Today is January 2 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often are you working on yourself?" Retired professional football player Emmit Smith understands the value of personal development. In a famous television commercial from the 1990s, Smith is working out and takes a moment between reps; in the voice over he says “Maybe this year I’ll take a little time off.” He takes two seconds to rest between repetitions, continues his workout, and says “all athletes are created equal; some just work harder in the off-season.” How often are you working on yourself? 

Today is January 1 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you think about your distractions?" Your ability to grow personally and professionally requires an understanding of what distracts you. As you begin a new year remember the words of author H. Jackson Brown Jr. “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” As you start this new year and work towards translating dreams into reality, ask yourself how often you think about your distractions. 

Today is December 31 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you take care of your own grass?" Author Earl Nightingale noted “If the grass is greener on the other side it’s probably getting better care.” Are you so busy thinking the grass is greener elsewhere that you ignore your own lawn? It’s true that sometimes the grass is indeed greener; but just how well have you cared for your lawn? As one year ends and another begins, ask yourself if you have done everything possible to ensure your own grass is as green as it can be. 

Today is December 30 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you treat triumph and disaster the same?" In his 1895 poem “If” Rudyard Kipling wrote “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same.” 

Today is December 29 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How well do you walk through the fire?" In his poem “How Is Your Heart?” Charles Bukowski wrote “during my worst times I always had this certain contentment-I wouldn't call it happiness-it was more of an inner balance that helped through the wars and the hangovers the back-alley fights the hospitals. to awaken in a cheap room in a strange city and pull up the shade- this was the craziest kind of contentment. and to walk across the floor to an old dresser with a cracked mirror- see myself, ugly, grinning at it all. what matters most is how well you walk through the fire.”

Today is December 28 and the Navigate the Chaos question is "How often do you compare yourself?" Those who navigate the chaos spend little time comparing themselves to others. Doing so slows down their own personal growth or professional development. American actress and author Octavia Lenora Spencer told a graduating class “As you move forward please don’t let yourself get caught up in the trap of comparison. Comparing yourself to other’s success only slows you down from finding your own.”

Today is December 27 and the Navigate the Chaos question is “How often do you remind yourself that life can sometimes be fortuitous?” Greg Lake told Rolling Stone magazine in 2013 “It’s very weird, but there you go - strange things happen sometimes. Music, and the music business, is sort of very fortuitous. It’s very circumstantial.” Lake’s band, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer was formed amidst the break-up of two others bands. This new band would go on and make a substantial impact on the music industry and popular culture.