You might have just joined recently or have been around since the beginning; it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year. Today marks the fifty-second edition of the Sunday Spark.

It started as an exercise to help me process and synthesize learning and insights from reading books, articles, and my own life experiences. Writing was the obvious choice for me because I feared it the most, and it wasn’t a skill I was already good at.

My most valuable insight to reaching this milestone

During this last year, while building a new skill, establishing a process to enable consistency has been most vital for me. Goals are important (more important to some), but processes are where the magic happens. You can have the most idealistic goal, but if you don’t have a method to get you there, you might as well not have a goal at all. Formulating an approach from the start from which I would rinse and repeat every week was key to ensuring I wouldn’t fall off the wagon. I had a process for reading, capturing ideas, writing notes and stitching notes together to create posts. We can think of it just like athletes with a training program they follow to the letter. It’s how they stay focused and on track. Where could you benefit from a process of consistency in your life?

Thank you

While having an audience wasn’t the goal, knowing my insights might help others was something I valued. And having people share their thoughts with me as they experienced some of my writing was the cherry on top. Thank you to everyone that has offered their comments. I always want to hear from you.

Reflecting back

Reflecting on the last year, I’ve listed below some of the posts I have written in the past fifty-two weeks. They certainly do not feel the same as my process and my ability to express my ideas have evolved during that period. Although at the core, they are a testament to what this newsletter has been about since its inception. An opportunity to offer new ways of thinking about ourselves, others, and the cultures we live in, in a compact and digestible way.

The discomfort of writing and thinking through thoughts, sharing insights, and stitching stories together, helped me stretch in ways I hadn’t before. I’m excited to continue on this journey.

A few breadcrumbs of how we got here:

• Plan your sleep cycles for better results

• The good news about emotions

• What race are you trying to win?

• More tactics is not the solution

• Manage your energy, not your time

• Slow and steady wins the race

• Don’t just take advice, make it yours

• The mongoose spa

• The courage to change

• The power of culture

• Acceptance vs agreement

• Getting better at what we do

• Busy and productive are not synonymous

• Discomfort leads to strength

• The power of identity

• Ditching the labels

• We are not what we do

• The un-scalability of reacting to demand

• Blind persistence

• What innate skill?

• The curse of knowledge

• The danger of praise and reward

• Don’t shoot the messenger

• We are more powerful together

Whether you’ve been here for a week or a year, if you read this newsletter and value it, please consider sharing it with the people you care about.

I look forward to keep sharing these with you and continuing to create those sparks.

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Miguel,
Sparknotion – Think Differently.