President's Report

The ALA National Conference hit it out of the park again this year! There were so many takeaways I had from this year’s conference but the one that has settled into my mind the most came directly from the keynote presentation by Dr. Michelle Rozen (author of The Six Percent Club). I think it could be an impactful yet simple May challenge for all of us: pick one intention, get specific, and stick with it for 30 days.

She explained it with a simple elevator story. You press the button, wait two seconds, then press it again, a little harder, like the elevator is thinking, “Oh wow, she really means it this time.” We all do it. And her point was that we do the same thing in real life: we repeat the same habits and reactions, but we expect a different result.

Dr. Rozen shared that 94% of people stay in that loop, and only 6% break it. That number stuck with me because the 6% are not necessarily smarter or luckier. They decide to do something different, and they get very specific. Instead of “I want to communicate better,” they commit to “Every Tuesday at 9:00 AM, I meet with my direct report for fifteen minutes, no phones, no laptops.” When it’s that clear, it’s a lot harder to wiggle out of it.

So here is my challenge for May: pick one thing. Just one. Make it small enough to actually do, specific enough that you’ll know if you did it (or didn’t), and meaningful enough that 30 days from now you’ll be glad you started. Maybe it’s a real lunch break, a ten-minute walk in the afternoon, or closing your laptop at 5:30. My intention is this: for the next 30 days, I’m not touching my phone for one full hour after I wake up, no scrolling, no email, no “just a quick check.”

And if you miss a day, welcome to being human. Just start again the next morning. Thirty days from now, I hope you can look back and say, “Well, look at that, I actually did the thing.”

“Success is when you said you were going to do the thing, and you actually did the thing.” - Dr. Michelle Rozen

-Julie Bryan

https://alacolumbus.starchapter.com/images/news/ALA_May_2026_Newsletter.pdf

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