Set new goals with inspection concluded

  • Published
  • By Maj. Duane Richardson
  • 60th Maintenance Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Inspection season is over. We've spent the last six months preparing for our part of the Consolidated Unit Inspection.

We've spent long hours and late nights away from our families, put aside priorities that long ago fell off our plates and did our best to balance mission requirements with our personal lives. I'd have to say, all the hard work paid off. We achieved our goal. The results were excellent, even outstanding.

There's nothing like the feeling when you achieve a goal, especially if your efforts garner results that exceed your expectations.

But now what? If you're like me, you need goals to keep you motivated, you need something out there to work toward.

I'm a runner. Not a runner who will go out and win a race or even place in the top 10, but I sign up for races anyway. They keep me motivated. I challenge myself to be better. I set goals for myself and I strive to meet or exceed those goals. In the end, I stay physically fit and it helps me maintain an essential pillar of Comprehensive Airman Fitness and my resiliency.

Now that the inspections are over, what are your goals? What is that next thing you want to achieve? Whether it's going on vacation with your family, earning a degree, making the next rank or starting a new hobby, I say to you, go for it. Find that next thing to challenge yourself and knock it out of the park.

Too often we take time for granted and put off things we shouldn't. We have to stop doing that. In order for us to stay resilient, mission-focused Airmen, we need to live a balanced, purpose-driven life. That includes all four pillars of Comprehensive Airmen Fitness.

Sign up for that last class for your Community College of the Air Force degree, start training for your first marathon, volunteer somewhere you've always wanted to, go to the ocean and just sit there quiet and listen to the wave's crash against the shore.

Whatever it is, do it. I challenge you. You will be a better, more resilient, mission-focused Airman.