Much of my time’s spent teaching young people these days.
So when I come across inspirational messages like this one, I believe there’s a chance things are going to get better…
… but probably not before they get a lot ‘worse’.
Anyhow, constructive change is more likely to come about if we assume the future’s malleable and nothing’s set in stone.
Enjoy the next 104 seconds!
- Mark McClure
Note: Please read my post from Dec 2008 (This Mid-Career Change I Can Believe In) to help put the following into context.
Well, it’s rapidly approaching that time of the year again. No, not Christmas! While the season to be jolly can be a lot of fun, I’m talking about something much more important:
In this short post I want to mention briefly my plans for 2010 and how they’ve evolved from the experience of the last 12 months.
Two things I’m fairly sure of:
1) Goals > Action > Feedback > Evaluate > Updated Goals…
2) Goals are most attractive when seen as ‘plastic and malleable’ because the mallet of experience can both shape and shatter…
I haven’t firmed up my 2010 Career Goals but the general theme is looking as in this diagram (made using FreeMind):
1- Personal Growth:
I’m continuing my conscious journey along the highways of personal growth – learning as I go. And this blog remains the public vehicle for those travels and adventures. Expect detours from time to time.
2- Freelance Writing:
This creative aspect continues to express itself and I feel good about continuing the apprenticeship. There’s much to learn (and earn!).
3- Teaching:
The opportunity to teach has been an enjoyable trip ‘down’ memory lane. Back once again to the 27 year old who left education for more money and excitement and found a little of both. Indeed, I reckon we’ve gained much worth sharing from the time spent apart 
And as for the tech career coaching and IT consulting roles?
These are going to take a well-earned retirement because life (personal and professional) will be productively busy enough in 2010.
I will continue to incorporate coaching skills into pretty much everything I do but will not be offering 1-1 coaching any longer.
The domain names for ‘techcareerzigzag.com’ and ‘itcareerengineer.com’ will therefore be allowed to expire and the sites will no longer be live. (The sidebar links from this blog to those sites will be removed shortly.)
In a future post (hopefully before 2009 is over), I’ll share something of the process (‘goal creation maps’) I use to review and set meaningful goals for 2010 and beyond.
- Mark McClure
Those are Dr Glenn Singleman’s words shortly after he and Nic Feteris set the world record for Altitude BASEjumping with their 1992 leap from a ledge, 5950 metres up the Great Trango Tower in Pakistan.
Fourteen years later, and after 23 days of climbing and waiting for a weather window, Glenn and his wife Heather successfully made a wingsuit BASEjump from a ledge on the east face of India’s Mt Meru at 6604m on 23rd May, 2006.
This broke Glenn’s 1992 record, as well as the wingsuit BASE altitude record.
Incredible as Glenn’s achievements are, what drew me to their story was how Heather changed from a ‘corporate mom’ to an exploring, authoring and ‘extreme’ sports adventuring mom!
She’s written a book, “No Ceiling“, which describes how she broke though (often painfully, and not without struggle or sacrifice) both external and self-imposed barriers to achievement and fulfillment.
While BASEjumping may be beyond the physical reach or the interests of most mere mortals, Glenn and Heather’s story is a triumphant metaphor for personal and professional change.
And I was reminded once again of the potential for change and improvement latent within each of us.
Here’s an incredibly uplifting 3 minutes clip of Heather and Glenn ‘at work and play’ – the first part appears to to be the Mt Meru Basejump.
Great choice of music too.
- Mark McClure
Today’s November 3rd, a Japanese national holiday, and popularly known as “Culture Day.”
The Tokyo weather’s glorious, if a little cool (about 14 C), and I’m taking it easy with some gentle garden weeding, in between writing about this, that and the other.
On a recent web surf for ideas I rediscovered some thought-provoking words from the late Carl Sagan, an American astronomer and popular author.
It’s called “The Pale Blue Dot” – a term used to describe how our earth appeared on a photo taken in 1990 by the Voyager spacecraft, 6 billion Km into its incredible journey.
I like this 3 minutes YouTube version, set to Dr. Sagan’s own voice, because it reminds me that there’s probably no extraterrestrial cavalry coming to humanity’s rescue anytime soon.
I wonder if they have Culture Days on Alpha Centauri?
- Mark McClure