Top 5 actions of 2019

Carlos Arraya

The snow is falling (at least at my house in St. Louis), the holiday music is blaring, the department stores and the internet have fully activated their best ads. The new ads and creativity are great marketing strategies designed to make you feel the holiday spirit and spend a share of your hard-earned dollars on the advertised products.

The holidays are the last mile marker of the calendar year, but the end of 2019 represents only another year in our rearview mirror, not lessons to be forgotten. However, do not be saddened. A new year also signals the time for spirited resolutions that focus on new goals, ambitions and action. Resolutions will soon pour out of our souls as the new calendar becomes the starting line for immediate personal and professional improvements.

I am inspired by so many of you as I watch with admiration the start of new adventures and how you sustain your commitments throughout the year. Because a new year invokes inspired activity (action), here’s a question for you. What is your Old Year and New Year King of Action?

The question and its answer are full of unknowns. To save time, allow me to pass along my thoughts on action. In fact, take a minute and think of actions you have performed this year at your club or in your sales role. While you are processing, I’ll share the ranking of my 2019 Top 5 actions (most likely many will appear on your list in some form). You’ll also get my 2019/2020 King of Action.

Ranked No. 5 on my list is support. More than half of emails or calls to me are asking to provide support to others at the club or for staff (Easy one).

Ranked No. 4 is sharing. Each day you are sharing time with professionals and hardworking staff. Sharing the appreciation of time — which never is returned to you, or them for that matter — makes this a must rank.

Ranked No. 3 is communication. Communication was once the King of Action. Don’t allow the slippage in rank to fool you into believ-ing it’s less important. My resolutions from year to year have allowed me to refine leadership.

Ranked No. 2 on my list is forgiveness. All of us deal with high demands and a desire for perfection, all while both managing a living, breathing organism (your golf course) and leading living, breathing organisms (your people). Correct and forgive mistakes made on the golf course, as we must forgive people for hurting us, either personally or professionally. Forgiveness is vital to living a well-balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Before sharing the King of (leadership) Action for 2019/2020, review this year before the end of 2019 and before you sit at the starting line for 2020. With pen and paper in hand, rank the leadership action words that best describe your year. Find the ones you desire to carry forward, and if you truly want to test your mettle, ask a peer to rank them with you.

When you support, share, communicate and forgive, there’s still one thing left to do. It not only allows my other actions to be fully activated, it focuses all my human senses. The King of Action allows me to not only hear, but to listen. For me, the King of Action is silence. I’m no longer afraid that I’ve not responded to a request or a message. If it doesn’t benefit me or the team, I remain silent until I’ve prepared the appropriate plan of action.

I am grateful in my personal life that silence has enlightened me and shown me the appropriate path. To all of you, my friends, peers and mentors, Happy New Year, and best of luck defining your King of Action!