This will be my last blog post of 2019. It’s the holiday season, yes. Will I be taking time to spend with my family? Most definitely, yes, especially since it’s the first Christmas with my 6-month old son.
Do I put much stock in the idea of this being the last blog post of the year, or as I’ve heard some say, the last blog post of the decade? No. Not at all, as a matter of fact.
Aside from the belief that using the ending of one year or the beginning of another to be the default marker of personal change is completely arbitrary and not very helpful, I think it also misses the point.
This week, I have the pleasure of working with a medical professional who is giving presentations on a procedure that, if widely adopted, will change how he and his competitors will treat patients.
Over the course of building out the narrative that will surround the technical portions of the talk, he’s finding that he’s relating to his origin story differently. The reason he went into his field is tied closely to the mentorship he received from a family member.
As we dig deeper, getting to the core message, he’s realizing that his professional origins are more complex. It’s an evolving relationship. And that’s OK. More than OK, in fact - it should be celebrated!
A speech or a presentation is a single package, created at and for a specific moment. It is (or should be, anyway) the culmination of your experiences and achievements, but that doesn’t mean that if you deliver it at another point in time, that you should feel the same way about the material. The timeline is only a backdrop.
Change it if it feels right. Make sure that it’s authentic and accessible in this moment, and if you pick it up again in future moments, make sure you feel connected to it in those moments as well.
And that’s what I wish for all of you in the New Year. Whether you’re giving a speech or a presentation, or figuring out the best way to grow and change as a person, don’t do anything just because it’s a new year or a new decade.
Do it because you feel connected. It’s up to you how you get there.