Three Years

26 Jul 2019

Three years: Three things that I have learnt!

Three Years can mean so much

Three years! It’s been three years with my own venture: AbacusYellow, based on the principle of simplicity. I’m three years older, three years wiser and yes, three years more optimistic.  In the past few days, I’ve been flooded with congratulatory messages on my ‘work anniversary’ on LinkedIN. (I’m grateful to all those who sent me those messages and I’ve tried to personally thank each one.) But this has got me thinking.

What an eventful Three Years it has been!

Earlier in my corporate job, it did not mean much as one year dissolved into another, year after year. This time however I sat up and took notice. It was different. For starters. I didn’t realise that yet another year was up. Simply because I wasn’t counting the hours or days or months as they whooshed by! 

Here are three things that I’ve done that have made me a much happier, healthier person. And I hope to go skidding merrily this way into the future.

1. Three Years of Me

I’ve had time for me. I don’t mean that luxurious ‘me-time’. I mean serious time to do what I want – read, write, blog, see a film I wanted to (even if it is on Netflix), delve into some serious research, work out when I want, catch up with friends and ageing relatives as and when required. (even if it means I am breaking my back over a weekend slaving over a workshop design albeit with my coffee by my side!)

CoffeeCups

2. Three Years of Learning

I’ve have had the luxury (and I really believe the combination of time and money is luxury) to be able to upgrade my skills. Yes, Udemy, Coursera, Audible, Kindle all have been instrumental here. But the most significant steps I took was to learn new things and getting some meaningful certifications.

I got certified in a phenomenally different psychometric framework that doesn’t put you in a box and is as evolutionary as you are: EUM: Existential Universe Mapper. Thanks @Sarbari & @Ashok Malhotra

A LEGO SERIOUS PLAY Model
A shared model of LSP

In August last year, I trained in the UK to be a certified LEGO(R) SERIOUS PLAY(R) facilitator. That was an awesome experience – both the journey and the destination! It’s been almost a year and every time I am running a workshop, observing someone else running it or attending a refresher, I learn something new, get fresh insights and look at things anew. It takes me headlong into a never-ending journey in the world of insights and knowledge.

3. Three Years of Relationships

I’ve been fortunate to have a wonderful set of friends and relatives (yes, relatives!). When I was in the corporate set-up leading 14-hour days, most weekends were spent either putting the house in order (literally and otherwise) and that meant giving up on meeting close friends and acquaintances.

SpookyYellow

Three years of being on my own has also allowed me to network – in person as well as on social media. It means building meaningful relationships and learning from experts, influencers and well… people who know more than you (which means everyone basically!). It’s been a rich and fruitful. And I’ve created a very meaningful network along the way.

The three years have allowed me to interact better with family members in and out of the house. A work trip can easily be extended a day with family, including the four-legged kind, and friends. Having family (favourite cousins especially) over allows you to spend more quality time.

And finally, has it been tough? Oh yes! Three times as much!

It’s been a long journey of three years where work is concerned. Being on your own, setting up collaborations, networks, taking on new and refreshing assignments and projects, developing your own frameworks – it’s been arduous, sometimes difficult and most of the times back-breakingly and achingly disappointing. But I’m always, always building on the learning, the relationships and adding yet one more project on the list.  

It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and what I am doing! And I can say that three times with confidence!