Your best thinking

Saturday. December 31, 2022 - 2 mins

A quote that stuck with me ever since first reading it is:

“Your best thinking five years ago is your baggage today” - Daniel Priestley

With a new year on the immediate horizon, it’s inevitable that the idea of goals in some form for the coming trip around the sun enter ones mind. Whilst I’m not really one to make resolutions, I am a fan of reflection at this time of year. A mini retrospective if you will.

As covid progressed, I gradually moved away from the big goals set during the before times. Many were tied in someway to the concept of running a South West wide festival for the tech industry, which would have ran for the first time over the last couple of years. The pandemic wasn’t the best time to be an event organiser, at least if my contribution to organising 20+ things around the globe is anything to go by. Sitting alone in a room staring at the same screen as the rest of the day omits some of the big benefits and the buzz of attending events.

Ever since re-entering the world, some of the professional choices made have still been filtered through this audacious goal. But, being honest, I’ll probably never get back on the path of running a festival. Never say never to arranging the odd meet-up or supporting a conference. I get so much from doing so. It’s certainly a skill set I’d like to occasionally flex for professional and personal reasons. But knowing how much effort (plus personal time/finance) it took over four years to build the momentum which made a festival a realistic possibility, it’s very unlikely I’ll ever dedicate enough focus to get the ball rolling again.

With our opening quote in mind, the lingering thinking about hosting events and festival certainly feels like baggage. Sure, I’ll be organising things in the years ahead, but they’ll be a nod to past desires rather than a pathway to an end state.

Which leaves two big fun questions:

Where do I want to be in life in five years time?
What’s the next excuse for occasionally hiring a country estate going to be?

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