Category Archives: Stuff!

10 years of ‘What’s Next’, I’m ready for the next chapter.

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Richmond Bridge, Tasmania, with my favourite person

As I prepared to retire from the professional service firm I’d been privileged to be a partner of for more than 20 years, I embarked on a program very much assisted by Tim and Michael.

Michael made me think, and Tim actively challenged me about what’s next. Through many sessions, initially with my favourite person joining me and then just one-on-one, Tim forced me to challenge myself. Amongst the many moments, one sticks in my memory. We were at a retreat ( my firm referred to it as Pinnacle, but for me it was always God’s Waiting Room) for partners and spouses designed to prepare us for leaving the firm and my favourite person and I were sent off to discuss an aspect of my leaving the firm. As usual, we defaulted to discussing the children. Tim checked in and said he’d be very annoyed if we were discussing the children the next time he came by instead of what we were supposed to be chatting about. It was a wake-up call and set me on the ‘What’s Next’ path.

I’ve been on that path for more than a decade. This blog, started in 2013, is just one element. Like my reading of Herminia Ibarra’s Working Identities, it came out of one of the many coaching conversations with Tim.

So, as I click through more than ten years of ‘What’s Next,’ I feel like another change is before me.

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Renovating

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Write about your dream home.

View from back door

Just over 2 years ago sitting in a pub in Penola, in the Coonawarra wine region of South Australia, I mused with my favourite persona about sorting out the spiral staircase in our beach house.

Our spiral staircase has been the bane of our regular visits. All of us have fallen off the last step, with my mother needing stitches from her fall. My youngest daughter said all of her friends had stories about their falls; presumably after a couple of drinks. It has also been a safety hazard for our young grandchildren.

So we started planning.

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As time passes by our interest change – activities and hobbies I’ve outgrown or lost interest in

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Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?

– Jetpack prompt

As I reinvigorate my blog I’m experimenting with different approaches to posts. In my early stages I used regular prompts as an approach, so here I go.

Riding in Sicily

There are many activities and hobbies I’ve grown out of. No surprise there, I’m on the wrong side of 65.

The one that quickly came to mind was stamp collecting. As a primary school child and early teenager, I was an avid collector. I wasn’t the beneficiary of a parent or grand parent’s collection, so I started from scratch. I say that because I used to look on at envy at those who had old albums full of interesting stamps. Mine however was just ‘bog standard’. Aussie stamps collected from envelopes, swapped and bought over time. For a while my sister and I went to a local stamp club where we’d buy a few stamps, as my own swaps weren’t of much interest. I also built up a collection of First Day Covers. However, as I grew older I simply lost interest, and today I’m not sure I even know where my stamp collection is.

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The Beatles – my most listened to in 2023

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Like everyone who subscribes to Spotify, at this time of the year, we receive the wrap of our listening for the year. I have posted on this topic in the past. It’s always interesting to see what I have listened to and what I listened to most.

There is always Springsteen with Born to Run, usually in my most listened to songs. In 2023, it was no different, however, it was my continued love of The Beatles and Paul McCartney that showed through. Band on the Run was among my most listened to songs; it’s the crashing guitars as the song breaks from its intro to the main song that I always notice, no matter how often I listen to it.

In 2023, The Beatles were my most listened to band.  On reflection, it was no surprise. I regularly pick one of their albums or songs to listen too. Often, I will listen to their albums from start to finish or from the start to Revolver or Sgt Peppers to Let it Be. Continue reading →

I didn’t start my blog to change the world

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Daily Prompt: What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

Actually nothing!

I never started my blog to be anymore than a repository for my writing. Across 11 or so years there have been 258 posts on various topics that were loosely based around “What’s Next” in my life, as I transitioned from a professional consulting career to the next phase of my life. Feel free to peruse or don’t.

I rarely check my viewing stats and almost never promote my posts via other sources. My blog is just a personal commentary about what we or I am upto,

My blog is non- political. It always has been and always will be. I’m certainly interested in politics but I don’t want to post about it here.

I have a belief system but I doubt I’ll post about it.

However, this prompt was timely as I have been giving thought to what next for my blog. this prompt has helped crystallise my thoughts which I intend to expand upon in my next post.