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We got up at 05:30 this morning to walk up Mauao. I love the story of how the mountain came to be.

“Mauao is the sacred mountain at the entrance to Tauranga Harbour. Its name, meaning ‘caught in the light of the day’, comes from the legend in which Mauao was once a nameless mountain, spurned in love by the beautiful mountain Pūwhenua. One night he begged the fairy-like creatures of the forest to drag him to the ocean and end his misery. But the creatures fled as the morning sun’s rays struck, and he was transfixed on the spot.”

We caught the sunrise and were equally transfixed.

I recently noticed how I spend significantly more time on goals for work compared to personal ones.

So I’ve taken time this week to reflect on 2021 and set personal goals for 2022.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, I used Rohan’s annual reflection template.

They cover the right set of topics for what I need: highlights, lessons learned, sources of learning, themes for the year ahead, etc.

I also like how the questions are easy to answer, but also inspire me to take the time to write out thoughtful responses.

I’m pairing it with a set of annual and quarterly goals that I’ll revisit throughout the year.

An individual, team, or company can only focus on one thing at a time, maybe two.

Any more than two, and the focus is spread too thin.

Things will always be added to our plates, and our typical reaction is to think, “I can make it work.”

But the trade-offs, and their consequences, aren’t immediately apparent.

We bury ourselves in the work, and only further down the road we realise we’re overextended.

Although it takes discipline to anticipate future challenges, ruthlessly prioritise, and build in a margin of safety, what’s the cost of not doing it?

For 15 years—from the time I was 5 til 20–I can’t remember my mum ever swimming in the ocean.

It just wasn’t her thing, she said.

The sun too hot. The water too cold. Someone needed to watch our stuff.

However, more than a decade later, she’s been in the water every day on this recent trip to the beach.

Shocked, I asked her what changed.

She said, “As I get older, I choose to be open to new things and experiences.”

And that was it. No further explanation.

I then started to notice other small changes that have built up over the years.

She goes to the gym almost every day; something she never did when I was a kid. She reads voraciously—even more than she used to. And she’s now always up for a trip on the boat with my dad.

She’s quietly and consistently setting a great example on choosing to be more open with age.

I’m really proud of her.

Playing board games is one of our camping traditions.

This year, we brought 10 with us.

Not excessive, at all.

From strategy, to numbers, to cards, to words, to abstract—we’ve got a sufficient range and styles to satisfy everyone in our 8-person group.

Quite a few are 2-player games that Dad and I get a lot of mileage from, and the rest of them are a mixture of classics (i.e., Catan), and off-the-wall (i.e., Dixit).

Dad and I have a rivalry on Yinsh, an awesome 2-player that requires equal parts abstract and strategic thinking. Super easy to learn, but tremendous depth once you get into it.

Codenames has become a staple every night after dinner, as it’s a great word/guessing game for a larger group.

I’m also really enjoying Azul, because although there’s an element of competition, the goal is to complete a mosaic of tiles which makes it quite relaxing.

Full list here:

• Catan
• Ticket to Ride
• Love Letter
• Skip Bo
• Dixit
• Azul
• Yinsh
• Jaipur
• Hive
• Codenames

Let me know if you’ve got recommendations for larger groups, or if you’ve got a few family favourites!

Catching the fish and eating it is the fun part.

But it also comes with a tax: an early morning start, weather checking, route planning, boat cleaning, and quite a bit of mess.

But the tax doesn’t have to be a cost. It can also be an investment: a memory, a story, and a moment that can’t be traded.

I’ve loved going out fishing with the family over the past week. Dad did it a tonne when he was a kid, but our family only did the odd bit when I was young.

So we’re making up for it now!

It may not be fishing for you and yours, but it’s worth asking what’s the tax you’ll pay to create those most valuable memories?

I’m currently camping by the beach with family for 2 weeks.

We’re at the base of Mt Maunganui. It was our Christmas Break spot for more than a decade as I was growing up, and it’s great to be back.

With my 3-year-old nephew now on the scene, we’re taking a lot of photos. In the midst of capturing a funny moment, or new experience, there often isn’t time to set up a nice shot.

Balance. Exposure. Contrast. Saturation. Alignment. Framing.

It really doesn’t matter if what you’re trying to capture is the emotion, the moment, the memory.

When we’re framing memories, it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Part of the joy of this blog is getting messages from you folks—things that reminded you of posts, or ideas you think are worth sharing.

I wrote back in November about how nature can have a mind of its own, and how sometimes we need to build around it rather than fight it.

Lucy shared the below photo from a recent canopy walk in Thailand, and it was too stunning not to share.

It’s wonderful idea to finish the year on for a few reasons: 1) it’s good practice to reflect back on things we’ve learnt throughout the year, 2) and what we learn is always better when shared.

So thanks for joining me this year, folks! It’s been a blast.

Happy New Year, and here’s to all that’s to come.

Dad and I went cycling today along a track in the Bay of Plenty.

Almost everyone who we came across smiled and said a hearty, “Hello!”

It’s been a while since I’ve been back in New Zealand, and I missed these outdoor greetings.

It’s not that they don’t happen elsewhere—because they do—but rather that they happen so reliably and ubiquitously here.

It reminded me of Seth Godin’s idea: people like us do things like this.

Things like this are a culture, a habit, a way of life.

They don’t just happen.

Not can they be bought.

And for all things that can’t be bought, they need to be cared for, maintained, passed down, and preserved.

In many countries 911, 112, 111, and 999 all work.

When there’s an emergency, it’s unwise to be pedantic which numbers are right or wrong.

It’s better to make it as easy as possible to get hold of emergency services—no matter who you are, what country you’re in, or what number you learnt growing up.

There’s something in here we can learn for the products, services, and processes were responsible for building because, sometimes, the rules can hurt more than help.

I recently posted about Ted Lasso, and today I’m sharing my favourite scene.

It’s written around the Walt Whitman quote, “Be curious, not judgemental.”

It got me thinking about how much richer, open, and full life can be when we chose curiosity over judgment. When we approach the world wanting to learn, rather than thinking we know it all. And when we assume the best of others, of situations, and of ourselves.

I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘self-authorisation’ recently.

Self-authorisation is giving oneself permission. Permission to write, to draw, to make music, or do anything creative.

It’s been spurred on by this post by Austin Kleon, and his reflection on Verlyn Klinkenborg’s thinking in Several Short Sentences About Writing.

The problem is that as a kid grows up, at some point, they start to say, “I no longer have permission to do X.”

What causes this timidity? What drives the reluctance?

I feel it sometimes when approaching certain topics on this blog; I think: there’s so much I don’t know, and there’s so many others better qualified to speak on the matter.

I love how Klinkenborg gives us the tools to work through this fear:

“But everything you notice is important.
Let me say that a different way:
If you notice something, it’s because it’s important.
But what you notice depends on what you allow yourself to notice,
And that depends on what you feel authorized, permitted to notice
In a world where we’re trained to disregard our perceptions.

Who’s going to give you the authority to feel that what you notice is important?
It will have to be you.
The authority you feel has a great deal to do with how you write, and what you write,
With your ability to pay attention to the shape and meaning of your own thoughts
And the value of your own perceptions.

And so, each day, I try to turn up and notice. And today, with a little more self-authorisation than yesterday.

Join me.

As we’re approaching the new year, many of us are taking stock.

We’ll reflect on the year that has been, and we’ll envision what we’d like to achieve, experience, and feel in the one to come.

One habit I’ve found helpful is to let go of any expectation during this season.

It doesn’t need to be profound.

We don’t need a detailed breakdown of where things could’ve gone better, nor do we need complex—and hard to keep—resolutions.

A bit of gratitude of paper, and perhaps 1-2 big things to focus on for the next year is often more than enough.

It’s makes reflecting more enjoyable, and frames the coming year in a much more achievable light.

I’m thrilled to be reunited with my family, and understandably, all I can muster for today’s post is a massive grin!

For those celebrating today, Merry Christmas to you and yours!

I received my final negative COVID test result today, and I’m set to be released from the Managed Isolation facility on Christmas morning.

Now that I’m coming to the end of my time here, I thought I’d reflect a little on the experience.

Managed Isolation has been excellent. I really have no complaints. The staff have been attentive, polite, and helpful. The room was clean, and the food has been healthy.

My days usually started around 4 or 5am so I could catch my colleagues in London and New York for a few hours. I then had a solid block for focused work which allowed me to get ahead of a lot of planning and preparation for 2022.

I hired an exercise bike for the week, so in the afternoons I’d get in a cycle and some bodyweight exercises. I’ve played quite a bit of Starcraft II, got lost in a few YouTube rabbit holes, binged Ted Lasso, and spent time calling my family and friends.

I think the New Zealand government runs a really tight ship, and I’m so impressed by how seriously they’re taking border security. There is a reason why millions of New Zealanders will be able to enjoy a summer without the risk of Omicron, and I’m grateful.