This week's Huddle, a weekly newsletter for leaders

In episode 37, I walk through this week's The Huddle, a weekly leadership newsletter. If you like this format, let me know.      It's an age-old dilemma. We know exactly what we should do...yet, we don't do it. Being able to bridge the gap between knowledge and action may be the key for you and me reaching our goals.  The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote, "To know and not to do is really not to know." It reminds us that true learning, true knowledge, is in the application. Learning is doing.  The Apostle Paul wrote, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." My clients have heard me speak of the GPS model of coaching. It's based on where someone is today and then where they want to be in the future. Like a GPS. Here's the blue dot. Where are we trying to get to? Then, as a leader, I coach the gap.  I have a challenge for you this month. It's early June, so the timing is perfect.  I'd like for you to take a few minutes and think about a few of your goals for the month of June. Pretend it's June 30th. You say, "It was a great month. I thrived professionally and personally."  What happened? What made it a good month? Write down the behaviors and actions that you would need to take to hit those goals. If you are in management, maybe it's "Have one coaching session with each team member and give honest, courageous feedback." If you are in sales, perhaps it's "75 prospecting attempts."  Whatever the behaviors are that would lead to a great June, write them down. Seriously. Do it.  Start with just 3 professional and 2 personal. If you use paper, put it somewhere that you will see it every single day. If you use Excel, keep it open on your desktop. I carry mine on an index card in my back pocket. Just write them down and keep them in front of you. Now, every morning look at it.  At the end of the day, look at it.  Cross off things, make tick marks....track your progress. If you do this, you have increased your likelihood of hitting your goals exponentially. Good intentions are just that. Jim Rohn said, "Written goals are dreams with deadlines. When you write down your goals, you turn vague dreams into a visible, tangible roadmap."  Try it for 30 days. Let me know how you do.    The Huddle is a weekly newsletter that is designed for leaders. Leaders must be learners. There is never a moment when leaders arrive. It's a never-ending growth process. I hope it can be a resource that you can use to stay sharp and share with your team. Click here to subscribe.    With that, here are some things I ran across this week.    Get Outside - According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half of all 18-24 year-olds in the United States have some form of depression or anxiety. It's an alarming fact about our culture. At a time when youngsters should be carefree and happy, we are trending in the opposite direction.  My son and I were discussing this recently. My uneducated and unresearched opinion is that Smartphones, or modern-day digital pacifiers, are a leading contributor. But we also talked about the fact that in our suburban culture, it's possible to go days without getting outside.  Think about it. Our car is in the garage. We hop in and drive to work. We park next to the building, always the closest door possible. We may take 20 steps to the entrance. We DoorDash lunch (or maybe we bring our own). Sit in our artificially lighted office. Drive home. Open the garage door. Boom. In 24 hours, we are outside for perhap 90 seconds. It's that easy. Based on this article, maybe one of our June goals could be "Get outside for at least 30 minutes each day." Stress-Free Vacay - Summer is here, albeit unofficially, and it's vacation season. Taking a vacation, and doing it right, is a bit of a dilemma. One strategy is to do a little bit of work every day to ensure there isn't a digital tsunami when it's all over. Another strategy is to completely unplug, knowing that there will be a price to pay upon return. Either way, it's stressful.  I haven't seen a lot written on this topic so I was interested to read this short "How To" from the Harvard Business Review. It might be worth filing away in the vacation file.  Do it for the Fam - The difference between building a cathedral and simply breaking rocks is remembering the bigger picture—why you are doing what you are doing. When we live with a greater purpose in mind, life just seems easier.  Work can be a rut. Same ole, same ole. Another day, another dollar. A sarcastic, "Living the dream." Until you add purpose.  For most people, family is a great motivator. If we have kids, don't we want them to be proud of what we do? If we are a kid, don't we want our parents to be proud?  LeBron James once said, "I'm going to use all my tools, my God-given ability, and make the best life I can with it. And that's what I've done. I've been able to provide for my family because of this game...To give my mom something I've always wanted to give her and see her happy, it's beyond words." Family is a great motivator.  This article does a good job of linking personal responsibility and performance to family legacy. Alive Time - Here's a short video from Ryan Holiday around the concept of Alive Time v. Dead Time. We can passively wait, or we can take action.  Give it a watch. It's good.    A Quote to Leave You With