UI Foundation/UI Advancement Weekly Update 01.07.22

Dear Team:

Welcome to 2022, and welcome back to work. I know for many of us back to work still doesn't mean back to your campus or Foundation office. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the time away from wherever you typically spend your time working, and you feel refreshed as this new year begins.

January often entails making new year's resolutions. I won't ask what any of yours are. In fact, if you haven't yet made any, you might consider not doing so. I'm all for personal and professional improvement as we begin a new calendar year; I just think there's a better way to go about it. For example, during my CASE Academy session this week, we discussed a way of strategic thinking attributed to former U.S. President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower and expounded on by Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Some of you may have seen Eisenhower's four-quadrant matrix before, but I've included it below for those who haven't.

The matrix is a dichotomy between what we want and what we need to do. How we navigate the quadrants dictates how successful we will be. As we begin 2022, you may want to take a few minutes to think about where you will spend your time over the next 12 months, both personally and professionally. We all likely will find ourselves in each of the four quadrants but managing the hours we spend in Quadrants III and IV will allow us to accomplish more in Quadrants I and II. Hopefully, the matrix also will help you manage the abundance of work you may be facing after nearly two weeks away.

As I alluded to in my opening comments, we are clearly still living through a pandemic. In fact, it has picked up steam again since we left for holiday vacation. So, stay safe while you are enjoying your weekend. Being attentive to the health of yourself, your family, and your team are, perhaps, the ultimate Quadrant I activities. Speaking of activity, we'd love to see some pictures of what you did on your holiday vacation.  Use this link to send them to us, and we will share them next week on UIF Online.

Happy New Year again and let's make 2022 a year to remember (fondly and proudly).

Cheers,
Jim