In March, international speaker, coach, and consultant Rich Schlentz spoke to ASTD about Creating an Engaging Work Culture. He opened with a story about a football game and what happens at halftime. Being a former cheerleader who never actually understood football, I paid close attention in hopes that I’d finally get it. I did! At halftime, both coaches join their teams in the locker room and focus on the fundamentals of what it will take to win. The winning coach says, “Keep focusing on the fundamentals!” The losing coach says, “You’ve got to focus on the fundamentals!"

Not long after Rich’s program, my husband showed up with a book called Half Time. “It’s about deciding what to do with the second half of your life,” he told me.

Halftime was becoming a reoccurring theme. When that happens, I start paying attention.

At our house, we look at our budget quarterly, and this coincided neatly with the March program. Stuck on the idea of getting back to basics I decided to look also at my goals for the year, and see how I was doing. Not bad, but shouldn’t I look at my goals more than quarterly? On the other hand, maybe it’s good enough to even have goals and a budget.

Late last November I attended a Stephen Covey workshop with Bruce Oberle on the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. According to Covey, I should be looking at my goals weekly, if not daily. I am so behind!

“What you need is 20 minutes and a cup of coffee on the weekend, Kary.” These words of wisdom were from Ed Gash, another Covey facilitator, who has never seen me bouncing off the walls after drinking coffee.

Here we are at June, halftime, half way through the year almost; soon time to look at the budget again. I found forty minutes at my desk to think about my husband, my son, and what’s important in life. I made time mid-week to see a friend passing through town and another nearby. Sometimes I get so busy!

What I think is challenging isn’t just to define my own goals, and what is important to me, but to define them as a community, those that impact my spouse, family, friends, and even colleagues. Somewhere along the line I read that it is easy to live righteously alone on a mountain because there is no one to make you angry or require you to compromise.

Last night, I went on a date with my spouse and over dinner we brainstormed dreams. Where do we want to go, what do we want to do? This is the marital equivalent of going in the locker room and focusing on the basics.

If you are like me, and always considering how life can be the most fulfilling join us in June to hear Tamara Bunte. Tamara advises and consults with Fortune 500 companies with a focus on with peak performers and inspiring people to become the best version of themselves. Tamara uses case studies and games to illustrate why people do what they do, and also incorporates neuro-linguistic Programming into the learning method. It’s June, halftime, and a good time to get back to basics.

Kary Beaman