Month: January 2014

I believe in living an intentional and examined life. I like making plans and care about how I spend my time. In Myers Briggs speak, my “J” is thus fully justified. As a result, over the past 5 years, I’ve had “theme years.” A theme could be anything – a commitment to learn a new skill, a commitment to do something better, a commitment to focus on a particular aspect of my life, etc. They haven’t always worked – the deliberate theme has worked in 3 of the 5 years and themes have emerged the rest of the time. Still, after fulfilling dreams like learning to play the guitar and nailing the exercise habit, I think it’s an idea with a lot of merit.

Some of my biggest learnings in the past year have revolved around an acceptance of things beyond my control. Our second family value is “Live Invictus – I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” My wife and I chose this line so as to remind ourselves to be proactive and take responsibility for how we live our lives. I have often taken this to an extreme in the past and pushed for progress when it wasn’t really productive. A couple of experiences have reinforced the need for me to learn to step back, push less, and let the forces that be do their work. As a result, I’ve worked on being a lot less intentional and a lot more patient in the second half of the year. A wiser friend once rightly pointed out that while patience will never be my strength, it’s a great life skill to have.

So, in a bid to teach myself to be patient, I’ve decided to start the year with no theme (even my “no theme” years are deliberate.. haha). There are many theme years lined up in the years ahead thanks to the many things I want to learn (ventriloquism and improv acting for example) but this won’t be one of them. This is new territory for me and I am very excited to see what emerges.

‘Often we spend all our time thinking how we can change situations instead of letting them change us.’ | Credited to a very wise friend

This blog hit 3,000 posts day before yesterday. As I think about the usual bevy of additions and changes to my life in 2014, this blog remains the ever-present part of my daily routine will. This habit of sharing a daily learning has made me a much better person and changed me in more ways than I can comprehend.

This blog wouldn’t be what it is without you. So, it is really you I must thank for helping me learn and making me better. Thank you for subscribing via email, feedly, RSS, and Facebook. I am grateful to you for all your encouragement and hope these learnings help you in your journey.

Here’s to a wonderful 2014 – with it’s share of joys, frustrations, and memorable moments as we all grow as people and as professionals. There is never failure, only learning… so, let’s keep going, keep growing. Happy new year!