Today is another exciting day. It has taken forever to get here, but here we are!
My new partner and I sit today to discuss our new business. The thing about our business is that we have a very different mindset. We intend to do what we can to create a business that has real values. Some of them go without saying like ethics (driven from deep Christian values), honesty, integrity, and fairness.
Others will be things that many companies out there talk about but never nail down. One of my previous employers used to talk about people all the time and yet this was just talk. Our challenge is to make sure that staff feel really valued and that their work adds a significant dimension to their lives. Integrating family life and time is something that we both feel strongly about. Another challenge is to incorporate our social aims and desires into the workplace, i.e. giving back to our communities and putting charity into action.
Real business has scant regard for this stuff. They are all optional extras! I believe there must be a way to build a sustainable business that really cares for its people and those less fortunate whilst turning a profit. That my dear friends is of course the key. If you want massive profits, there is no way that one can afford to focus on real values.
There is an old adage, ‘if you are not in business for profit or pleasure, get out!’ Our choice is to make our profit through adding incredible value to the lives of all of those that will be associated with this organisation. Perhaps it is time that profit was more than just cold hard cash.
Time will tell if we can make it work...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wind and Cricket
This morning I looked out the window and saw something rather surprising. The plants and trees were standing still. What, no wind? My mind raced, my body tingled. Perhaps there was a chance that I may be able to surf today after all.
For those of you not in the know, wind makes or breaks a surf break. For weeks the South Easter has blown here. This is an onshore wind for all of my very close surfing spots. An onshore wind causes the wave to collapse as it blows it over from behind.
Seeing my garden serene got my heart racing. I procrastinated a bit as I know how fickle the wind can be. But seconds later, my slops were on my feet and my car keys in my hand.
Seven minutes later I arrived at the beach. The sea was a horrible off green colour splattered with white sea horses that had been whipped into a frenzy. My car rocked on its suspension as the wind slid its foul tentacles under it trying to whisk me away. Probably a fraction under gale force!
I was home a couple of minutes later. There I reacquainted myself with the beautiful calm day that I had left only minutes before. There I found my sons ready for school, early, which was a miracle in itself! An impromptu cricket match was soon underway. A match filled with great shots from the youngsters and some truly terrible bowling from dad!
Funny how my passion was not to be this morning and yet I had just as much fun back home with my children, and we all got to have fun!
For those of you not in the know, wind makes or breaks a surf break. For weeks the South Easter has blown here. This is an onshore wind for all of my very close surfing spots. An onshore wind causes the wave to collapse as it blows it over from behind.
Seeing my garden serene got my heart racing. I procrastinated a bit as I know how fickle the wind can be. But seconds later, my slops were on my feet and my car keys in my hand.
Seven minutes later I arrived at the beach. The sea was a horrible off green colour splattered with white sea horses that had been whipped into a frenzy. My car rocked on its suspension as the wind slid its foul tentacles under it trying to whisk me away. Probably a fraction under gale force!
I was home a couple of minutes later. There I reacquainted myself with the beautiful calm day that I had left only minutes before. There I found my sons ready for school, early, which was a miracle in itself! An impromptu cricket match was soon underway. A match filled with great shots from the youngsters and some truly terrible bowling from dad!
Funny how my passion was not to be this morning and yet I had just as much fun back home with my children, and we all got to have fun!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Me and my new old car
I seem to have gotten a long way through my list of things that need fixing around the house. I suppose that is to be expected, I have been working on stuff for more than two weeks. Perhaps that is what I foresaw and hence bought an old new car to ensure that I would have plenty to fix in the future! I am well excited about this new vehicle but it will only be delivered to Cape Town sometime next week. I am not sure I can wait that long....
I have wanted an old pickup for many years, but that was more a romantic notion that seemed right and at the back of my mind there is this harebrained scheme to use it to do good. Added to that, new cars cost stacks! And then they just lose their value. Most of the old cars that are left have serious style and class and can be bought for a fraction of the cost of a new car. Sure they do not have all of the optional extras and modern life simplificators. They also require constant tinkering. Then again you can start out with a cheap classic and end up with an appreciating asset that is fun to drive in a very different way!
I have a problem in that I have now picked up a car that is 80% complete. It does not go, yet! That’s right, the engine is there but nothing is connected. The prop shaft is in the load box, together with a number of other essential components, although I cannot yet identify any of them. There are no dials or gauges and no accelerator, which I know is going to be a problem. Now, I have many skills but my experience of servicing my Ford XR3 as a student is probably not going to do the trick here.
I could always send the car away and let the professionals just fix it, but then I would always be in the dark as to what goes on under the hood. That tinkering I wrote about would also always be a mystery to me. Instead I have negotiated with the local extreme car shop that I come in and do the work on the car myself under their supervision. I must admit that I never noticed we had such a shop in the area until I needed it! Hopefully I will get to learn all about muscle cars and end up with my own superbly crafted machine at a reasonable price.
I am a little excited – a little kid with a big toy. More like a kid that knows what he is getting for Christmas but has to wait till the big day, agony....
I have wanted an old pickup for many years, but that was more a romantic notion that seemed right and at the back of my mind there is this harebrained scheme to use it to do good. Added to that, new cars cost stacks! And then they just lose their value. Most of the old cars that are left have serious style and class and can be bought for a fraction of the cost of a new car. Sure they do not have all of the optional extras and modern life simplificators. They also require constant tinkering. Then again you can start out with a cheap classic and end up with an appreciating asset that is fun to drive in a very different way!
I have a problem in that I have now picked up a car that is 80% complete. It does not go, yet! That’s right, the engine is there but nothing is connected. The prop shaft is in the load box, together with a number of other essential components, although I cannot yet identify any of them. There are no dials or gauges and no accelerator, which I know is going to be a problem. Now, I have many skills but my experience of servicing my Ford XR3 as a student is probably not going to do the trick here.
I could always send the car away and let the professionals just fix it, but then I would always be in the dark as to what goes on under the hood. That tinkering I wrote about would also always be a mystery to me. Instead I have negotiated with the local extreme car shop that I come in and do the work on the car myself under their supervision. I must admit that I never noticed we had such a shop in the area until I needed it! Hopefully I will get to learn all about muscle cars and end up with my own superbly crafted machine at a reasonable price.
I am a little excited – a little kid with a big toy. More like a kid that knows what he is getting for Christmas but has to wait till the big day, agony....
Monday, November 17, 2008
Mental Debates
My garden is in the midst of change. I am in the process of moving our vegetable patch from one side to the other. A not so small undertaking! I have been ably assisted by our regular gardener and his brother, and still the work goes on. Yesterday I spent almost three hours just turning the soil. That may seem like a little bit of overkill but then again I suspect that my house is perched on an old riverbed. That would certainly explain the great quantities of river rocks that lie hidden in the ground. My three hours of garden fork time realised great quantities of rocks, yet only about 30% of the area is now done! I cannot wait to get started on it again today.....
I went to church last night and did some thinking.
My mind has been in turmoil for months, well truth be told, years! I have this feeling that I am not doing what I should be doing and yet my life is busy beyond belief. I wondered last night if the three hours that I spent in the garden was purely wasted time as it should have been spent on something more value adding like my children or some or other charity venture. The crux of the debate that rages within me is am I wasting my time on silly pursuits, ergo the new old car I have just bought?
My quiet time brought some light!
I always thought of life as a pure set of priorities, first family then the other stuff. Every decision should then put family first before anything else. This is perhaps very idealistic and impractical. I have long looked at much of the stuff that I do as non value adding, like gardening, home maintenance, and yes, even surfing! This because it does not put family first, or spirituality, or even any of the other priorities that I have. My narrow definition of value adding also added fuel to my internal debate, i.e. value adding is when what I do helps others. But perhaps this is not a good way to look at things all the time. Surely there are times when I need to do things that are just about me, or things that just have to get done so that life can go on?
I also stumbled onto the thought that perhaps all of these priorities in life are not the same at any one time. Now there is a thought! Well not an original thought but really my deeper understanding about balance and how it affects my life.
Instead of my fixed priorities being family, spirituality, charity, income, fitness, relaxation and fun at all times, perhaps how I choose to spend my time on them can change regularly. This does not diminish their importance, as that order is right, it just changes my internal view of when it is OK to do them. Today it could be fun, then family, and tomorrow spirituality, then income. I would imagine that I then have to balance it all to ensure that at the end of the month, year, my life, I have spent my time according to my fixed priorities. Perhaps this would give me the right focus and hopefully the right results due to that focus.
Perhaps you think I am mad, but this has bothered me for years. I just could not manage to meet my fixed list every day and hence spent most of time at the end of the day beating myself up about how I am wasting my life. Now I have this understanding that I have some time in which to balance things out. Hopefully now, I can cut out the useless mental debate and actually do something.....
I went to church last night and did some thinking.
My mind has been in turmoil for months, well truth be told, years! I have this feeling that I am not doing what I should be doing and yet my life is busy beyond belief. I wondered last night if the three hours that I spent in the garden was purely wasted time as it should have been spent on something more value adding like my children or some or other charity venture. The crux of the debate that rages within me is am I wasting my time on silly pursuits, ergo the new old car I have just bought?
My quiet time brought some light!
I always thought of life as a pure set of priorities, first family then the other stuff. Every decision should then put family first before anything else. This is perhaps very idealistic and impractical. I have long looked at much of the stuff that I do as non value adding, like gardening, home maintenance, and yes, even surfing! This because it does not put family first, or spirituality, or even any of the other priorities that I have. My narrow definition of value adding also added fuel to my internal debate, i.e. value adding is when what I do helps others. But perhaps this is not a good way to look at things all the time. Surely there are times when I need to do things that are just about me, or things that just have to get done so that life can go on?
I also stumbled onto the thought that perhaps all of these priorities in life are not the same at any one time. Now there is a thought! Well not an original thought but really my deeper understanding about balance and how it affects my life.
Instead of my fixed priorities being family, spirituality, charity, income, fitness, relaxation and fun at all times, perhaps how I choose to spend my time on them can change regularly. This does not diminish their importance, as that order is right, it just changes my internal view of when it is OK to do them. Today it could be fun, then family, and tomorrow spirituality, then income. I would imagine that I then have to balance it all to ensure that at the end of the month, year, my life, I have spent my time according to my fixed priorities. Perhaps this would give me the right focus and hopefully the right results due to that focus.
Perhaps you think I am mad, but this has bothered me for years. I just could not manage to meet my fixed list every day and hence spent most of time at the end of the day beating myself up about how I am wasting my life. Now I have this understanding that I have some time in which to balance things out. Hopefully now, I can cut out the useless mental debate and actually do something.....
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Too busy and an old car
Ah, this feels good. It has been a while again since I put fingers to keyboard. Life has been busy, far too busy for my liking! I have spent my last two weeks at home. I should have been able to do all of the things that I have wanted to do and above all just relax. Yet that has not happened at all. These last two weeks have been a blur of activity from sorting out home maintenance issues, of which there have been many, to buying an old car.
I am a little surprised how in four months our house has deteriorated in such a big way. Add to that a brainwave where my wife and I moved some rooms around. Brilliant, but filled with wiring and furniture challenges! Our bid to replace our aging and semi functional stove resulted in a new gas stove and oven. It looks mighty fine in the kitchen but also clear proof that my wife and I need to stop shopping together! And so I have bolted, sanded, glued and screwed my way around the house and there is plenty more to come in the next week....
I have talked for years about my next car being an old car. Last week, I stopped talking and put out some feelers with all of the advertisers in the SA Hot Rods magazine. I knew that I wanted an early 1950’s Ford F100 but they are scarce and I have not been able to find one anywhere. Think of ‘Mater’ in the movie Cars – that is the truck that I wanted. On Monday this week, I got a call from a chap who told me about his 1956 Ford F100. To make things difficult, this chap was in Johannesburg and I of course live in Cape Town. Then again, I just happened to be flying to Johannesburg that afternoon and so it seemed that this vehicle was something that I just had to see. I had a fleeting notion that the cosmic forces were aligned and then dismissed that as cosmic rubbish!
I saw it and was most surprised. The previous owner had poured his heart and soul into this vehicle for nine years and then sold it before he was finished. The current owner had stacks of old cars in all sorts of stages of restoration, but really had his eye on restoring a very rare Packard. Enter myself and my half baked ideas and suddenly there was a match made in heaven (sorry more cosmic nonsense).
Yes, I know nothing about old cars, or engines, or bodywork, or hot rods, or really about cars at all. Most of my week has been spent lost in the net trying to understand the relative values of engines and old cars. The jargon has left my head spinning and me pretty grumpy as I have not known enough to make a proper decision. I like to know everything before I decide to spend my money or more likely I am just a stingy miser! On a whim, I decided to take a leap of faith and buy it. I now own an 80% complete, non starter, requiring much work and attention! With the decision made, I felt far calmer about dealing with the many issues that are going to come my way as a result of this decision. I think I deal with acceptance far better than procrastination.
One of the key issues that has clouded my week has been my business factor. I am so busy and now I have introduced a whole new level of time sink. How will I be able to fit in this time and the things that I have tried so hard to mould into my life? Time will tell but I have a plan and believe it or not, this 1956 Ford F100 truck is central to it!!!!
You will have to wait and see what that could possibly be.....lets call it Project TWEETY BIRD!
I am a little surprised how in four months our house has deteriorated in such a big way. Add to that a brainwave where my wife and I moved some rooms around. Brilliant, but filled with wiring and furniture challenges! Our bid to replace our aging and semi functional stove resulted in a new gas stove and oven. It looks mighty fine in the kitchen but also clear proof that my wife and I need to stop shopping together! And so I have bolted, sanded, glued and screwed my way around the house and there is plenty more to come in the next week....
I have talked for years about my next car being an old car. Last week, I stopped talking and put out some feelers with all of the advertisers in the SA Hot Rods magazine. I knew that I wanted an early 1950’s Ford F100 but they are scarce and I have not been able to find one anywhere. Think of ‘Mater’ in the movie Cars – that is the truck that I wanted. On Monday this week, I got a call from a chap who told me about his 1956 Ford F100. To make things difficult, this chap was in Johannesburg and I of course live in Cape Town. Then again, I just happened to be flying to Johannesburg that afternoon and so it seemed that this vehicle was something that I just had to see. I had a fleeting notion that the cosmic forces were aligned and then dismissed that as cosmic rubbish!
I saw it and was most surprised. The previous owner had poured his heart and soul into this vehicle for nine years and then sold it before he was finished. The current owner had stacks of old cars in all sorts of stages of restoration, but really had his eye on restoring a very rare Packard. Enter myself and my half baked ideas and suddenly there was a match made in heaven (sorry more cosmic nonsense).
Yes, I know nothing about old cars, or engines, or bodywork, or hot rods, or really about cars at all. Most of my week has been spent lost in the net trying to understand the relative values of engines and old cars. The jargon has left my head spinning and me pretty grumpy as I have not known enough to make a proper decision. I like to know everything before I decide to spend my money or more likely I am just a stingy miser! On a whim, I decided to take a leap of faith and buy it. I now own an 80% complete, non starter, requiring much work and attention! With the decision made, I felt far calmer about dealing with the many issues that are going to come my way as a result of this decision. I think I deal with acceptance far better than procrastination.
One of the key issues that has clouded my week has been my business factor. I am so busy and now I have introduced a whole new level of time sink. How will I be able to fit in this time and the things that I have tried so hard to mould into my life? Time will tell but I have a plan and believe it or not, this 1956 Ford F100 truck is central to it!!!!
You will have to wait and see what that could possibly be.....lets call it Project TWEETY BIRD!
Friday, November 7, 2008
My Year Off
My plans have not gone according to plan this year at all. It has been a wonderful exercise in detailed planning and then completely abandonment. I would hate to go and check out my goals that I set so long ago. Then they all seemed to be achievable and even laudable. Now they are still laudable but achievable only in my dreams. In the end I have achieved more than I could have dreamed of but not in the direction that I wanted to go at all.
Funny that the thing I really excelled at was bringing in an income and yet this is the one thing I did not want to do this year! And the rest of the world is in financial despair...
Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, so let me lay it all out here:
· I left the corporate rat race to collect my thoughts and try and build a life that was outside the pursuit for money, power and prestige. I gave myself a year to save the world, connect with my family again, do good and find my path in life. Instead I ended up with half a year off and then four months of consulting night and day away from my family in a foreign country. I reneged on most of my newly acquired social commitments to do good. A clear aim was for a year of money free bliss and ended up with a lucrative income and a fledgling consultancy.
· I started to write a book on money, power and prestige as the forces that could dominate one’s life and the resulting tensions with other aspects of life, mainly family and values. I wrote 14 chapters which after many revisions still needed further work. I only have seven chapters to go but now they all lie on the shelf gathering dust. It should have been a slam dunk to have this book finished, instead I just have a collection of rantings of the mad man.
· My family and I have connected on a different level. This even though I have spent much of four months away. I did learn that I have a hard time being away from my family and that my family needs me. It is fantastic to be needed! This aspect of my year has far exceeded expectations.
· My lifestyle has been out of this world. It has included some surfing although not nearly as much as I would have liked. The main thing about my lifestyle is that I have been able to choose how I wanted to spend my time. There is heaps of freedom in that choice and I have thoroughly enjoyed that.
· I have learnt so much. I thought that I had a good handle on life and business but I have been humbled by how much I did not know I did not know. Starting to fill those gaps has been a voyage of new discoveries. I cannot believe that learning could be such a thrill!
· From a personal point of view, I have grown in huge leaps and bounds. I have become far calmer, more introspective and have a very different point of view to the old me. I feel that I am a far better person for the experience.
It is interesting that I started to write my book with the perspective of this just wounded corporate animal that managed to crawl away from a terrible killing ground. As a result, my writing was filled with some grandiose ideas. The upside of the consulting work is that it has helped me understand how to tie those ideas into reality. I cannot wait to get stuck into my writing again, and yet there seems to be some more work out there for my consultancy. It looks like I will need to leave the dust on the book and the right time will present itself in time to come. This book will be written! I still have a story to tell.....
All in all, my year has not been what I wanted a year ago. On so many levels it has been way better, on other levels I have failed dismally. I have learnt so much though and hopefully armed with this knowledge, I will be able to make the difference that I crave to make.
I will change the world!
Funny that the thing I really excelled at was bringing in an income and yet this is the one thing I did not want to do this year! And the rest of the world is in financial despair...
Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, so let me lay it all out here:
· I left the corporate rat race to collect my thoughts and try and build a life that was outside the pursuit for money, power and prestige. I gave myself a year to save the world, connect with my family again, do good and find my path in life. Instead I ended up with half a year off and then four months of consulting night and day away from my family in a foreign country. I reneged on most of my newly acquired social commitments to do good. A clear aim was for a year of money free bliss and ended up with a lucrative income and a fledgling consultancy.
· I started to write a book on money, power and prestige as the forces that could dominate one’s life and the resulting tensions with other aspects of life, mainly family and values. I wrote 14 chapters which after many revisions still needed further work. I only have seven chapters to go but now they all lie on the shelf gathering dust. It should have been a slam dunk to have this book finished, instead I just have a collection of rantings of the mad man.
· My family and I have connected on a different level. This even though I have spent much of four months away. I did learn that I have a hard time being away from my family and that my family needs me. It is fantastic to be needed! This aspect of my year has far exceeded expectations.
· My lifestyle has been out of this world. It has included some surfing although not nearly as much as I would have liked. The main thing about my lifestyle is that I have been able to choose how I wanted to spend my time. There is heaps of freedom in that choice and I have thoroughly enjoyed that.
· I have learnt so much. I thought that I had a good handle on life and business but I have been humbled by how much I did not know I did not know. Starting to fill those gaps has been a voyage of new discoveries. I cannot believe that learning could be such a thrill!
· From a personal point of view, I have grown in huge leaps and bounds. I have become far calmer, more introspective and have a very different point of view to the old me. I feel that I am a far better person for the experience.
It is interesting that I started to write my book with the perspective of this just wounded corporate animal that managed to crawl away from a terrible killing ground. As a result, my writing was filled with some grandiose ideas. The upside of the consulting work is that it has helped me understand how to tie those ideas into reality. I cannot wait to get stuck into my writing again, and yet there seems to be some more work out there for my consultancy. It looks like I will need to leave the dust on the book and the right time will present itself in time to come. This book will be written! I still have a story to tell.....
All in all, my year has not been what I wanted a year ago. On so many levels it has been way better, on other levels I have failed dismally. I have learnt so much though and hopefully armed with this knowledge, I will be able to make the difference that I crave to make.
I will change the world!
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