Ester Perell. What a legend. What an insight.
One of the inherent flaws with the whole idea of self-development and self-growth is its insistence on the atomisation of the self.
On the one hand, to be fair, it really does feel like we’re independent and autonomous creatures. (And our culture just keeps cranking up the heat on that feeling.)
On the other hand, we’re nothing without our relationships to others. We are social creatures, and we always and only exist in the warp and weft of our own particular contexts, people, and places.
So that sense that you and I each have, that it’s “all about me”. Well, it’s not wrong. But it’s also not true.
Yes, we’re the center of our own universe. But around us is a universe. A universe!
We can summarize this with Muhammad Ali’s shortest poem:
Me.
We.
This year, as you will have read last week, I’m trying to do a bit more on the “We” side of things.
So, my two words for the year are “skipping hand-in-hand.”
The skipping bit I’ll tell you about another time. The “hand-in-hand” bit probably speaks for itself.
Who can I travel side by side with, co-create with, connect and deepen my friendships with in 2026?
Whose hand can I grasp and not let go of?
One of the questions we’ll keep returning to in the newsletter and The Year of The Coaching Habit celebrations is: how do you bring out the best in someone?
It’s a juicy question.
But before you can “bring out their best” (which is also short-hand for helping them bring out the best in themselves), you have to have the connection to a “someone.”
As you may have heard me say before, no one likes to be the first to say hello, but everyone loves to be greeted.
Whether you know exactly who your people are, or whether you’re still figuring it out … why not be the first one to say hello?
See where it could take you.
