The other day I was toiling up a local climb—a favourite of mine—in 33.5ºC heat, commuting to one of the various offices I now get to work from with my part time job, when I had a sudden flashback.
You see, twenty years ago, when I was 5 years out of clinical medicine, and already a bit disillusioned with my next job, I went and sought independent careers advice.
Again.
It was really good tailor-made guidance for medics wanting to do something a bit different. I'd already been through their Career Review process 3 years previously (when I suspected I was maybe on the verge of leaving surgery) so I knew what I was in for.
The most exciting part of the programme was in the section called Creativity and Career Vision, and the instructions were to “Write a positive letter to a favourite aunt or relative, telling them about the new, absolutely perfect job that you have found…”
(I've got it open in front of me, and am typing, verbatim.)
The first stab at it
Now, I can remember the first time I did this, in 2003, and I was still so medically-indoctrinated—painfully ignorant of the wider possibilities that life had to offer—that my attempt was a little… unimaginative, shall we say. Somewhat vanilla.
(“Middle of the road” was how the careers coach described that first workbook.)
The experiences that my Thought System 📦 had collected back then were quite constrained, and I never thought to question what was outside of it (apart from learning new surgical techniques and cramming anatomy facts).
Tellingly, in the bit asking How balanced is your life? while I scored highly on things like Social and Health, when it came to the Spiritual scale, I gave it the lowest possible score and wrote that I didn’t understand the question!!
🤦🏻♂️😂
Older, ‘wiser’ and way more open
But after a few years away from the wards, with one fairly major career change under my belt and having been introduced to the wild and whacky world of ‘personal’ (i.e. ego) development, I was more open to possibility the second time round, so I really let rip with what I actually wanted.
Of note, this was after I’d spent 4 months cycling 4,300 miles to Türkiye and back on my own—blogging about it as I went—but before I’d landed a Features Writer + Medical Advisor role at Cycling Plus magazine.
At this point, most of my days were spent in creatively uninspiring, often frustrating meetings with NHS and Department of Health officials, before cramming as much cycling into my spare time as possible.
No surprise then that creativity and writing and cycling and fitness were right at the top of my career wish list. And what suddenly sprang to mind the other day, as I toiled up my favourite long, wooded, hairpinned climb on my way to the office, was something I had the faintest memory of writing in that “positive letter” about the “perfect job.”
So today I dug the old workbook out of storage, to see what I’d actually written. Imagine my surprise when I read about this dream I had visualised:
“I’ve bought a house 20 miles away and cycle in, natch. I planned it perfectly – there are no less than four routes into work, for all types of weather and all types of training … my favourite is the one with a 5km climb up through the forest, hairpins to boot: bliss.”
And here’s the actual profile of the commute I did the other day: 25-ish miles, with a 5km climb up through the forest, hairpins to boot:
😳 😲 🤯
20 years later, that dream is real-ised.
And more…
That’s not all I found in this remarkably prescient, 20-years-old document. The recommendations from the careers coach in particular (written, remember, when I still had employee DNA coursing through my veins and the thought of not having a regular paycheque terrified me) made my jaw drop:
- Business. Own. Though probably more as a freelance consultant or recognised expert, than someone who builds a team of people
- Educating. Being in a role where a key function is informing others or sharing insights
- Writing. Giles has an amazing way with words – an ability to convey information in a way that is both entertaining and engaging. He needs to be involved in an activity where this is a key part of the work, i.e. giving his viewpoint, sharing his thoughts, analysing what is happening, putting it in a format that others can access, enjoy and benefit from.
And here we are. The Daily Reminders (est. 2024) are open access, and (hopefully!) tick all those boxes for you, not to mention me!
What’s your take home?
Well, you tell me.
- Does this tale inspire you to dream big?
- Leave you in despair at the length of time these sorts of goals take to come to fruition?
- Conclude that this is all just wish-fulfilment nonsense?
- Help you to relax into your current state of affairs?
Drop me a line or leave a comment below (🔖) and let me know!
My main, personal takeaway from all this, is this observation:
They’re going to find their way out through us, eventually… or … they’re going to endlessly frustrate and embitter us, if we insist on ignoring them; listening instead to the mind’s petty fears.
(It’s up to you, my friend. It’s your life, after all.)
The other thing that strikes me is that dreams don’t arrive with any particular fanfare (certainly not the one that ego aches for, anyway).
As in this case, they’re more likely to come cunningly disguised as Tuesday… which kinda rules them out as somewhere to go looking for your wellbeing.
🤷🏻♂️
There are no finish lines, and no corners to turn, because you are already ‘living the dream’.
So you might as well enjoy every minute of the journey – you’re in it for the long haul!
🚀
Giles
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