Sixteen, Going On Seventeen

It’s hard to resist giving this post an irrelevant title, when one of my favorite musicals is The Sound of Music.

If you still don’t get it, here’s a link to the song — Sixteen, Going On Seventeen.

Now, on to the serious stuff…

I’m publishing a short review of my life in 2016, and a list of my goals in 2017.
Why would anyone do that? I’ll answer that question at the end of this article.

2016 Highlights

Here are some highlights of the year

1. Completed a Start-up Accelerator program (NFX Guild); and lived to tell the story (Jan — Mar)
2. Set-up a Secondary Residence in Melbourne, Australia; and settled in (Mar — Jun)
3. Gave birth to our Second Child, a Son; in Australia where he is now a citizen (Mar)
4. Started Type-A Breakfast (www.TypeABreakfast.com), and saw it expand to three other cities, with a few more (other cities) lined-up. (May)
5. Nurtured a Minimalist Lifestyle; pruned from two years of frequent, and extended travel
6. Nurtured a Deeper, More Mindful ‘Inner Life’; isolated from the rest of the world in Melbourne where I don’t (and deliberately avoid building) a large network of friends. (Apr — Oct)
7. Became a Morning Person; I now start most of my days at 4 am; and end them at 8 pm
8. Spent Quality Time with family and friends… Ironically, and in a very good way, I’ve experienced a lot of ‘quality time’ with family and friends — even though I’ve been out of my home-country (Singapore) a lot. I’ve had planned, and chance visits from family and friends while in Melbourne; and when I’m in Singapore and the Bay Area — I make every catch-up count.
9. Experienced living a Life in 3 Cities; and changing ‘modes of living’ every season
10. Completed my personal/family and business 2017 Planning; and now have detailed execution plans for everything in 2017

2017 Goals

I have a more complete private list, hand-written (in the form of a mind-map); and categorised under 12 measures.

1. Enable 2,000 Artists & Makers of Bespoke Artisan, Luxury Products to build successful brands and businesses on The Commissioned
2. Launch A New Platform for Marketers, Creatives, Branding & Communication Professionals — by the same team that built The Commissioned
3. Get Certified as an Emergenetics Trainer / Coach (in January)
4. Start the year with a 21-Day Fast (from Coffee, Meats, Wines and Social Media / News)
5. Complete an intense 5-Day Complete Detox Program (January)
6. Create a Program that contributes to International Justice Mission, and make a dent on modern-day slavery
7. Continue to Simplify my Life & Work — trimming what’s unnecessary, and not working; to create space for growth in things that matter, and things that work.
8. Build a House, or a couple of apartments, in Australia — so that we can better house family and friends who will visit us
9. Complete writing, and publish ‘The Alphabet Stories’
10. Complete 365 Days of Blogging (see rationale below)

Why So Public?

From around 2004–2008, when ‘Web 2.0’ technologies emerged, I used to advocate sharing (almost) everything publicly. I blogged regularly — which essentially meant that I published everything that I spent considerable time thinking about.

Then I gradually stopped. Ironically, I stopped because I was ‘too busy’ building the digital-strategies business unit at Waggener Edstrom. I didn’t practise what I preached.

I believed that personal publishing (blogging) enables us to:

• Learn better,
• Contribute more, and
• Grow faster through Collaboration

But I stopped… and I’ve had a few failed starts; and few false starts; and finally… in the middle of this year, a slightly stronger start. A stronger argument for the virtues of ‘showing your work’ can be found here.

So, this is it… 2016, going on 2017… and sharing the journey.