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Resolutions anyone? Resolutions? I am handing them out. “Sure, Why not?” exclaims most everyone in the crowd. Yet, why if we so clearly want them, does January seem to be as hectic and as stressful as December?
One resolution for all today might be our commitment to figuring out a way to collect all this water that is falling from the sky. One would think that living in Silicon Valley in the year 2023, we would have figured out a way to store this precious commodity. Isn’t it amazing – and so frightening at the same time? Tuesday’s 2:09 a.m. storm wreaked havoc on our Town. Many small businesses and residents are still without power and who knows if they will successfully be able to log into Instagram again. Priorities!
But back to resolutions… drum roll please… I have but just one and you can all borrow it because it is an easy one …
Make Your World Big
David Eagleman, Stanford Professor of Neuroscience and author of The Brain, argues that the number one way to stave off old age, dementia and all other ailments of the brain, is to keep using it in new ways: meet new people, try to understand other points of view, try a new recipe, jump in the sea, engage in hard conversations and learn new things. Like me, he would advise you to ‘Make Your World Big’!
Marcia Daszcko, weekly columnist for the SV Business Journal, writes that the No. 1 success factor for 2023 is to build high-quality relationships with your employees and your customers. Listen to and learn from them, and then build together in ways that maybe you have never tried before. High-value networking comes to mind. Make sure to use your time wisely. Make your time count by putting yourself out there. Take a chance.
Lastly, one of my favorites, Maria Shriver, entitled her Sunday Paper, “Live Out Loud”. She encourages all of us to rise above the noise and the negativity that surrounds us. Be more caring and compassionate and be brave enough to make change or to view life through a different lens sometimes. Again, take a chance.
Make your world big or at least make it bigger. My son likes to remind me that we all look at life and all its details differently. Each individual’s perception of reality is simply rooted in what he or she has learned and absorbed along the way. It is perception and then perspective that either leads us to happiness or to misery. Again, should you choose to make your world big, you will undoubtedly have a wider more comprehensive and healthier perspective.
And now you might wonder how does the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce fit into this New Year’s resolution that you have now adopted as your own?
- Get engaged.
- Join us at one of our monthly networking events.
- Share your ideas for educational seminars – what do you need to learn that would help you grow your business?
- Come to our Annual Dinner set for Thursday evening, March 9th.
- Join the Beautification Committee or the Young Professionals Group.
- Most importantly, attend the Tuesday, January 24th special Town Council Meeting at which Council will set their strategic priorities for 2023. What matters to you? What worries you? Don’t delay, write a letter today. Nothing will ever change or improve unless you speak up.
The Chamber has our own strategic priority list. Jim Foley, Chairman of the Board along with his executive team finished it and sent it into our elected Council Members this morning. The list includes:
- Figuring out how to appease all parties and resolve questions surrounding the General Plan 2040.
- Ensuring that our Housing Element is approved.
- Determining what steps can be taken to fix the forecasted 5 year budget deficit.
- Streamlining the entire building permit process for both residential and commercial projects.
- Investing more funds into a Destination Marketing Plan that will bring people into Town to dine, shop and play.
We also will continue to monitor the progress of the downtown parking programs, the homeless situation, economic development projects along the Boulevard, and the planning of some of the favorite special events and traditions that make Los Gatos special. Help us get the Council to understand these important priorities.
With that my time has run out. I hope you will in fact, resolve to make your world big this year.
Thanks J.M. and to all of you who continue to push me to do so as well.
Here’s to 2023.
Catherine Somers
Executive Director
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