(The Leadership Reset Every Champion Needs)
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear
Happy Friday, Brew Nation!
Hello Brew Nation!!! Hard to believe, but we are halfway through 2025. So, how are you doing? Are your goals on track or a little behind? Or, maybe you have lost focus on your goals completely and feel like the goals are so insurmountable that you are just writing them off.
STOP (collaborate and listen… yes, now that song is stuck in your head for the day!)
Regardless of your current situation, halftime is a great opportunity to sit down and reflect. Remember, purposeful reflection produces purposeful action. You DO have time to make 2025 your best year yet!
At Growing Champions, we believe that being effective as a leader means regularly aligning your goals with your growth. As leaders, we must have a continuous learning mindset. To do this, we need to invest time in assessing, reflecting, adjusting, and creating new habits that will allow us to continuously grow ourselves and others.
I have a simple reflection process that I do on a regular basis that could be the structure you need to get better. Give yourself an hour on your calendar over the next week and go through these steps:
1. Review Your “Why”
Do you have a personal mission statement? Regardless of whether you have formalized this ‘Why’ into a personal development plan or you simply know that you want to be ‘better each year,’ it makes it easier to complete this process if you know your ‘why.’
This also allows you to assess whether the things you are working on are directly aligned with your why. And, as you grow, you may want to make some additions or modifications to your why based on where you are on your journey. I have another post that outlines this process here: “Why Desperation and Inspiration Drive Real Change?”
2. Assess Performance of Your Goals
Did you set goals for the year? Have you achieved those goals, or are you, at a minimum, making progress toward those goals?
As leaders, we are wired to win. Having a scoreboard telling you whether you are ‘winning’ is essential. In the book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, one of the disciplines is to “Keep a Compelling Scorecard.” The principle says that to drive execution, you need a scoreboard that has a few simple graphs that tell us where we are right now.
3. Identify the Barriers That Got in Your Way
(What went well? What could have gone better?)
This step can be one of the most challenging to complete. For a simple exercise, take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle with a ‘+’ on the left side and a ‘-‘on the right side.
Take some time to review your calendar, your journal, your scorecard, and list the things in the ‘+’ column that went well and list things in the ‘–‘ column that didn’t go as well as you wanted, or could have gone better. Be careful not to jump to solutions here!
I am talking about behaviors or disciplines that may not have been up to your expectations. For example, you may be inclined to write “I need to lose weight” in the need to improve column. While that may be true, it may not be the behavior that drove you to list it there. Rather, you may write something like, “I went three months without journaling my nutrition” as a behavior that did not go well. This way, you can act on it in the next step. This step is crucial to making the necessary adjustments for success in the coming months.
4. Course Correct
The fourth step in the annual review process is to course correct. What are the behavioral changes or habits you need to solidify or improve upon in the next year to be successful?
The system I like to use for this step is relatively simple, but effective… 3 questions:
- What things do I need to KEEP doing to be more successful next year? This helps me to understand what went well in the previous year that I need to continue.
- What things do I need to START doing to be more successful next year? For example, to improve your performance, I may want to start tracking your goals in a spreadsheet so that I can see when I am winning.
- What do I need to STOP doing to be more successful next year? This is an especially important step. In this step, the bad habits are the easiest to identify, but can be the most difficult to stop. I may have to give up good to get to UNCOMMON.
5. Share
The final step is to share the process with someone who can help to hold you accountable. After completing this 5-step process, you do not want to tuck the results of it away so that nobody will see them! John Maxwell is a mentor of mine and encourages others who want to change their world to do the following 3 things:
- Say ‘Yes’ – First, you must commit to the change
- Tell the World – In this case, the ‘World’ may be your co-worker, spouse, brother, friend, or coach. Find someone who will hold you accountable and call you out when you are NOT changing
- Figure It Out – Once you commit and you have an accountability partner, you are ‘All in’ – There is no turning back. Now, you have to take the steps necessary to reach your goals!!
BONUS STEP – Prayer
If you’re someone who walks by faith, take this process to the Lord. Reflect in prayer. Ask for wisdom, direction, and courage. You’ll be amazed at what clarity follows.
- Quote of the Week
“Purposeful reflection produces purposeful action.”
– Coach John Gallagher
Being effective as a leader means choosing discipline over distraction. It’s about reflecting on what’s worked, learning from what hasn’t, and courageously course-correcting in pursuit of uncommon growth. Leaders don’t just drift into success—they evaluate, decide, and act. At Growing Champions, we equip leaders with tools and vision to do just that—because real leadership is about consistent alignment between your values, habits, and outcomes.
👉 Want a tool to guide your mid-year reset?
📩 Email me at coachjohngallagher@gmail.com with the word ‘RESET’ in the subject line, and I’ll send you the Halftime Reflection Playbook to help you finish 2025 with clarity and conviction.
What you need to do:
Your Call to Action: Halftime Reset
Do you want to become an Uncommon leader? Do you want to go from mediocre results to exceptional outcomes that have an impact? Then, you must take some time this season to reflect on your journey over the past year by:
- Reviewing your ‘why’
- Assessing your performance with a scorecard
- Reflecting humbly on what you are doing well and what you need to improve upon
- Replacing old habits and starting new ones that move you closer to the leader you want to be
- Identifying someone to hold you accountable
You’ve got the time. You’ve got the tools. Now it’s time to make 2025 your most intentional, inspiring, and uncommon year yet.
It’s an honor to be your trusted Friday Coffee Guy. Each week, I bring what I’m learning and living in the trenches of leadership. If this edition challenged or encouraged you, share it with someone who leads, stays faithful, or learns alongside you, then click subscribe. Let’s grow Brew Nation together! ☕💪
Until next time—stay focused, stay faithful, and keep growing, Champions! 💪
P.S. Want to share your story of courage and grace on The Uncommon Leader Podcast? Email me and let’s connect!
