It’s been almost two full months since my last post and I feel like I owe an apology to everyone. The problem is I have so much going on that sometimes it is hard to focus the whirlwind in my head long enough to complete a full thought. I had a recent class that required attention along with a job that is becoming very pressurized to complete some important projects. One of those projects involved developing internal wiki and blog for my department which leaves me little motivation to pick up my laptop at home and continue posting. Not to mention that holiday stresses seem to drive me under a blanket relaxing versus diving into technology.
Looking around I am noticing that a lot people do resolutions and predictions for the next year but not me. I don’t know exactly what goals I have for this next year. It’s not that I don’t have ideas but 2009 somehow changed the ideas of what my ideal plan was. What’s going on in my life and some influences that have emerged in my life this past year that have changed my thoughts. Let’s start at the big thing to come this next year, graduation.
So after several years I find myself coming into the home stretch of my masters of business degree with three semesters left. This has been a personal goal that set a while back and though the timing completely changed due to a couple of job moves and some other life changing events. I finally can say this goal is going to be completed. Most people view my masters as a waste of time in the “new” digital world where old university programs won’t keep up. I feel to some respect this idea is being short sighted while I agree that business and technology are always driving forward there is always a need for people to understand business even if their changing the business paradigm. Besides for a person like me who had a very focused undergraduate degree my masters was a way for me to build a broader base for my future.. whatever that will be.
I originally viewed my masters degree in two ways. First as a stepping stone to move out of a production management role and into a more administrative management. I’ve been in production management for the past 11 years because that was the focus my undergrad gave me. I didn’t necessarily have the base I needed to move towards other roles in a company. The second way was I felt some tug to move outside of my industry into other endeavors and when you don’t have experience in a given industry then work experience and education are a good base to work from. What other industry? Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves I’m not there yet.
So what’s in store for me this year will be a lot but most important will be a real soul searching for my next real goal. I’ve been focused on this for a long time and when I started my thoughts were very different then where I am now. Father of two living back in Wisconsin was not on my radar when I first started thinking MBA. My problem is my responsibility is larger then when I started making changes riskier while making me a bit more cautious. My thought continues to be what is next. I don’t have that answer, yet.
Again that whirlwind in my head is full of potential goals, ideas and thoughts but I’m not ready to focus them just yet. I want to process the whole thing and explore the possibilities before setting my goals. I’m constantly searching for input from others along with looking for people to inspire my thoughts. I’m surrounded by them everyday whether they know it or not. I’ll introduce you to them and my ideas as the year continues. So if you see me wandering in my mind don’t worry I’m not drifting to a shed in Wyoming or anything I’m just taking the time to take a couple of deep breaths preparing to set sail in my next great adventure.
