1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
This week, we’ve been exploring ideas from David Brooks‘s wonderful book How to Know a Person.
“Over the past four years,” he writes, “I’ve become determined to learn the skills that go into seeing others, understandings others, making other people feel respected, valued, and safe.”
2: Each December, I select ten goals for the upcoming year. I begin the process by thinking about “The 7 F’s,” the most important aspects of my life: Faith, fitness, first relationship (our marriage), father, function (professional), finances, and fun & adventure.
One of my ten goals this year combines my marriage to Carey along with my fun and adventure category.
One theory about why time goes so much faster as we age is that we stop doing new things. So, this year, Carey and I decided to be intentional about doing things we had never done before as a couple.
Since New Year’s, we went to a honkey tonk and learned how to two-step. We attended an opera and a classical music concert. We’ve been to seven new restaurants and experimented with our first-ever “Drew-Carey Day,” where we spent a day together doing fun things.
3: Yesterday, we looked at David’s ideas around accompaniment.
“Accompaniment is an other-centered way of moving through life,” David notes, “We’re not leading or directing the other person.”
Our role here is to be present and be open to whatever may happen.
Indeed. These adventures Carey and I have been on this year are an exercise in accompaniment. We are experiencing these new experiences together. Side by side.
We are open to whatever may happen. And in so doing, we are making memories.
More next week!
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Action: Run an experiment today. Intentionally accompany someone.
Reflection: Afterwards, reflect or journal: How did it go? What did I learn?