Great post Ben. You seem to have much more clarity than about 90% of the population I'd say!
I wanted to be a Zoologist, so I went to uni and studied it. Found out I didn't really like it and wasn't good at it. Ended up doing a Biochem degree which I was also mediocre at.
Switched to computer science and loved it, starting my proper working life as a programmer. But over time, this morphed into Business Analysis, project and program management, consulting and then management roles.
Started writing about leadership 8 years ago and voila, now I'm a leadership coach and trainer and I'm still working out exactly what I want to do next. 😀
Your rugby career had a very clear goal. Win games, build your skills, make the Brumbies, make the Wallabies, win trophies etc.
Now you have switched to corporate Ben and everything becomes murky. There are a million paths to choose. But you have done so much work already thinking about it, you pretty much have your North Star now, you just need to follow it - and that could mean lots of different things.
So keep it up.
What's that saying? "The journey is the destination"
Thanks mate and I think it’s something like “the journey is the true reward”. The process of getting to the destination in the end is far more rewarding than actually getting there.
Thanks for the shout out, mate. Loving the honesty.
I believe strongly that when we prioritise looking after ourselves, our selves will look after us (and all the other shit).
I like what you said about content. I realised I was trying too hard, to learn too much. Every where I drove I was listening to a podcast or book, same goes for running. Whilst it's still important to me to try to keep learning, I think my brain can only ingest so much and when i try to learn too much at one time it gets overwhelmed and I end up not taking as much from a piece of content as I would have if I'd just given my brain a bit of a rest. I haven't found the balance yet, but I have found that running without headphones has been great. Time to give my brain some space to sort a few things out instead of trying to squeeze more shit into an already overfull jar.
You're drive to help others purely because it's the right thing to do is inspiring. If that remains the focus, I'm sure success and more importantly contentment.
100% mate. The more we empty our brain, the more room we create to let important stuff in. Just need to be protective of our minds and scrutinize what info we are letting in. Junk info is as bad as junk food.
oh I feel this Sam! When I was studying and working full-time I listened to podcasts at the gym because I didn't have any other time to listen to them.
I just drove to QLD and back recently and thought great! I can get so much listening of books in and driving is easier while listening to books but I also found that it was tiring me and I wasn't always taking it in. I listened to the Myth of Normal on the drive up and on the drive from Brisbane to Taree but then when I set off again the next day I listened to the radio, good old fashioned radio music until I hit the Sydney tunnels and listened to the two imperfects episodes I'd missed as I didn't do much listening while I was away. I was either with friends/family or enjoying the sounds of nature.
We often keep our minds busy to avoid ourselves though and I've been learning to get more comfortable being with myself (especially these last few months of studying from home).
Yeah, it's bit of a double edged sword, huh? Like we want to keep ourselves occupied to avoid certain thoughts but it's like we're piling more junk on top of something that needs to be dealt with at some point. I was like you with podcasts, I used to think I couldn't possibly miss one week of my favourite podcast! Maybe it's one of the benefits of ADHD, we got over our latest obsession pretty quickly, haha.
I think the answer probably lies in truly listening to ourselves and and being honest with ourselves about what it is that we need at the time, which is sometimes different to what we want.
I'm like you though, I struggle with audio books in the car. For me audio books are for running, podcasts for driving.
Great post Ben. You seem to have much more clarity than about 90% of the population I'd say!
I wanted to be a Zoologist, so I went to uni and studied it. Found out I didn't really like it and wasn't good at it. Ended up doing a Biochem degree which I was also mediocre at.
Switched to computer science and loved it, starting my proper working life as a programmer. But over time, this morphed into Business Analysis, project and program management, consulting and then management roles.
Started writing about leadership 8 years ago and voila, now I'm a leadership coach and trainer and I'm still working out exactly what I want to do next. 😀
Your rugby career had a very clear goal. Win games, build your skills, make the Brumbies, make the Wallabies, win trophies etc.
Now you have switched to corporate Ben and everything becomes murky. There are a million paths to choose. But you have done so much work already thinking about it, you pretty much have your North Star now, you just need to follow it - and that could mean lots of different things.
So keep it up.
What's that saying? "The journey is the destination"
Thanks mate and I think it’s something like “the journey is the true reward”. The process of getting to the destination in the end is far more rewarding than actually getting there.
Thanks for the shout out, mate. Loving the honesty.
I believe strongly that when we prioritise looking after ourselves, our selves will look after us (and all the other shit).
I like what you said about content. I realised I was trying too hard, to learn too much. Every where I drove I was listening to a podcast or book, same goes for running. Whilst it's still important to me to try to keep learning, I think my brain can only ingest so much and when i try to learn too much at one time it gets overwhelmed and I end up not taking as much from a piece of content as I would have if I'd just given my brain a bit of a rest. I haven't found the balance yet, but I have found that running without headphones has been great. Time to give my brain some space to sort a few things out instead of trying to squeeze more shit into an already overfull jar.
You're drive to help others purely because it's the right thing to do is inspiring. If that remains the focus, I'm sure success and more importantly contentment.
100% mate. The more we empty our brain, the more room we create to let important stuff in. Just need to be protective of our minds and scrutinize what info we are letting in. Junk info is as bad as junk food.
Yep, junk is junk. I think we need to be a little more intentional when we do take in the info too. Spend less time doing it, but do it better.
oh I feel this Sam! When I was studying and working full-time I listened to podcasts at the gym because I didn't have any other time to listen to them.
I just drove to QLD and back recently and thought great! I can get so much listening of books in and driving is easier while listening to books but I also found that it was tiring me and I wasn't always taking it in. I listened to the Myth of Normal on the drive up and on the drive from Brisbane to Taree but then when I set off again the next day I listened to the radio, good old fashioned radio music until I hit the Sydney tunnels and listened to the two imperfects episodes I'd missed as I didn't do much listening while I was away. I was either with friends/family or enjoying the sounds of nature.
We often keep our minds busy to avoid ourselves though and I've been learning to get more comfortable being with myself (especially these last few months of studying from home).
Yeah, it's bit of a double edged sword, huh? Like we want to keep ourselves occupied to avoid certain thoughts but it's like we're piling more junk on top of something that needs to be dealt with at some point. I was like you with podcasts, I used to think I couldn't possibly miss one week of my favourite podcast! Maybe it's one of the benefits of ADHD, we got over our latest obsession pretty quickly, haha.
I think the answer probably lies in truly listening to ourselves and and being honest with ourselves about what it is that we need at the time, which is sometimes different to what we want.
I'm like you though, I struggle with audio books in the car. For me audio books are for running, podcasts for driving.
They seem like pretty bloody good answers. Hoo roo!