Halfway There: What the First 25 Weeks Taught Me About Leadership, Growth, and Starting Over

We are officially halfway through the year.

Twenty-six weeks down. Twenty-six weeks to go.

For some people, that realization is exciting. For others, it can be a little uncomfortable. Maybe you're looking at the goals you set back in January and feeling proud of the progress you've made. Maybe you're looking at that same list and realizing life had other plans.

Personally, I find the halfway point of the year fascinating because it forces us to pause. January is full of excitement, motivation, and ambition. We set goals, create plans, and convince ourselves that this is the year everything is going to fall perfectly into place.

Then life happens.

And life rarely asks for permission before changing the plan.

Projects take longer than expected. Priorities shift. Opportunities emerge that we never anticipated. Challenges show up without warning. Somewhere along the way, many of us stop measuring success by the goals we wrote down in January and start measuring it by whether we can simply keep moving forward.

That isn't failure... That's growth.

As I reflect on the first 25 weeks of the 1% Better Leadership Challenge, I keep coming back to one central theme. Every topic we've discussed, from intentionality and self-awareness to psychological safety, accountability, appreciation, and feedback, ultimately points back to the same idea: leadership starts with you.

We spent the first half of the year building a foundation. We talked about understanding our values, recognizing our default patterns, listening more effectively, leading with consistency, creating trust, and following through on our commitments. None of those topics were really about tactics. They were about becoming the kind of person others want to follow.

Exceptional leadership is rarely built through one grand gesture. More often, it's built through hundreds of small decisions repeated over time.

Before you can lead a team, influence an organization, or create meaningful change, you have to understand yourself: Your values, your habits, your strengths, your blind spots, and the ways you respond when things don't go according to plan.

And if there is one thing this year has taught me, it's that things rarely go according to plan.

The Humility of Being a Beginner

When I think about where I expected to be six months ago, compared to where I am today, the two pictures are not identical. Some things unfolded exactly as I hoped. Others took a completely different path. There have been moments of excitement, moments of uncertainty, and more than a few moments where I found myself learning something entirely new.

One of the most unexpected gifts of this year has been learning what it feels like to be a beginner again.

There is something incredibly humbling about stepping into a new space and realizing how much there is still to learn. You move from being the person who has the answers to being the person asking the questions. You trade certainty for curiosity. You trade expertise for growth.

At first, that can feel uncomfortable. Most of us like competence. We like confidence. We like knowing what we're doing.

But growth has a funny way of showing up right outside our comfort zone.

What We Carry with Us

One lesson that continues to stand out to me over the past few weeks is just how powerful our habits become over time.

For years, I worked in leadership roles where people looked to me for decisions. My days were filled with solving problems, providing direction, and making judgment calls. It became second nature.

Now, as I begin a new chapter, I'm finding myself paying close attention to some of those habits.

The transition itself has been incredibly positive, but there are moments when I'll draft an email or have a conversation and catch myself slipping into what I call "decision-maker mode." I'll read something back and realize my tone sounds like I'm making a decision when I should be asking a question. I'll also find myself wanting to provide direction when the better approach is to stay curious and keep learning.

Nothing is wrong with either approach. They simply serve different purposes.

What has fascinated me is how automatic those old habits still are. They were reinforced over years of experience, and now I'm in a position where asking thoughtful questions is often more valuable than having immediate answers.

...It's a reminder that growth isn't always about learning something new. Sometimes it's about recognizing what we've carried with us from previous chapters and deciding which parts still serve us moving forward.

And if I'm being honest, I'm still figuring that out.

In many ways, this experience has brought me right back to some of the lessons we've explored throughout this challenge.

Self-awareness isn't a one-time exercise. Curiosity isn't something we master once and move on from. Active listening, psychological safety, accountability, and appreciation are not boxes we check and then forget about.

They're practices.

They require continual attention, regardless of how much experience we have or how long we've been leading.

Some Lessons Never Change

As many of you know, I've spent much of my career focused on leadership, organizational development, strategy, and helping parks and recreation professionals become more effective. Those topics continue to be a huge part of who I am and the work I care deeply about.

At the same time, this year has brought me into an entirely new professional chapter. Every day I'm learning new things and developing knowledge and skills that didn't exist in my toolbox six months ago.

What has surprised me most is how often the leadership lessons still apply.

The setting may be different. The conversations may be different. The technical expertise may be different. But people are still people.

That part never changes.

Trust still matters.

Relationships still matter.

Listening still matters.

Curiosity still matters.

Showing up consistently still matters.

The more I learn, the more I'm convinced that leadership is not something we leave behind when we move into a new role, a new industry, or a new chapter of life. Leadership is the foundation we bring with us.

Maybe that's why I find midyear reflections so valuable...

They give us permission to acknowledge that growth doesn't always happen in a straight line. Sometimes growth looks like accomplishing exactly what you set out to do. Sometimes it looks like adjusting course. Sometimes it looks like letting go of goals that no longer fit and pursuing opportunities you never expected.

This year we've talked about pausing before reacting, letting go of perfection, inviting different voices into the conversation, following through on our commitments, and showing appreciation more intentionally. Looking back, I think those lessons were preparing us for something bigger than leadership techniques. They were helping us become more intentional versions of ourselves.

When I look back on the first half of this challenge, I don't think the biggest lesson is any single topic we've covered.

The biggest lesson is that leadership development is never finished.

There isn't a point where we arrive and suddenly have all the answers. There isn't a week where we become fully self-aware, fully accountable, fully resilient, or fully intentional.

The work continues.

And that's actually good news.

Because it means we always have room to grow.

Who Am I Becoming?

I think we spend too much time asking ourselves whether we've accomplished everything we planned to accomplish.

A better question might be this: Who am I becoming?

Growth isn't just about adding new skills. Sometimes it's about reshaping old ones: Am I more self-aware than I was six months ago?

Am I more resilient?

More intentional?

More willing to listen?

More willing to have difficult conversations?

More willing to learn?

Those are the questions that matter because those are the qualities that shape the kind of leader we become.

As we head into the second half of the year, I don't want you focused on what didn't happen during the first half. I want you focused on what's still possible.

There are still 26 weeks left!

Twenty-six weeks to strengthen a relationship.

Twenty-six weeks to improve a habit.

Twenty-six weeks to learn a new skill.

Twenty-six weeks to become a better leader.

Twenty-six weeks to become a better version of yourself.

You don't need January 1 to create momentum. You don't need a perfect plan. You don't need to wait until circumstances are ideal.

You simply need to decide that growth is still worth pursuing... Even when the path looks different than you expected.

The first 25 weeks taught us a lot: About leadership. About resilience. About Relationships. About accountability. About ourselves.

And perhaps most importantly, they reminded us that growth is never really finished.

I have a feeling the next 25 weeks have even more to teach us.

Let's make them count!