Keep on keeping on in '15

Life is unexpected. It's hard to believe we have already crossed the bridge to a new year, filled with new adventures, challenges and excitement! Sometimes, there is so much hype about starting a "new year" with "new resolutions" that we forget to acknowledge what unexpected happened in the year prior. Were your goals accomplished? Did you make new friendships? Did you lose old ones? For myself, I can only create new "resolutions" if I know what results I had the year before.

Here are my results from 2014:

No longer a trainee; soon to be a Nebraska Cornhusker.

Sometimes, I question where time goes. It seems like yesterday when I first received my offer as a Developmental Sales Representative (DSR) with Syngenta. Almost exactly one year ago from today, I accepted to start a new adventure in agricultural sales. My spring semester at Ohio State accelerated just as quickly and June 16th was upon me in an instant.

From June to now, I have learn many things. One of the most important concepts I grasped has been how to continue learning. I had the opportunity to not just work in Ohio and Indiana, but also travel the country to some of Syngenta's other facilities in North Carolina, Minnesota, and Tennessee. The group of 21 DSRs have been "drinking from a fire hose" these past few months to understand not just the company and processes behind our innovations, but how our retail customers and local growers are implementing them. The biggest obstacle I faced was feeling I wasn't learning enough as quickly as I needed to be.

Anti-Social Society

The past week and a half, I have been traveling a lot. In reality, I have been traveling a lot this past month! No, it isn't really an excuse for why I have not posted a blog recently. And, no, I'm not trying to make my life sound all glorious because I have been driving and flying around the U.S. In reality, although I have been experiencing a lot, I have become anti-social while doing it.

Think about the last time you got in an elevator. You stand impatiently outside the doors with the button illuminated and the shaft creaking to a stop at your floor. You peer up from your phone screen just as the doors slide open to see a few other folks awaiting your entrance in the small square.

You take a few quick steps in, turn your back to the others inside and watch the doors merge toward the middle. Mere seconds after those doors close, your eyes divert back to your phone screen. You might have shared a brief smile and second of eye contact with your fellow elevator riders, but that did not make much difference.

Why not? Did you say "hello" or hold nice conversation with the people around you? Did you give an "elevator speech" (pun intended) about what you do or why you are in the area? Nope. You were looking at your Instagram feed or reading the latest Buzzfeed post. It's a shame.