Piloting Your Life: In-Flight Entertainment (Spice Up Your Life) (Nov 19, 2019)
Welcome Back My Spicy Passengers:
As I approach the end of the year I am thinking about what I want in 2020. This weekend I will be taking a look back at 2019 to put together a summary (by month) to compare against my plan. This year, unlike last year, I actually have my plan and have been making notes on it as the year has progressed.
In some areas, I completely missed but I am going to partially blame it on Piloting Your Life (the book). When I put my goals together last November, I hadn’t retained the services of the amazing Katie Cross and didn’t have the book writing and production plan in place.
Honestly, I’d only planned out through Q2/2019 with a goal for a draft of the book by the end of Q1. I am pretty sure I met the goal with the first draft but there was nothing beyond Q2 where I had written “Figure out what the next steps are.”
I learned that I couldn’t easily do my IT technical work AND the creative work of writing and producing a book. I think I am going to add “Major Learnings” to my summary as this year was full of them. And to the bot who sent me a note on Twitter saying I should be using the word ‘Lessons’ instead of ‘Learnings’ I stand by my response. Yes, I responded to a bot with an argument as to why, which you can see here.
I slowed down my investing activities the first half of the year (to focus on the book and figure out how I wanted to operate as an investor) but still made more investments in 2019 than 2018. Not what I would have expected.
In 2019, I made two new direct investments (ViaGlobal Health and Silk + Sonder), two follow on investments (SendaRide and Astarte), two investments on platforms (SMBX: Bernal Cutlery and CrowdFund Main Street: Absinthia), and committed to Jane VC’s second fund, the one exception I’ve made to investing in a fund.
I just looked at the numbers and in 2018, I made two new direct investments (Astarte and Sendaride), two into syndicates (Marlow and Komae now called Wana Family Network), one on a crowdfund platform (CalRoo now called FemTerra), and JaneVC.
It took a lot more than I expected to get Adam through his senior year, through the college application and selection process, and then off to college. I am so grateful that I had the time and space to be there for him and that I continue to do so.
Cooking and blogging (Thyme and Champagne) with Rei was a completely unexpected set of activities and I absolutely love doing both. We are adding a YouTube channel which is going to consume even more than the current 8–10 hours per week. I love being able to spend time with Rei, be creative in the kitchen (improving my culinary skills), and writing a few times a week.
I’ve realized this year that I really really love to write and was asked why by a woman founder friend of mine (Doriane) at an event on Wednesday night. My initial answer to her was a bit flippant so I thought more about it and told her that I don’t believe information should be hoarded and writing is a way for me to share information I’ve learned/gained in a way that I hope is easy to digest/consume and is sometimes entertaining. I get to think through my thoughts while writing, to be more deliberate about what I share and the way in which I convey the messages and information.
This is also why I like to speak at events and why I do the podcast.
I used to be so frustrated in corporate (well, still am but as a consultant I suffer differently) by folks who created silos of information and hoarded it. It never made sense to me since we should have all been rallying around a common set of goals and objectives that would be made easier by sharing information and data. As an IT consultant I often have to emphasize the greater good of the organization (and customer) beyond the success of a functional area when selecting and implementing IT systems and applications. Yes, it might be a bit harder and does require cross-functional communication but doesn’t that make it better for all in the long run?
Yep, I am the one to always spice it up, to look beyond the obvious, and make sure that it all blends together with the right complexity. Kind of like what Rei and I are working towards with our cooking!
Piloting Your Life (the book)
Do you belong to a book club? Have you planned your books for 2020? Please consider adding Piloting Your Life to your reading list. If you like having authors participate in the book club discussion, I’d love to be a part of it either virtually or in person. I’ve already scheduled a few for January and February and would love to add to the calendar. Book club hosts get special goodies including a personalized copy of the book.
Piloting Your Life Crew Chat
This month’s Crew Chat topic is around end-of -life planning. This may seem a bit morbid but is worth talking about.
As we approach the holidays and spend time with family members, especially those who are aging, we may realize that they aren’t getting any younger and may need additional help.
As we work through how to be there for them, it’s important to have a good sense of what we want when we reach a similar stage. I think this conversation is best had surrounded by those who love and support us because it’s a hard topic with difficult decisions. I took a look at a few resources to come up with some questions we can be asking ourselves to begin to prepare for this time in life.
Have you brought a Crew together for a Crew Chat? How did it go? I’d love to hear about your experiences.
Piloting Your Life (the podcast)
Are you caring for aging or dying parents or older loved ones? If you aren’t, are you prepared for this? Do you know what to expect?
If any of these questions resonate with you, you will enjoy and learn from my conversation with Candice Smith of Caregiven where we discuss the impact of caring for aging and dying parents, specifically on women.
Candice was inspired by the death of her father and his end-of-life journey to change the experiences for all family caregivers. We don’t generally talk about this time, or, as Candice says, that no matter what you do as a caregiver, it will never be enough to change the result. Candice speaks lovingly about this topic and shares some really insightful and helpful information. Enjoy.
Keep it spicy, my friends. Keep it spicy.
Terri
P.S. Take the controls and be the pilot in your own life. It’s a beautiful day to fly, and you are cleared for takeoff.
Piloting Your Life (the podcast)
Song: Spice Up Your Life (Spice Girls)
terrihansonmead.com
Piloting Your Life
Twitter: @PilotingLife
Instagram: @PilotingYourLife
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