The holiday season is my favourite time of year. I have a romanticised version in my head that the best of humanity comes out during this season: Sinatra over the sound waves, ‘Hi’s from strangers and friends, and generousity seen only during one month of the year. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen some gnarly pictures of stampedes (Black Friday is at work), but my mind chooses remember the romance of the season.
I am thankful for three things:
1. Time
I’ve been blessed with the easy things in life, and now have the time to explore. In the meta sense, I get to explore how I can play a part in disrupting the world for good; in the micro sense, the Thanksgiving break gives me time away from the MBA to think, relax and read. With this time I read “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell. He outlines amazingly how the underdogs come to win in many situations by overcoming their disadvantages, playing to their strengths and capitalizing on the weakness of those who should have won.
2. People
I get to meet amazing people every day. I wake up to an amazing person every morning, go to school with a diverse group of experiences, learn from world class experts and listen to the most successful people in practice.
3. A natural curiousity
As I was reading David and Goliath, I reflected one of my favourite childhood books called “A 100 fantastic facts”. I decided when I was young to commit these to memory and though I now have no recollection of what’s in there, I remember each fact sparking a research process that allowed me to chase my curiousity. I then reflected on some of my internet searches this weekend: dyslexia, Rose Bryne, hobbies for a 14 yr old (my brother in law), Huguenots, Automatic millionaire, Logitech G5 mouse, Star Wars Millenium Falcon lego price, makani power, bodega bay and grandview house prices. A huge spread of interests which I love to keep pursuing.
It means I get to discover a lot of things: Dyslexia is widespread amongst entrepreneurs and innovators (I have it too!); Rose Bryne is Aussie – which means I can be proud!; the Huguenots are pacifists though they have an amazing history for standing up to stupidity – the Nazis for one; my favourite Logitech G5 mouse is getting more and more expensive – just like my Star Wars lego collection; makani power has an amazing invention for harnessing wind energy and one day I’d like to own a house in America.
