One Step Changed My Year

On January 14, one step ended the year I had planned and started the year I needed. I ruptured my Achilles tendon while shooting basketball. What I had expected to be a year of speaking, coaching, and expanding Momentum Mindset® became a year of surgery, crutches, and recovery. I did not plan for any of it, and I did not want any of it.

But at this midpoint, I have learned something every leader needs to hear.

Your year does not have to start the way you hoped, but it can still end the way God intended. Here are three lessons I want to share with you at the halfway point of 2026:

1. Stop Evaluating the Rest of the Year Based on How It Started

Acceptance is one of the most misunderstood concepts in leadership. It is not quitting. It simply means acknowledging reality so you can respond to it appropriately.

Leaders operating from a Stagnator mindset resist what has already happened. The shift toward Strategist thinking begins the moment Mindful Awareness takes hold. You cannot change January, but you can still influence December.

What are you still resisting that you need to accept? Momentum begins where resistance ends.

2. Your Circumstances Are Not Always the Problem. Your Interpretation Might Be.

The hardest part of my recovery was not the surgery or the pain. It was wearing the cast.

The cast felt like the enemy. Then I realized it was doing exactly what it was designed to do: stabilize, protect, strengthen, and prepare. It was not working against me. It was working for me.

As leaders, we sometimes interpret delays as denial, setbacks as failure, and challenges as signs that something is wrong. But what if the very thing that frustrates you is actually preparing you?

What circumstance are you misinterpreting? What if it is not working against you but for you?

3. Small Wins Create Big Momentum

Momentum is rarely created by a single breakthrough. It is built through small wins that compound over time.

Moving from two crutches to one. Then to none. Then losing the boot. None of it happened all at once. It happened because small victories accumulated into real confidence.

Small wins build confidence. Confidence fuels action. Action builds momentum.

What small win from the past 30 days have you overlooked that deserves celebration?

The Midyear Question

Six months ago, I could not bear any weight on my left leg. Today, I am walking, traveling, speaking, playing golf again, and continuing physical therapy with confidence.

Am I fully recovered? Not yet, but I am further along than I was in January.

And maybe that is the question every leader should ask at the midpoint of the year. Not "Am I where I wanted to be?" but rather, "Am I further along than I was?"

The second half of your year remains unwritten. The question is: What mindset will you carry into it?

Recently, I sat down with Dr. Cameron Jenkins to unpack these lessons and more, including the Pyramid of Possibilities®, the role of community during difficult seasons, and what adversity reveals about leadership. Watch the full conversation here.

P.S. If someone in your network is going through a difficult season, share this with them. Momentum is contagious.