Reflections over the last 24 months

Two years ago I took a leap into the unknown. Whilst I did the same in 2017 the circumstances were different where decisions were made rapidly and whilst I felt it was the right decision at the time, the period of processing experiences, decisions and the consequences of those coupled by an unclear picture of what I wanted to do next was a big mental project.?

I found refuge in family, friends, old colleagues, audio books, stepping up my training and manual labor. I first thought I had to have a similar role and CEO job again within Media or a SaaS company. Going through recruitment processes, or actually not going through recruitment processes also clarified quite some things for me. Why do I want this job and what do I want to do? It turned out that those questions, although simple as they sound, were not very easy to answer at first but over time I developed a process and system for coming to what I wanted to do. Since the world has a lot of possible avenues you can take, you need to be quite selective. The end result, me starting to work for Cleeng, was a combination of coincidences, meeting great people and a lot of soul searching.

Here are some of my learnings over this period that I wanted to share with you in particular if you are in a situation when you do not know what you should do and are perhaps stepping out of a role you have had for a long time.

1. Develop a “No list”. It is easier to come to terms with what you do not want to do than what you would like to do and it does require discipline to decide what you do not want to do. I have a “mental” list of 4 things which is on my no list. If any of these elements of the new role contains these, I will not do it. PM me if you want the items on my No list ??
2. Be honest to yourself. Do not bullshit yourself about why you are doing what you do. It sounds like a cliche but you will be surprised about the things you keep on telling yourself to justify yourself why you should do certain things. Sometimes it might be ego, status or fear and you may not want to admit this to yourself as it actually hurts to tell yourself that you are full of shit.
3. Do something about it. Don't over-analyze. You know the answer. Do it. A personal trait of mine is patience and kindness. This sometimes gets the best of me. You need to know your weaknesses in order to know when you fall into your “weakness trap” and then when you do; course correct!?
4. Find people you can learn from. At 50, it's rare you find people you can learn from and that can stimulate you to grow and work hard. Also learning is not easy and it requires discipline and hard work but the rewards are great. The stimuli you get from learning new things and mastering something new gives you a lot of energy.
5. Define the problem. Allegedly there is an eponymous law saying that if you write a problem down and defining it well a problem half solved.
6. Be grateful by putting things in perspective. Most of you reading this are probably quite well off. Reflect on this, your health, your family, your friends, your work.
7. Be disciplined in taking care of yourself with sleep, food and training. It helps - a lot!

I am thankful for my family and friends who were always there for me even when things were tough. I am grateful for the mental stimuli and energy from the Tribe at #Cleeng and although we are quite different we accept each other for who we are but always give 100% in work and in life.

I have two favorite proverbs that over the years I sometimes come back to and encourage you to think about them too.?

“This too shall pass”. This proverb teaches us to be resilient and endure with a positive outlook.

“I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.” The final two sections of the poem Invictus teaches us to take charge of your life, own it, your decisions, your mistakes and your successes.