I lost myself. I've recently found myself again. Yay!

Welcome back to me

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still don't, really. But I have always had a very clear understanding of who I was. That was, until a few years ago, when it seems I forgot.

Growing Up

When I was younger, I didn't really care too much about what was going to happen in the future. I didn't plan, I lived in the moment. I've always been resourceful, and I figured I'd work stuff out like jobs and money as and when necessary.

It worked. At least, I earned good money, had fun and learnt a lot. I made bad choices, of course, but nothing that I wasn't able to recover from. I found that giving stuff a go was more fun, even when you failed, than not trying at all, or taking the safe option. "How hard could it be?", my ex-business partner would say, and he was right.

Losing my way

But something changed around the time I closed/sold my business (2013). I lost the drive to start new things. I was scared to fail, and scared not to spend my time making money to support my family. I took a salaried job that I still have now.

I'm not blaming the job, or the workplace (though heaven knows it's a challenging place to be), but these were doubtless contributing factors to a change in mentality. I became comfortable accepting my pay cheque and stopped pushing my own projects forward. I work hard, but some days I can kick back into cruise control and grind out a few hours that don't require much thought or effort.

This is dangerous, because you can become accustomed to the status quo and start taking things for granted. Work becomes the place you go, rather than the thing you do, or the result of your efforts.

Finding my way back

I recognised about a year ago that I wasn't happy. I put this down to the fact that I didn't know my purpose, and I didn't even know my talents. I still don't.

I read a lot and I listen to podcasts. I prefer LinkedIn to Facebook, and I spend time on tumblr. I have a diverse range of interests ranging from high-tech to art and, like you I'm sure, I constantly judge myself against the top 0.001% who appear to be doing these things - things they love - expertly.

How? How do they get to do these things, whilst someone like me, with all the passion and enthusiasm in the world, felt trapped and unhappy. Something needed to change.

Escape plan

Top of the list was my job. I realised that it was not "speaking to my most authentic self" (as Sir Ken Robinson would say). I started to apply for the jobs I wanted. But it's difficult to sell yourself when you're not entirely sure what you're selling.

"Employ me, I'm great. I don't appear to have a lot of experience for this role, but trust me, it'll be fine"

It wasn't a heartfelt campaign, and the exhaustion of working in a job that was increasingly frustrating meant most evenings I was too tired to do anything when I got home.

And who's to say I wasn't jumping from unfulfilling role to another? I needed to work out what it was that I really wanted.

Are you still reading?

Probably not. I'm bored of writing, so you MUST be bored of reading!

I'll come back to this another time when I have a better idea. In the meantime, this is what happened:

• I released that I was no longer the person I used to be
• I realised that I was waiting for someone or something to rescue me
• I got off my arse and started doing things for myself

I started a new website (that hasn't been updated in a couple of months, but so what?). I started reading again and, most importantly, I started this blog.

I've found myself again - the carefree creative who gives it a go.

Image credits: View from my kitchen, 1st Oct 2016, Me

Image Source

"What is my purpose?"

It's a question I've been considering a lot recently. I've survived until now (my mid-forties) happy working hard, finding someone to spend my life with, and having children.

I have never been motivated by money. I learnt early in my working life that you can be as well rewarded for enthusiasm and flexibility as anything else. This served me well because I have bucket loads of both.

My path through life has been largely opportunistic. I've taken easy options (often leading to difficult journeys) instead of creating my own choices. I've never been prepared for any of the jobs I've had, or businesses I've built. My career path is like a loosely connected set of stepping stones. Yet I've survived...no, thrived.

Now, it's different. I want to make choices. I want to choose how I spend the next decade of my life, and I want to do it with purpose, not just passion.

When I was younger it was easy to be energetic because everything was new. Now, I need to know that what I'm doing has meaning, if only for me. And that can only come through aligning with my purpose.

So, what is my purpose? I believe it is this:

To help people solve their own problems

What makes me think I can do this?

I have solved many problems. I enjoy solving problems. I would describe myself as a "problem solver". Small problems, epic problems, short- and long-term problems. Personal, financial or commercial problems. I love 'em!

BUT, what I love even more, is to create opportunities for you to solve your own problems. And if I can make it fun, even better.

Sometimes, that's as simple as being available to listen to you explain what the problem is. Other times it might be more involved, like building "Creative Thinking Workshops". Either way, that is where I will be applying my efforts from now on.

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Advances in technology mean unemployment is likely to grow significantly within your working lifetime

Imagine an automated warehouse where the cost of accommodating human workers (by having lights, bathrooms, lunch areas and car spaces) is greater than the cost of driver-less robots that don't need lights, are less prone to errors and don't take breaks. Is it possible that it would be cheaper to pay your staff to stay at home? This is not science fiction, it's reality; and it's not just impacting manufacturing and supply-chain type businesses.

At the Telstra Vantage 2017 conference this week, Anoop Sagoo, Senior Managing Director, Operations at Accenture, shared that they're automating processes at a rate of over 20% a year. With ~373,000 employees worldwide (Source: Wikipedia/Accenture), that's a lot of jobs at risk.

Accenture has been a (The?) global leader in Lean Six Sigma Process Improvement since its acquisition of George Group in 2007. You'd have to assume that the rest of us would find even more wasteful, repetitive and process-based tasks to optimise through automation.

With unemployment estimated to reach 50% within 30 years (Source: CNET.com) what will everyone do with their time? What will you do? (And why aren't you doing that now?)

As Moshe Vardi, computer science professor at Rice University in Texas, has said, the prospect of leading a "leisure only life" would not be appealing to many. But what would you do if you chose work for fun rather than financial reward? Perhaps you already have?