Category Archives: Laura Buckley

The End of an Era

Today I write about something not so philosophical or perhaps profound as I have done in the past. I write about the end of an era, the closing of a chapter in my life and, indeed, the beginning of a new one. After twelve years I have resigned from my current place of employment. The past twelve years have been a tremendous journey of opportunity and growth.

So why would I make this change now after such a long period of time, time that has been happy and joyful? Sometimes in life opportunity comes knocking at your door totally unexpectedly. Out the blue a potential new chapter in life presents itself.

Let’s take a step back here for a moment and look at some of the history behind this. I’ve been working with email and email systems since 1994. Essentially from the birth of email as a communication and collaboration tool in businesses. I’m passionate about email systems, fascinated by how they work. This passion of mine led to extensive participation in community forums – answering questions, assisting with resolving issues experienced by folk all over the globe. I’ve written technical articles, published [amateur] training videos all in my quest to share knowledge. Some call this my hobby, I call it my passion.

My contributions in this area appear to have been noticed. Suddenly I get a phone call from a global company asking me to come work for them doing just this, supporting and assisting email administrators globally. My hobby, my passion, has now turned into a new job! I will be in a position to continue sharing knowledge whilst remaining a lifelong learner.

I’ve spent some time reading my own previous posts and realise, yet again, just how much they apply to my life – how I have prepared for this day, how I’ve prepared for new opportunities, how I can approach this massive change by starting with that first single step.

So where to from here? We are relocating to Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in a few short weeks. A new country, a new job, new opportunities to learn and grow. I am excited and nervous simultaneously. This is a huge step, a massive change. But I remind myself of taking that first step and how I plan my journey in small stages. So here I am walking along an untrodden path and climbing a new mountain one step at a time.

The end of an era

Yours in lifelong learning,

Laura

A Journey of a Thousand Miles…

An ancient Chinese philosopher and writer, Lao-Tzu, known as the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, and founder of philosophical Taoism, wrote these wise words: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

What exactly does this mean to me as a New Year has dawned? As I look at what lies ahead in the New Year, as I set my goals and ambitions, I feel overwhelmed with the mountains I anticipate climbing.

I sit down and ponder on all I wish to achieve, all the projects and milestones set for me at my place of work. I think about my personal goals. All of which appear, at the start, to be insurmountable. Then I remind myself of what Lao-Tzu said. Everything we wish to achieve in life begins with the first step.

That first step is the beginning of action. Without action we will never start moving towards our goals. It doesn’t matter how small the task or goal is, we have to take action. If we wish to drink a glass of water we must take action – walking to the tap is the start, is taking the first step.

Often I fall into the trap of analysis-paralysis. I become so overwhelmed with what lies ahead that I hesitate to take that first step. I’m afraid of the journey and what it may hold. But without taking that first step I will not start to move forward. Without taking that first step I will miss the opportunity to grow, to accomplish goals, to turn my dreams into tangible reality.

So what do I do?

I’ve come to the conclusion that by procrastinating that first step I immediately stop my growth, halt my action and doom myself to failure. What do I fear more – failure or the journey? I am terrified of failure thus my only alternative is to overcome my fear of the journey.

How do I overcome this fear?

Before I take the first step I need to know where my destination is. I write this down in a detailed and descriptive manner. It is not enough to say to myself I want to be successful this year. I need to describe how exactly I’m going measure what I consider “successful” to be. Once I have clearly defined my destination I need to plot the route I’m going to take in order to arrive at my destination. Unfortunately Google maps isn’t much help, nor is my standard GPS. I need to discover my own internal GPS. As I look at my destination I need to identify my waypoints, my landmarks, to help me navigate to my destination. These are the smaller goals and tasks I need to accomplish in order to arrive at my final destination. These landmarks make my journey less frightening and more manageable. As I identify my waypoints I am able to plot a more specific route to take in order to get to each marker on my journey. By breaking down my final goal into smaller chunks the final destination appears to be more attainable.

The end result is a clear map to follow on my journey. This aids me in not losing my way and getting lost on the journey. Should I stray from the path I have a map to refer back to so I can get back on track, gain perspective, and take the next step forward in the right direction.

Having said all of the above, my journey must still begin with that first, single step. I muster up the courage and take that step but firmly have my destination set before me.

Yours in lifelong learning,

Laura

Luck, Preparation and Opportunity

There is an old saying, attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” I wrote a few weeks back about how I have prepared my whole life for today. Of late I’ve given more thought to this and how we prepare ourselves for when opportunity comes knocking at our door.

Recently I was in a presentation a colleague of mine was giving to a group of young professionals. He summed up the main theme of the presentation using the phrase: “Hunt or Die.” Either we are going out and actively finding our food or sitting in our cave and slowly starving to death.

My colleague went on to relate a story, a parable if you wish, about two farmers in a drought. One farmer went out and prepared his fields in anticipation of rain. The other farmer sat back, did nothing, and simply waited for the rain. When the rains came which farmer reaped a harvest? Naturally the farmer who had prepared for the arrival of the rain. This farmer had prepared his fields in the absence of evidence that rain would fall. In fact, he had no guarantee the rain would ever come, but he prepared nonetheless.

This struck a chord in me.

In my life I have come across, essentially, two types of people – those who actively seek out opportunities to grow, to study, to better prepare themselves for that day when a new opportunity comes knocking at their door, even though that opportunity has not yet presented itself. The other type sits back, loathe to study, to stretch their minds, to gain more experience, lamenting that there are no opportunities immediately available.

We can’t see into the future. We can’t predict when the next opportunity will come knocking at our door. However, we can choose what we do in the interim. It doesn’t matter if we are dreaming of the perfect job or the perfect relationship. What matters is how we are preparing for it today.

As the Girl Guide motto says: “Be prepared.”

Yours in lifelong learning,

Laura