G.O.A.T.s

As a Chicago Bulls fan in the 90s, you just assumed the greatness of winning would continue. In the wake of the first retirement of Michael Jordan, it may have caused some young fans to realize this doesn’t always last. I’m assuming that the older and thus wiser fans knew that could happen.

After that brief stint with the White Sox and Jordan announced he was coming back to basketball, Bulls fans should have appreciated every game we could watch.

A more recent example would be Tom Brady’s announcement of retirement, which thankfully for all Buccaneers fans only lasted forty days. With Brady leaving it uncertain about how long he anticipates remaining in the NFL, the recommendation to all is to enjoy watching him while you’ve got his talent on the field.

Sports are a ready example of seeing someone perform at their highest ability. It’s also at a scale where we can all understand the impact. 

But what about within your industry or circle of influence?

I’m an observer of patterns and lately, I’ve been watching my network shift gears into something else after they had been doing another thing for quite some time. That “other thing” impacted lives. And with the announcement of their role change, I began to wonder if the people who received from them in the former thing were grateful while they had them.

Let’s say you are working with an amazing doctor who has been your family’s go-to for all the hard days of sickness, etc. and you didn’t expect her to retire or change gears yet. It would be a shock and very difficult, right?

What about that excellent teacher who taught your oldest child and the one you expected to be the 5th-grade teacher for your third and final child, too. He’s the teacher everyone hopes to get and you have loved how much your first two kids grew in confidence under his teaching ability. It would be a sad day to learn he’s decided to leave teaching in the public school system to pursue educating others within Corporate Training, right?

This isn’t to say we can’t be happy for professionals who make bold career decisions based on a set of circumstances. However, I am asking: 

Are we appreciating the G.O.A.T.’s in our lives right now?

(G.O.A.T. = Greatest Of All Time)

For many, the trajectory shift in their careers has gone into another gear due to the last two years. My hope is you caught that calling up and were able to accelerate right into where you are meant to be in your career. 

Let’s recognize the greats around us daily. If someone is impacting your life in an amazing way, make sure they know it.