President's Message                  

January 2012~ Matt McCombs

 

Greetings from UMANT!

 

This time of year is rife with resolutions, promises we make to better ourselves in some way, make a difference in the world, or, at the very least, stop doing something that we know we probably shouldn’t.  What honorable goals these are – we all seek self-actualization, and this process is the key first step in making that happen.

 

What is a little odd (when viewed from a distance), is that we approach it with almost a sense of fatalism, as though some part of us secretly knows we’re likely to fail.  How many times have you personally heard in the last few weeks the concept of the New Year’s Resolution used as a punchline? 

 

“I said I was going to _____________... we’ll see how long that lasts…”

 

Even before we start the journey, we have subconsciously accepted failure as inevitable.  And what starts as either good natured humor or hedging our bets by sandbagging ends as a visualization of defeat. 

 

Now, I don’t mean to be a shill for boundless optimism, because that’s equally foolish.  Last month, we referenced Jim Collins’ Good to Great (new members to UMANT and those who haven’t had a chance to read through it should at least pickup his monograph for public service), and another lesson from his seminal work bears repeating here. Read more...