Half Time

In my opinion, one of the most fascinating points of any sporting event is the creation of a half time or period.

It is a moment that is set aside after a set period of play that is designed to reflect on a few points.

• Was the strategy we prepared for this game correct?
• What have we learned from the first period or half?
• Do we need to make any adjustments to how we are playing the game?
• Do we stay the course with how we are playing?
• If we are winning how do we keep winning, if we are losing, what changes do we make to win?

If we take these questions and place them into a very specific framework, you will see that a majority of teams do not make drastic changes unless there is a very blatant problem.

Now, let's break away from sports for a moment and take this frame into consideration as it applies to something far more important: our daily life.

We have reached the halfway point to 2025.

Hard to believe that the time has actually passed so quickly.

However, unlike the sporting world where a reflection and strategy discussion take place, we let this moment pass us right on by squandering an opportunity for evaluating our own progress this year.

A few weeks ago I discussed the idea of the daily examen which could be viewed as a microcosm of a half time.

Half Time is a 6 month examen designed to see how our daily habits are helping us construct the life vision we painted at the start of the year.

In order to do this: I find it fitting to look back at January and to see what your dreams and aspirations were for starting 2025.

Then, I want you to go month to month asking yourself the questions I presented at the beginning of this reflection and search for evidence that can fill one of two buckets.

Bucket 1: habits that would help cultivate the success of the vision I had for myself in 2025

Bucket 2: habits that would lead me astray from the vision I had for myself in 2025.

Then assess your score.

Which bucket has more points in it?

What I have found in my own life is you will typically have some habits that are engrained and strong in bucket 1 and bucket 2 and then there will be a third bucket (surprise)!

These are the habits that were started at the beginning of the year but haven't fully had time to take root in our life (almost a 50/50 of bucket 1 and 2).

Now is the time to ask yourself:

What steps am I willing to take to move the habit from bucket 3 into bucket 1?

What steps am I willing to take to eliminate a habit from bucket 2?

What steps do I need to continue from bucket 1?

Remember, the teams that win the most are the ones who are best at the basics, the fundamentals, the “blocking and tackling”.

For us, this is translated into our daily habits.

Half time allows us the space to evaluate these habits and to ask ourselves if we are cultivating an expression of life that is winning or one that is losing.

A second point to remember, a majority of people do not need to make major changes but that does not mean that major changes are a bad thing.

Some teams find that their entire strategy needs to be thrown out and they need to start over and that might be you.

The point here is this: no matter where you fall on the spectrum, half time is designed for you to set aside some time today to look at the last 6 months and evaluate where you are on your vision for 2025, make any necessary changes and to get after it for the next 6 months so you can win your vision.

Remember…it's 4:45 AM...I am most likely walking my dogs and praying the rosary, one of my unique bucket 1 habits that helps me cultivate the best version of myself possible. What bucket 1 habit are you nurturing?

Since I don’t make posts like this on social media ... if there's someone you know that would benefit from reading this, share it with them so they can start working on making their Monday great again.