Blank sheet

There’s only one go at life and I’m unlikely to get the opportunity to stand back and reflect on the ‘whole lot’ again.

Our first pause for breath (ever) did leave us, as a family, clear on the things that really mattered and that the other stuff - the stuff that had really seemed very important for so long - didn’t matter at all.

So, why this?

With a blank sheet of paper in front of me and pen in hand, I drew up a list: a ‘list of truths’. Sounds grand. It’s not. It’s just a list of what I really like doing and what I don’t. I know from friends and family that when I’m consumed by the good things on the list, I’m obviously happy. And vice versa (‘grumpy’ was my wife’s first - and only - choice of words!).

Given all that, it made sense to choose something that I liked doing, that I was good at, that would make me - and, by extension, those around me - happier for it.

So, this.

I’m curious. I love solving problems. I love a challenge. I love it when a system works. You know the kind of thing: there’s that sweet spot, when everything’s optimal, the dials are all in the green and it feels like it could all run forever. Getting to that sweet spot is my passion, especially when I’m helping others do the same. With their people, with their ships, with their businesses - whatever they need. The old shipboard advice I received as a 16 year old Cadet? ‘…leave it better than you found it.’

Why am I doing this? To leave things better than I found them. That’s why.