After a little pause in posting on Monty's Wire due to focusing my efforts on other projects the first thing to know is that - I AM BACK! Second thing, I am shifting gears as of 29th December, I will be travelling on a one-way ticket back to London from Portland, Oregon and wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the learning’s that I have been fortunate to have over the past two years.
I feel so blessed for the experiences that I’ve had and even more so, for the people I have met. In some small way, my hope is that this post will serve as a thank you to those of you who have been a part of this tremendous experience.
Here are my top 9 key learning from my time in America. I have avoided touching on any strong political messages, as there is enough out there about that right now! These points are somewhat philosophical and I hope could help lead to a fruitful year ahead for those of you who find them somewhat useful:
- Travel & Explore: Whether in work pleasure or for any other reason at all, we as human beings are born explorers and so so much can be gained by visiting different places, cultures and meeting new people. Always push to explore new places frequently, however near or far.
- Be Open; to new people, new experiences & fresh ideas. Only spending time with the same group of friends, heading to the same place every week will limit your perspective. Putting yourself out there to meet new people will help you understand the world as a whole, and most importantly keep things fresh, new and interesting.
- Control Your Energy: It takes effort and energy to always put yourself out there. Develop a toolbox to ensure you’re being kind to yourself & replenishing. Could be via walking / hiking, meditation, gym, sleep, a nice meal with friends. Whatever your wells of energy are find them & visit them often.
- Explore Your Passion: Spend enough time figuring out what you love, what’s in your soul and what you are most passionate about. Following this will inevitably get you on the right path. Whether this is through work, a hobby, volunteering – it’s important we spend our limited time on things we deeply care about. Otherwise what’s the point right!?
- People (Not Robots); still make the world go round. The power of relationships to get things done is one of the most important things I have discovered. Not every new person you meet will be a hit, but be open & explorative - who knows where new relationships will lead.
- The Power of Nature: Being out in nature has so many benefits - read my previous post on ATR here: http://montyswire.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/08/understanding-the-power-of-nature.html
- Make Progress and be Patient: In whatever endeavor you’re working on, although you may be driven by an important deadline or end goal, what’s important is to keep making progress. Sometimes you stall, sometimes it takes time to get to an answer, but try and keep putting one foot in front of the other however big or small. #bettereveryweek
- Deploy Empathy: What’s key in the world we live in is to understand where other people, groups or organizations are coming from in order to make progress. This is not about being agreeable to everyone, but if you can understand perspectives from more than one angle, you will be better informed to make great decisions.
- Be Conscious: Everything I have written about requires you to be conscious of them & not simply in ‘the rat race’ bouncing from meeting to meeting, or blindly living out your weekly schedule without a thought. Being conscious, deliberate and intentional will surely help us all to live more meaningful lives. Try 5 deep breaths twice a day as a starter…
The title of this article was thank you, and I wanted to thank everyone who has been part of my experience here in the U.S. It has been an absolute pleasure and as I say to everyone #thisisjustthebeginning.