Getting Things Into Focus
As we approach the end of yet another year, it is only natural to look back, reflect, and contemplate the year ahead. In my case, 2009 has been particularly eventful. This year I hit 40, celebrated the arrival of a wonderful baby son, and said a sad farewell to our 4-legged Greyhound "daughter" Billie. It’s also been a very interesting year from the point of view of personal development, with my priorities, direction and attitudes changing in subtle (and not-so-subtle ways). No doubt this has partly come about due to the major events listed above, and there’s been a definite "life begins" theme running since May.
One of the things I’ve read a lot about lately is what Napoleon Hill calls "Definiteness of Purpose". The more I think about it, the more I realise that I have been fairly vague with my business efforts, and overall ambitions. At the same time, I can also see that these things HAVE become more clearly defined over time, so there’s some positives for sure. Many moons ago I had a vague notion of maybe winning the lottery, and the usual "if I was rich" day-dreaming that usually accompanies such thoughts. I most definitely had a phase of "money sucks – materialism sucks – we should find ways of living without money" but in the end this hasn’t turned out to be terribly practical (OK so I could sell the house and adopt a basic nomadic lifestyle, but my wife probably wouldn’t appreciate that).
I eventually arrived at the point this year where I was (sort of) able to reconcile anarchist and socialist tendencies with a growing appreciation for capitalism and business. I had also spent 20 years noting the things that I liked and disliked about different companies I worked for. Without a shadow of a doubt, it was time to make my own business a reality. So Avallach Technology was registered as a business and my thoughts turned more and more to this area.
The "problem" with Avallach so far has been a certain degree of vagueness – ideas have been growing in my mind, they’ve even been scribbled on notepads from time to time, but I have never truly laid out the reasons why I am doing this, and what it is I want to achieve. That’s not to say that some things haven’t been clearly defined, they certainly have and Express Webz is a shining example of this. No, the issue here is more about overall "strategic" thinking, putting some overall shape on things.
This is the "definiteness of purpose" that Nap Hill talks about; establishing what it is you want to do with your life and allowing those goals to completely fill your mind, leaving no room for doubts, fears, negative thinking and so on.
I already know the 4 main strands to what I intend to do with my life – my next task is to flesh these out more fully, commit them to writing, and commit to achieving them. For this to happen, I’m going to need to be a lot more organised, and certainly exhibit more self-discipline. All in all 2010 is going to be a massive year on many different levels. The thing is, I know I can achieve them and what is more, I know the sacrifices and efforts are going to be worthwhile.
Watch this space as I fully intend to share these plans via this blog – perhaps it will be of value to someone else caught in a similar situation, who knows? What I do know is that publishing those types of thoughts will a) scare me shitless and b) help build strong foundations to my efforts.
OK, so there’s a lot of "me" and "I" in that, but if you can’t be self-indulgent at this time of year, when can you? LOL
