Revised: GroundHog Day! What Shadow will you Cast?

Look Forward and Work Hard to Improve IT

Post Originally Published on 02/02/2012 was reviewed as part of my annual GroundHog day reflection exercise.

After watching the movie GroundHog Day with Bill Murray where Bill’s character perceived every day as the same. It also gave him the opportunity to improve just one day over and over again by learning of his mistakes in the same previous scenarios and trying to correct them.

A Day to Reflect

I use the same scenario to reflect on previous years on how in the past I have spent many GroundHog Days.

I clearly remember how I started doing this exercise in February 2, 2006 I woke up at a crappy hotel room in Blossburg, PA very close to Punxsutawney, PA where the famous groundhog named Phil is monitored to cast his shadow. I ended up realizing I wanted to change a few things and that I was truly not completely happy with the life I was currently living as a Big 4 consultant for KPMG. Working out of New York and living out of luggage from one hotel room to another is not the lifestyle many wish upon themselves much less me .

Since then I have worked towards changing my lifestyle to have more control of where I want to be and  trying to align that to what I want to be doing. Being a dad  motivates me to control what I can so I can spend more quality time with family.

Things have Changed and Improved

Although I find myself re-inventing my business  as a Small Business Owner, dad with a Beautiful Daughter , an awesome business and life partner (@lucymfel), a small group of awesome friends (I would like to list them all but I am afraid I would leave one or two out), living in the tropics not having to worry about cold winters, living near the beach, and most importantly finding myself in great health.

Overall instead of looking for the Shadow I am making sure that where I cast my shadow in the future brings myself and those around me forward.

I am grateful for all the blessings I have at the moment and for all of you who support me continuously.

My cousin Berni Xiong  would say that we learn from our mistakes and my other good friend Robbie Vorhaus would say to focus on One Less thing we want to remove from our lives and One More thing we want to add into our lives.

What Shadow have you Casted?

What can you work towards fixing in the future where it brings lots of benefits and blessings?

Is there anything I can do to help you feel free to contact me directly.  

 

Posted in Professional Development and tagged ,

5 Comments

  1. Ksmith80 on February 2, 2012 at 1:39 pm

    No doubt that you would be able to turn something that I only see as entertaining, such as(Groundhod Day) and give it a deeper meaning.  Interestingly enough one my courses in Ethical Leadership is based on casting shadows.  The author of our text does a great job “Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership Casting Light or Shadow” by Craig Johnson.
     Awesome post Raul.  Thank you for sharing.



    • Raul Colon on February 2, 2012 at 10:06 pm

      I will have to check Craig’s Book. Thanks for giving me your feedback. To a certain extent you did motivate me to get this post out today! 🙂



  2. Kofla Olivieri on February 5, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies .
     http://www.koflaolivieri.com/blog/2012/02/we-petition-the-obama-administration-to-appoint-a-special-prosecutor-to-investigate-widespread-corru.html



  3. OldBoricua on February 2, 2013 at 3:34 pm

    an interesting position. and absolutely valid through MANY philosophies. It is not what is there for me, but what i build to find later. not the seed i will eat today, but the fruit i will get to have next year.
    it takes patience, tenacity and persistence. but in the end, the product, the result, speaks of value and what was done.
    thanks for the reminder, Raul.
    hello to the family, from a far-away-boricua



    • Raul Colon on February 2, 2013 at 4:10 pm

      Lewis,

      Thanks for sharing your perspective and I would have to say that you are boricua closer than many others. Geographical location is not as important as how close something is to our minds and hearts.