Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year.
The days are still warm (in Southern California) and the nights are starting to cool. The stress of last-minute Christmas shopping trips to the mall hasn’t yet reared its ugly head. I do know the holidays are approaching quickly because my Google Alerts for “Holly Green” skyrocket. I am a color, a bush, a park, and all sorts of other interesting holiday stuff! Thanksgiving is one long weekend out of the year where the whole family can hang out together and enjoy each other’s company for a while.
It’s also time to eat too much and watch football. Being from Texas, of course I root for the Cowboys, who have a tradition of playing on Thanksgiving Day. I love watching football! I track 5 teams during the regular season. I really enjoy the sport and I see many similarities between sports and business.
In football, the team with the most talent doesn’t always win. Victory usually goes to the team that has the best game plan and executes the fundamentals with fewer mistakes. And the best players are those who don’t just react to the ball but anticipate where it’s going and get there ahead of time. These are lessons today’s business leaders would do well to observe.
In addition to the traditional Thanksgiving fare of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, our family cooks foods from around the world as a way to recognize and celebrate our various origins. With roots going back to England and Paraguay, we usually end up with some very interesting dishes on the table. Trifle is a dessert favorite and black beans with sausages usually follow the day after Thanksgiving.
What I like most about Thanksgiving is that it affords us time out from our busy lives to reflect on all our blessings. Sometimes, when I’m flying back and forth across the country and I have more on my plate than any two people should handle, it’s easy to lose track of what’s really important in life. So when all the football games are over and the dishes are washed and put away, I enjoy the opportunity to sit down in front of the fireplace, exhale, and think about all I have to be grateful for.
So here are my thanks a little early this year. I am grateful for having wonderful clients who trust us and allow us to support them. For friends who, when I want to go in 10 different directions all at once, remind me to focus on the right things. For the love and support of family, who keep me humble when I start to think that maybe I am absolutely, positively right, and for the encouragement they constantly provide to keep me learning and unlearning.
I’m grateful for my health and the ability to still enjoy life fully, especially after surviving a major heart attack earlier this year. And for this great country we live in, which allows me to speak my mind, disagree, and still be an American.
What and who are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?
