Spring…a Time for Renewal

It's palpable. You can see it. You can sense it. The light of the day is still glowing during dinner hour in my part of the country. I keep having those moments where I'm joyfully surprised by the extended daylight hours. We have turned the corner, and I not only see it, but I also feel it.

The anticipation of longer days instills a new sense of renewal for many. The darkness of short winter days is being replaced with the first "leaf-outs" spreading north and the first blooms will soon follow. In fact, before you know it, crocuses will be peeping up through the snow to bask in the sun's rays smiling upon those in the northern states with these longer days. Renewal is in the air!

Are you aware there are First Leaf and First Bloom Indices which provide synthetic measures of these early season events in plants, based on recent temperature conditions? The indices are used as an indicator of climate change. I just learned about the indices because I was curious about how spring is progressing nationwide with the changing seasons. I looked it up online.

In some parts of the country spring is coming in fits and starts. It's variable in other parts of the country and late in other sections and states. You can observe the progression of spring activity spreading across the country by referencing online interactive maps from the USA National Phenology Network. It's quite fascinating. Of course, here in Florida it often feels like we have more limited changes with the seasons. And yet, we do have seasons of change. Therefore, we do have renewal.

Regardless, armed with new insight about tracking seasonal variations, I immediately connected the mapping capability and its movement to thoughts of business, life, and leadership progression. One could benefit from having their own indices to measure progress and success just like the First Leaf and the First Bloom Indices track seasonal change.

Here's how I envision that for you:

Your Business Growth Indices would include measuring your revenue velocity, tracking customer engagement indicators, or assessing and optimizing operational efficiency.

Leadership Development Indices might gauge your decision-making maturity, evaluate team trust, and track adoption and innovation of new ideas.

Life Enrichment Indices would assess your work/life balance, intensity of relationships, and willingness to learn. All three levels of indices then become your indicators for remarkable achievement. 

Envision having a map that changes colors as you progress along your path to achievement. The colors would advance north just like the progression of the seasons.

Flowers bloom in the spring and buds begin to burst open. This stage aligns with clarity. Summer is filled with warm lakes, gurgling streams and green grass blanketing meadows, fields, and hillsides with leaves transforming trees with abundant foliage. This phase encompasses your focus for growth. Fall brings cooler temperatures and changing colors with a magnificent display of color that bursts forth like the momentum you've been building. And then, the leaves drop once more to bring the cycle of renewal to a close...until spring.

During the winter stage of hibernation, you have achieved self-perpetuating momentum so winter is the time to look forward to the next season where new and innovative opportunities will spring forth. What a cycle of renewal!

And that brings us back to the present. With increasing temperatures, once frozen rivers and ponds are beginning to flow with ever-increasing energy. I too, am filled with restored energy that's driving creative thought. How about you? Do you feel the surge in the spring with that welcome spike of energy?

That's the power of renewal. In this new season, what conditions are creating flow more readily in your business, life, or leadership? What is heating up? What stopping points have caused you to be frozen in your tracks? Can you take action to thaw them out to generate new turning points? 

Spring is a wonderful time to renew and regenerate your focus on business, life, and leadership. Envision your Remarkable Achievement Map, changing colors as progression expands into new areas. Let the imaginary visuals inspire you to greater action. A new season is upon us and it's time for you to grow.

Grow from seedlings during the early stage of growth. Then move to the budding stage for development and resilience. And ultimately achieve "full bloom" or fulfill ambitious achievement by using the indices provided.

Learn to navigate these seasons so every year you advance to a new level. With clarity, focus, and momentum you will learn to tweak and modify every effort based on specific indicators. And every year the cycle of seasons will regenerate until you reach renewal once again.

That renewal is what ensures you are unstoppable, year after year after year. Step up to renewal. Become unstoppable. The season is upon you!