Blurred lines
It’s been an interesting and challenging few years whereby I have moved from senior commercial roles in large organisations to interim contracts with smaller industrial businesses striving for growth and now a fully fledged consultancy practice where I provide a range of services which add up to non-executive board support with a special focus on the commercial performance of organisations.
Part of the process to define future direction included an ultimately aborted return to the Far East; Jakarta just proved too congested and surprisingly expensive; it’s enjoying an incredible property boom and was the fastest growing property market of 2013, with 47% growth in prices.
Running, quite literally, alongside my professional development and move from employee to business owner via contractor is my pursuit of health and fitness; no one has been more surprised than I to find I really quite like running long distances in harsh conditions; the pinnacle of this strange pursuit being the successful completion of what the Discovery Channel describe as ‘The Toughest Footrace on Earth’.
My new found running passion has brought with it a large new circle of friends, which is truly awesome and an opportunity to pursue two long held ambitions to broadcast and write; The British Trail Running Podcast has proved successful beyond any expectations, enjoying several thousand downloads per show, I literally can’t record enough episodes; writing has come by way of race reports and blogging however with a little time and thought I am sure I can start to publish to a broader audience; in fact I recently wrote a guest column for Ultra Tales Magazine.
Years of making corporate pitches, leading meetings and trying to inspire better performance from teams has meant that if not very skillful I am at least a confident speaker; this is an area in which I am keen to develop, I therefore grab every opportunity to speak; my most recent and arguably toughest assignment being a talk to two hundred and fifty fifteen year old’s on the role demonstrating personal qualities will have in finding their first jobs and securing the course places they want.
The past
Overweight, laughably unfit, sedentary, frustrated working in large organisations.
The present
Slimmer, active, relatively fit:
And a business owner:
The future?
With each passing day the lines between work, rest and play (to be fair I don’t see much rest!) blur further; work rarely feels like work, play is ‘working'on the podcast, writing and speaking, and running well it can feel like work, rest and play all on the same run!
Each of the elements discussed need significant development, my business is not yet a year old; I have yet to quench my thirst for running long; The British Trail Running Podcast is in desperate need of development and polish and I have yet to write anything in real earnest, all of this suits me, the sense that there is almost an overwhelming amount to do is exciting.
Adding to the 'so much to do so little time theme’ there is an emergent plan, thankfully in partnership with experienced race directors to put on a 100 mile race next year, here in the heart of the Midlands, finishing in Nottingham at the Robin Hood statue in the castle grounds, it’s here as i imagine the runners reaching Robin the blurred lines of work, rest and play will truly intersect and fuse for me.