Stop Repeating The Same Year Over and Over (Groundhog Day)
A leader explains why companies repeat the same year over and over instead of building twenty years of experience. He proposes a three-year strategic vision and the Rule of 40 to track progress, while warning against both stagnation and constant change for its own sake.
Chapters
Hey everyone. So in a couple weeks from now on February 2nd, we're going to know if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow. Now, I don't, I can't recall if he sees his shadow, is it more winter? If he doesn't see his shadow, is it less? I'm not, I can't recall. Either way, if you've seen that idea, seen the movie Groundhog Day, It's this idea that this— he's living the same day over and over and over. Have you ever felt that way in your business? Have you ever felt like it feels like Groundhog Day in your business? Here we go again. We do the exact same thing in December. We set the annual objectives, we go into the year, we do this kickoff thing and it can kind of get a little, at times, somewhat monotonous. I don't want the same year repeated 20 times. I want 20 years of experience. So how do we do that? I have said so many times, I think one of the ways that you do it is that you have to walk around with a 3-year vision. And so being able to look back on the, on your career with say 10, say over a 30-year period of time, 10 3-year visions that you set. Here was the 3-year vision. Here was a 3-year vision. Here was a 3-year vision. That gets integrated into a tool that we use called the Rule of 40. I think that in and of itself, one, can help you to feel like it's not just Groundhog Day. We're doing the same thing. The other part of this is that there are, and this is where two things can be true at the same time. That there are sometimes that it's okay for things, certain things to be Groundhog Day. And what those things are is when people say repeat successful actions. We are now into the year a little bit. By the time you're listening to this recording, we're into 2026. So whether you came to the annual planning workshop in December, maybe the Q1 planning workshop in December, maybe you came to our execution and implementation kickoff workshop that we did we did in January, there is an element to Groundhog Day that I think is positive, which is repeating successful actions, looking at what are the things that we've done in the past in 2025, and can we just repeat those instead of being arsonists to our own businesses? Can we repeat some of those actions? I think those elements are really good, but inevitably business gets complex. And things that you used to be able to do don't work anymore. You know, you know that I use a lot of analogies on here is that, um, I was listening to, uh, uh, Auburn's new coach and his, um, initial speech whenever he was hired. And he was talking about the people he wanted to surround himself with, about how good they are. At change, not just in-game changes, but just being able to evolve as the game is evolving. He said, you know, some people get stuck in their ways of like, this is how we do it. And also, I think Auburn's previous head coach, Hugh Freeze, was a little bit that way. He was like, this is what we do. We run RPO. And what worked when he was at Ole Miss, it's not, it's not working anymore. And so he's going to have to evolve and change and be willing to maybe even— that means he doesn't even he doesn't even call plays anymore, but he wasn't willing to do that. And so I think that there's some of these things that we can hold— we got to hold two things that's true at the same time. I really do believe that there are things that we need to continue to do. Don't just be an arsonist in your business and start making changes to make changes' sake. I think that there are also times that it's important to— for that we don't feel like we're just We're back in Groundhog Day. Ah, here we go. Let me just go through the motions again. And that's why I think a 3-year vision is so powerful is because it allows you to get out of these 1-year sprints all the time. And depending on the business that you're in, et cetera, I know that so many people have told me about how they just, they can kind of get exhausted about it and then they don't find the passion behind it. And the team honestly picks up on that. So number 1, Carrie, within a 3-year vision. Number 2, do look at the things that you've done successfully in the past and say, hey, we're going to keep doing these. These things work. And then the other aspect of it is look at some of the other things and say, like, I think we need to make some changes here. I think that we need to evolve. I think that 2 or even multiple things can be true at the same time, which is I don't want Groundhog Day. I don't want to feel like I'm just going through the motions again. I don't want to blow everything up that we're doing because some of the stuff we're doing works. And at the same time, I got to recognize that business is always evolving, whether it's AI or anything else, business is evolving. I need to stay ahead of the game. I need to stay, make sure I'm staying ahead of the curve a little bit. See what's going around the corner. Get above the business a little bit. Go to different industry events, not just go to your own industry event. All the time. Get around other people that are thinking bigger, that are doing bigger and better things than you, so you can learn from them and be inspired to do some of those things and say, hey, we're not going to— we don't have to change everything. One of the things I look back on I did really poorly is that I was so wanting to grow and, and learn that I was just constantly changing too many things. There was no stability in anything we were doing. It wasn't like iterations and tweaks. It was like like totally retooling the entire organization every 6 months. It's like, oh, I got a better way of doing it. No, you don't. You're not committed to anything. You're not going to give anything time to work. You have to give some things time to actually settle in before you just continue to tweak them and improve them or just give up on them. And so I think that as you go into this next year, That my biggest idea here is how can you have 20 years of experience, not the same year repeated 20 times? I don't want Groundhog Day, and I know you don't want either. As you look into this year, what are the things we want to continue to do that have worked? And what are the things we absolutely do need to change in this year? And am I operating off of a 3-year vision? All right, everyone, hope this episode helped, served you well. Till next time, lead well, and go be great. And hey, go to blueprintos.com/assets and come to my next workshop. I love being live with people. It's cool what we can do over Zoom. That's all great, but it's nothing like actually being a person, being in community with other people. Love for you to come learn, put yourself in the right environment. Environment dictates performance. Go to blueprintos.com/assets, register for my next upcoming workshop. Till next time, lead well and go be great.
