Next year I turn 30

Soooo... I turn 30 in 2013.

I almost can't believe it. 30 used to be the magical age where I'd have everything sorted - life, relationships, career etc, and now that I'm nearing the age I don't think I'm there.

Here's what I had expected to achieve by the time I was 30, written in my late teens/early 20's (also improved and edited along the way) - the cliched 30 things before 30 thing:

Being a better person:

“Be what you would seem to be- or, if you'd like it put more simply- Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

1. Be less judgemental - give people the benefit of the doubt (still working on this)
2. Watch the pessimism/cynicism, hope for best but prepare for worse
3. Always choose the option that allows for win-win, always
4. Never expect anything from anyone, so that it's a pleasant surprise if it turns out well
5. Integrity above all else - always keep in mind the family's 4 Tenets
6. Read, travel, seek new experiences and expand horizons
7. Exercise 2x a week
8. Eat well
9. Don't be a glutton, eat until 80% full
10. Always be presentable/neat - never look sloppy because it reflects on inner psyche

KPI Personality:

• Travel all continents - (Asia, Europe, America, Africa done - Australia in 2013)
• Maintain good relationships and reputation
• Able to converse intelligibly about a lot of different subjects
• Try to make people feel comfortable around me, watch their needs, be a great host
• Be in good health

Family & Relationships

"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others."

- lewis caroll

1. Spend more time with family
2. Be a good daughter, look after mum
3. Be a better sister and role model to my siblings
4. Get married and be an awesome wife (def of awesome to be agreed with husband)
5. Be a good friend and inspire people
6. Value and maintain amazing friendships with Dod, Mike and Sue
7. Always stay positive, try never let someone leave my company drained/sad/negative
8. Never do anything that will dishonour the family name
9. Help the less priviledged
10. Teach, mentor and guide others, we're all in this together

KPI Family

• Call mum at least once every fortnight (fail)
• Maintain a happy husband
• Still be friends with Dod, Mike and Sue
• Loads of great friends
• Start a charity foundation

Career & Finance

"You have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are. If you want to get anywhere, you'll have to run much faster."
    --Lewis Carroll 

1. Work damn hard and always go the extra mile
2. Never let my gender, ethnicity, nationality, age/size etc be an excuse for anything
3. Be constantly be challenged and seek out new projects
2. Always seek feedback and improve
3. Innovate
4. Never rely on only one source of income
5. Have confidence in me
6. Be at a good position in my career - able to afford to retire in 10 years if I wanted (nowhere near!)
7. Do what I love doing, so that I wouldn't want to retire in 10 years
8. Be able to afford to take family on an awesome vacation together annually
9. Lead, think, analyse, be wiseLI
10. Always be adding value to whatever I do

KPI Career:

• Be employed at prestigious company with good job title - manager or above
• Have a salary around double age at least (not yet)
• Promotions at least once every 18-24 months or get a new job (depending on outlook pros & cons)

KPI Finance:

• Buy a house
• Have profitable investments
• Have at least 2 streams of passive income to cover basic expenditure
• Take family for awesome annual vacations
• Afford to set aside money for mum 
• Buying a Kelly bag with own DISPOSABLE income is indication that I'm in a comfortable position

The main summary?
LIVE A LIFE WORTH LIVING.

*Dream bag:*

On truth - I'm learning my lessons...

"Be wary of the truth. I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror."

- Adrian Tan, author of The Teenage Textbook (1988)

Inspirational

What in a job title?

Back from New York and put in some time in Scott (our CEO's) diary for a meeting/quick catch up and was  sent this very curt email from his assistant:

"In future its best to go through me for Scott's diary as I manage that now"

I had no idea he hired an assistant, so I went over to introduce myself to her and said, "Ah, so you must be his personal assistant" and she just looked at me and replied, "I'm an EA, not a PA. Look it up." And turned her back on me and continued to browse the internet.

Wow. Just wow. Well, I've been told, haven't I?

Was it me or was she just really rude?

Also, is there a difference between a PA and EA? I just looked at her LinkedIn profile and she's always been a PA and she's styled herself as an EA here - I thought it was interchangable?

Ah well it was probably a really big deal for her to be an EA and probably the pinnacle of her achievements. In which case I probably crushed all her career dreams by calling her an PA, which seems like something she perceived to be an insult. Eek, I feel awful, but I really had no idea.

Should I should apologise? I've been told to as my colleague said that pissing her off could potentially make my life at work very difficult. Really? It's such a small matter, no one can be that vindictive over such a little thing? It's a job title and who the hell cares what it is? I just think the work you do and the satisfaction you get out of it is far more important. I mean, in the startup world there are Head of Departments who have no direct reports and CEOs of companies of less than 5 people, so I really wouldn't read too much into a title. I don't know.

Maybe it's really important to her so I should put aside that encounter and apologise for calling her a PA instead of an EA.

Argh what should I do? I'm just go to unpack and think it over.

Just sayin'

...it's just good manners to mind your P's and Q's. Especially at work.

It's so basic you'd think you don't have to mention it. 

Don't demand, ask and negotiate.

Say thank you when someone helps you.

I can usually tell how successful an intern/freelancer will be by whether or not they say thank you after I write them a recommendation. The little niceties here and there reflect on you and they add up to whether or not people will want to work with you in the future. If people had a choice of two equally capable people to work with, they'd usually go for the one who is nicer to work with.

I'm grateful now for my strict Convent upbringing and I wish I paid more attention to the etiquette lessons.