Following up on the things my cousin asked me journey, today we are talking about what could be in the next 12 months. (For the pedants in the crowd, we’ll be talking about just 2018 because that is what works for me.)

Podcast

I have an idea for a podcast that has been rattling around in my head for some time. I have ideas I would like to share. More interesting to me, though, is that I have friends and family that have done and still do amazing things. I know of times when they have worked through trials that seem ordinary but are really the steps of change that make the world a better place.

A couple weeks after I was asked what I plan to do in the next 12 months I went through the technical roadblocks and set up a podcast. I have a placeholder episode out there so that I can work through the mechanics of recording, production, hosting, and distribution. My past work gave me a leg up in hosting and distributing myself and that has felt empowering. I am going to keep the placeholder episode out there while I get more episodes “in the can”.

Quick tangent: I had everything set up for regular production. Recording software with proper EQ for my voice, intro and outro music, artwork, folders sorted and organized. I was ready to go. Then I started sweating about the quality of what I wanted to say; the half-baked thoughts that aren’t ready for primetime, the lack of perfection that will be apparent as I get rolling on these. And I created mental blocks. Do you know what happened next? Something Apple calls “liquid damage”.

A glass of water was spilled on my laptop. First time that has happened in my 23 years of working on computers. And everything was gone. Coincidence? I can see where what you know in life leads you there. But I can only see the physical world reflecting my headspace. That got my attention. I can get it all going again and I will. There will be a delay but the “wake up” (and the cost to fix, oof) have given me a reassurance of what I want to do and why. So there’s that.

Public Talks

My friend Dave challenged me years ago. He knows my love for standing in front of large groups of people and engaging with them. And he likes to get in the uncomfortable places and stir things up. To wit:

Dave: “What is the TED talk going to be about?”
Me: “What? Huh? I have no idea what I would say. What do you think I should talk about?”
Dave: “You’re an opinionated guy with lots of thoughts. You’ll get it.”

I can confidently say that I have not figured that out. Nor is there an invitation to TED on the near horizon. With those caveats and mental blocks out of the way, whew. (So much baggage in creating. Part of my work in my head today is clearing out the space to do the work.)

Here we go: another friend of mine said I should deliver a talk on Emotional Intelligence in IT. I have worked in technology for two decades after having taken a skills test that said, “Never sit at a desk for 8 hours a day working on a computer! You will likely be miserable.” For the most part that test was correct. I’m not built to sit quietly at a desk all day.

I thrive on helping others get what they need; clearing the path for them to do their best work; encouraging them in any way I can. (Hello, fellow ENFPs.) So a light bulb went off when he said I should combine what I’ve done with who I am. There is an inherent contrast. There is a spark when I align those things well. That has put me on a path of exploration and research and so far the journey has been interesting. There is more to process on getting the first talk together but I have a feeling it is going to come together and be something I’ll be excited to share with whoever will listen.

Articles

2018 is an interesting time to be a white dude with thoughts. A lot of the white dudes with thoughts in the last 2 years are making life difficult on other people. Particularly minorities and the disenfranchised. To proclaim my thoughts to the world from a white, middle-class, privileged space in 2018 comes with all kinds of land mines to avoid and much less “benefit of the doubt” that someone with my background is used to having. And that is okay! I’m not complaining. at. all.

I bring up the environment around thoughts shared to note that my writing will be more carefully considered and will take longer to refine before sharing. And that will be such a good thing. I was excited to just throw thoughts out into the ether and move on. To some extent I will do that in areas that can do well with such levity. But in areas that touch on the anger, pain, and frustration that so many in vastly different (and similar) walks of life are experiencing, I want to tread carefully. Not lightly, carefully.

I don’t have any themes planned but I do have some ideas for getting to where I’m going. Articles are on the horizon and will be initially split between “business-y” things I have learned on Think My Thoughts, and “life-y” things I have learned right here Grateful Seekers. I will occasionally cross-post something to Medium as an experiment.

Long Haul Trip

Maybe long haul trips? And why does this count as an intention when the others have largely been about personal growth and development. If you have that question then you may not have taken a 10-day road trip with a spouse and 3 young children. It is personal growth and development in the trenches! And its awesome. We may visit a cabin in the Sierra Nevadas again this summer. We are aiming our way up to the Oregon coast at some point as I am deeply in love with that place and the family and friends in that region. Maybe a trip back home to Virginia as well. We will see how this all plays out!

Not being financially independent, cost often factors into these decisions. We do our best, however, to balance the opportunity for the experience with long-term financial plans. Because what is the use of living if you aren’t doing the things that remind you that you are alive.

Next Steps

I am notorious for stressing about planning and building out a bulletproof path forward and then life, or I, throw that plan away. Hard. Bottom of the trash can. Throw the bag out immediately. As I’ve learned more about me and how life tends to roll, I’ve found the value in coming up with the outline of a plan with lots of room for the unknown.

So I don’t have dates or times that all of these things will launch. But I do know that I will carve out a little time each day to tap into all of these exercises and see what they have to reveal. My hope and faith are that things will get better as they progress; that’s usually how things work out if love and attention are applied. And that is my plan.

Nerdy Writing Environment Notes
Written at: Kitchen Table
Accessories: Laptop, Headphones, Coffee, Water (at an extremely safe distance from the laptop)
Soundtrack: Apple Music Playlist "All Day Dance Party" as of Friday, April 6, 2018