Maybe that means it’s time for a new job (or not). Maybe it’s taking a step towards being a better spouse. Maybe it’s about leaning in to be a more present parent. Or maybe it’s time to recommit to the faith journey that you long for and have lost touch of.

Each of those requires something different, but they each offer an opportunity to move towards something important in our lives - something that will have been worth it in the end.

My encouragement is to answer these two questions…

1. Do you have clarity about what is most important to you - what your Worthy Wins are?
2. Are you walking towards those people and achievements right now?

If the answer to either one is “no”, this week is a perfect time to take a pause and consider one small step towards them.

You don’t have to leave your career or do something dramatic - but there’s no better time than now to move towards who and what matter most to you.

Rooting for you.

Much love,

JO

PS: If you’ve read this far, I’d love to hear something that stood out to you from this note! 😁

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