7 Key Reflections from 2023

Guest post by Dean Buckle, Head of Compliance and Inclusion at Northumberland FA.

I can’t help but reflect on a year that has personally been one of the most challenging I’ve ever faced, yet professionally one of the most rewarding.

My Key Reflections:

1. Don’t take your health for granted, ever.
2. Trust your gut. If your intuition tells you something doesn’t feel right, the chances are you’ll find it’s not once you start digging.
3. Celebrate your achievements and savour those moments. Success in any shape or form rarely comes easy, so be sure to enjoy it when it does.
4. While comfort zones feel nice and safe, stepping out of them is where growth happens.
5. If you are a leader, surround yourself with experts, and/or with people who have the potential to become experts. Then trust them, completely, to do the job they were hired to do. I love this quote from Stephen Covey:

‘Without trust, we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team’.

6. Mindset is so important. Most people who know me will know that I have an almost painfully positive outlook. A strong mindset ensures that even when you are tested more than you could ever imagine, that positive outlook and core values will remain unchanged.
7. A good sense of humour and the ability to laugh at yourself goes an awful long way to help you keep perspective. Laugh at yourself as often as you can.

Finally, I learnt this year that I’m a ‘Yellow Red’, which explains pretty much all of my behaviour. For those not familiar with DISC theory, I’d recommend reading ‘Surrounded by Idiots’.

If nothing else, as a Yellow I now understand the importance of taking a list to the supermarket, rather than merely trying to remember every item 😂😂. That knowledge has changed my life..!

Dean Buckle is Head of Compliance and Inclusion at Northumberland FA. He works on ensuring the game is a safe place for the people of Northumberland to participate.

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