5 Questions

In an effort to better understand what I am working towards and how I am going to get there I came up with 5 questions below and ended up getting carried away on the middle one… "What Motivates Me?" which made me realise that it is the one question that has the biggest impact on everything I do in my life.

5 QUESTIONS:

- Who am I?

- Why am I writing this?

- What motivates me?

- Where am I going?

- How am I going to get there?

1) WHO AM I?

I am Tim Lloyd born 19/12/1987 and have grown up in Sydney, New York, Tokyo, London and now back in Sydney with my amazing wife Amy and cute little boy Frankie. I love playing sport, meeting new people and anything that involves competition.

2) WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

I am writing this as an exercise to better understand myself, what motivates me and to help work out where I am going in life.

3) WHAT MOTIVATES ME?

What motivates me is a good challenge and my natural competitiveness that has pretty much driven me since I can remember. Starting with my older brother, apologies in advance Chris...

FAMILY RIVALRY

Growing up my challenge was always to beat my older brother Chris who had the distinct advantage of being 2 and a half years older than me, big for his age (now at 6 foot 5 inches) and born with natural book smarts.

This came out in lots of different ways, sometimes it would be in a friendly game of chess where after years of playing he finally let me win one game, after which I promptly retired from chess. When I say retired I literally never played him again for 15+ years and it has only been recently that I played him again and he wiped the floor with me in a few moves...

This competitive streak and constant challenges have never really ended and even extended to University when by chance we ended up doing the same Geography101 course in my first year of a Commerce Degree and his last year of his teaching degree. I was determined to prove I could beat him in the intellectual arena so I studied hard, attended every lecture, did extra homework, even to the point that for our major assignment I looked over Chris’ to see what areas I could adapt and add to mine. Success! I beat him by a couple of points out of 100 and still reference it to this day.

SPORTING FAILURES

This competitiveness has also applied to sport, playing football I challenged myself to play at a higher level. I worked hard but wasn’t able to make any of the rep teams and just missed the cut for the Sydney trials of Foxtel’s search for a “Football Superstar” program. I continued to push through school and club teams but after many enjoyable seasons I soon realised those ambitions were not going to eventuate.

Which brings me to my favourite challenge of playing rugby. Although I never played growing up it’s what we watched on TV most of the time, along with watching Dad referee on the weekends. It was something that I had always wanted to try but was honestly just to scared. The first time I worked up the courage to play a game I was 22 years old and had heard about a Wednesday night Under 85kg competition. I was excited to play as I was currently sitting at about 84.9 kgs.

I came along to my schools Old Boys club for a run and after 75 minutes got put on at fullback. I dropped the ball once, got crushed in a tackle, then went in to make my first tackle and connected awkwardly smashing my left ankle. It was sore but felt like another ankle sprain that I was used to from football so I kept going for another couple of minutes hobbling around until the final whistle.

My rugby mates had come along to provide feedback so I couldn’t handle the hit to my pride if I had come off. I then drove home thinking at the time it was hurting more than usual to change gears so was sitting in 3rd for most of the trip back to my girlfriend’s parents’ house down the road. I didn’t get a wink of sleep all night and an X-Ray the next day confirmed it was broken. Safe to say I was frustrated but also excited that I hadn’t died. More importantly I had just got a taste for the game and was on the hook. Challenge Accepted!!

PASSION FOR RUGBY

I had to wait until my ankle healed and the next season to come around, only to find out the club wasn’t putting in an Under 85kgs team. So I found the next closest club Lindfield, turned up to the first game and got 5 minutes at the end of the game without touching the ball. This was followed by 3 weeks of consistent rain that called off all the games until someone I spoke to said the Open 4ths team could use players on a make-up round mid-week.

I went along, got some touches and scored my first try which was a blast. They then asked me to stay for 3rds where I got another run and was asked to play next weekend. I was counting down the days for the rest of the week until I got to play again, this game I scored another try in 3rd’s and the 1st’s coach pulled me off at half time and asked me to bench for his team. 1st’s!! At the time this was an extremely daunting but exciting opportunity after only 5 pieced together games. I went through the warm up with the team, got 20 minutes at the end and didn’t feel too out of place.

From there I started the next game and every other game after that in 1st's on the wing. Not only had I discovered a new game that I loved but also a culture like nothing I had ever experienced before. BBQ and beers after training and with Saturday’s consisting of watching rugby all day, followed by going out as a team until the early hours of Sunday morning.

REP RUGBY

I wanted to continue the rugby challenge so I spoke to my dad during the off-season about what the next step would be. He suggested his old club Gordon in the next competition up Shute Shield so I turned up to every single Gordon pre-season session and thanks to the coaches it was the fittest I have ever been. I secured a spot in 3rd grade and after 3-4 games I moved up to 2nd grade where I played for the rest of the season until the 2nd last game where I got called up for my first (and only) game of 1st grade!!

We were playing the Warringah Rats and I recognised one of their players from the Super Rugby competition which blew my mind. I had a good game, scored a try and got given man of the match. It was the highlight of my playing career and I couldn’t believe it but at training the next week I was given a check for $200. The first time I had ever been given money to play any game...

When speaking to my brother-in-law he mentioned that there was a management company that actually set up rugby players with semi-pro deals around the world. It smelled like a great new challenge so I jumped onto their website at the first chance I got, pulled together my video footage and within a week I got offered a gig in Northern Ireland... I was pumped, how good is this! I wonder where else I will get offers from so I waited… and waited… and waited. After 6 weeks I hadn’t heard from anyone else so went back and asked if the Northern Ireland spot was still available, but it wasn’t. Luckily the next week I got offered a spot at a club on the South-West edge of London called Amersham & Chiltern. It was on!!

UK RUGBY

Two weeks later and I was on a one-way plane trip to London, picked up at the airport by the club President in his Porsche and taken straight to the club for a tour and the pub where I was staying. The next morning, I was picked up by the 2nd's team manager, given some kit and thrown onto the field for my first game. We were up against a feeder team for UK Premiership team London Irish and I was able to score a try and set one up so things had gone well and the next weekend I secured my spot in the 1st's for the rest of season.

As many of the other players were foreigners we formed a group jokingly called the FPU or “foreign players union”. Which consisted of a few Aussies, Kiwis and a 7-foot Dutchman. At the end of the season we were loving it so much that we signed on for another year and moved into an apartment in London with two other FPU players and their partners. Living abroad your friends quickly become your family and I am extremely lucky to call these people our family. Now that we are back home in Sydney I have loved the trips to NZ for their weddings and to meet their families.

In the second season I continued to challenge myself with a new job at a content marketing company of which I had very limited understanding of but quickly started to enjoy. We had a great team and I was lucky enough to get to travel around the country seeing all the sites and sounds of the UK. Occasionally adding on some touristy adventures to castles or cathedrals at the end of my day. It’s the best adventure I’ve ever had in my life and I am still inspired by those people that live around the world working and travelling.

AMY & FRANKIE 

On the 22nd April 2018 Amy and I embarked on a new adventure with the addition of our son Frankie to the family. The first 20 months have been a roller coaster and I smile every day thinking about the little man growing up. It’s given me a fresh perspective on life and also woke me up to the fact that I needed to challenge myself again.

So I started a new job in a new industry at LinkedIn, went back to Kisso football and strive to learn every day how to be a better husband and father.

4) WHERE AM I GOING?

I'd like to lead a team in the corporate world, my experiences playing rugby, this season of football and year at LinkedIn has made me realise more than ever that seeing others succeed and contributing to that is even more enjoyable than my own success.

5) HOW AM I GOING TO GET THERE?

My plan is to focus on growth in all areas of my life, personally and professionally to be open to new ideas and learning so that when the right opportunities present themselves I am ready to take on the next challenge.

*Special thanks to Natalie from the awesome LinkedIn editorial team for your feedback and to everyone that has helped me along my journey.