Day #2 of the daily writing experiment and it’s been an interesting one.

Today I got the opportunity to have a conversation with a friend who I look up to professionally. It was a great conversation and gave me quite a bit to think about.

First some context.

I’m about a decade into my working life and starting to look at options for what I can do to move things to the next level of my career. One of the things that has come up over and over is the desire for further learning. I want to grow my expertise and experience by broadening my skill set. There are a couple avenues and of course a million potential side streets that I can use to this end.

This conversation was to help me to get some perspective and context from someone who is a bit further down the road.

The conversation more than delivered on things to think about – with a couple of big ideas that will give me something to chew on. I’ll try to communicate them here to help my future self as I look back on this moment.

One.

My path is my path.

I have the bad habit of wanting to heavily rely on other peoples experiences instead of trusting my own internal truth. I think I may find other people’s certainty as a comfort for the uncertainty that making a decision based on my own desires invites. This may be based on historical failures or insecurities about what I’m capable of. Regardless of the reason – this conversation made it clear that I can take in other people’s opinions, but at the end of the day I must circle back to my internal voice (and God) to make a choice that I’ll be happy with in 5, 10,15 years.

This conversation was so helpful in giving me the perspective that my opinions and feelings matter even in when making decisions that can so easily be tied to dollars and cents.

Two.

Err towards the Future.

This conversation really helped me to look toward the future and dream of what could be.

Often times I can get so mired in the realities of the present that I can forget to invest consistently in the future. I don’t want to become the human version of the Kodak company. I can look back at previous points of my life and see how I was able to make decision with a future focus that allowed me to be where I am now. At this point of my career – it’s still important to invest in a hopeful future even as I worry that I’ve picked up more responsibilities.

Three.

Do it.

You only live once. Don’t be afraid to invest. To spend the money. To potentially lose your capital. You have to try something in order to know whether you’ll be able to move forward with something successfully.

Don’t be afraid.

Fly or Fall.