2015 - The Year of Living Impossibly
The past few years have been a rollercoaster - some really highs but equally some very low lows. This morning I found myself - first coffee of the morning in hand - watching Vaughan Rowsell’s TedX talk on ‘Living Impossibly’.
I’ve seen the clip a bunch of times but something about it really resonated with me this morning. I can relate to Vaughan’s story on a number of different levels: I grew up in a modest household - the son of immigrants, my parents invested what money they had in my education and getting me my first computer, I hear the words ‘obese’ way too often from my doctor and my wife supports me no matter what mad-hatter ideas I come up with next.
I pride myself on a track-record (although nowhere as extensive as Vaughan) of doing impossible things. One year - whilst still at school - I set my mind to getting a professional IT industry certification in 12 months and did it - in the process becoming the youngest person in the world to achieve that certification by quite a few years.
Career wise I’ve had a pretty rewarding run so far. I’ve been lucky enough to get involved with start-ups, work with some of the world’s market leading organisations, lead a number of ‘world first’ projects, spent time in different cultures & industries all whilst working with some fantastic people many of whom I consider to be extended family.
So what’s missing?
I think I’ve gotten complacent - stopped challenging myself; not setting the bar high enough. Its just to easy to go into cruise mode. Well 2015 will be the year that I shed that complacency and get my A into G.
So here’s the list of impossible things I will tackle in 2015:
- Get my doctor to stop using words like ‘obese’ and get myself off the blood pressure medication I’m on.
- Run to and from work for 1 week.
- Quit comparing myself to others - seems simple but will be challenge for me.
- Complete every work related meeting in under the allocated time - use the saved time for creative and productive work.
- Take one week long holiday where I go completely 'offline’ - no email, Twitter, conference calls etc.
I will use this blog to track progress and provide updates - bring on 2015!