How many actions in your personal and professional life are done because you've always done it that way? Do you take the time to think about those annual, traditional events and analyze the value of the event? Like precious gems, some traditions are timeless and serve to strengthen family, friendships,and organizations, and other traditions remain with little enthusiasm or investment--a have to.
In my own family, we make the time before holidays to talk about the holiday--what traditions do we want to keep, and what traditions will we change this year? Like organizations, families are in a constant state of change so what works one year may not work the next.
Rather than see traditions and events as a road map, I like a yearly revisit to make sure we're all onboard with the events' theme, details, and intent. Just because we've always done it this way doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. On the other hand, we can't always revisit every event every year, sometimes the traditions road map is exactly what we need.
