Let’s face it. October really sorta marks the beginning of the end of the year, doesn’t it? And as 2024 barrels to the finish line in just in a few short months, I find myself already looking back over the year – assessing my successes and failures, goals completed and goals not yet realized.

CCNP was on my 2024 bucket list. At the outset of the year, despite an already crazy busy work life, family life, and very little time left for self – I had endeavored to secure my ENCOR credential in the first half of the year and ENARSI in the second.

But wait, there’s more.

I had also ‘visioned board’ goals to continue expanding into automation & DevNet, increase my Python knowledge, complete Harvard’s free online CS101 course, start my blogging journey, and to even dip my toes into the world of tech content creation. I was geared up and ready to go – it was all about #MoreIn2024!

Yeah, I know. I overloaded my plate. I overwhelmed myself with everything that I had placed upon my shoulders, and to be honest, buckled under the weight of all – just a little. So now, nearing the end of #MoreIn2024, I find myself a bit disappointed with my progress. Don’t get me wrong, on the most important goal on my list, securing my CCNP certification, I have in fact made significant progress – despite not having yet sat for either exam. Despite that, it is the one thing on my 2024 to-do list that I am the closest to achieving, and may yet well bag the ENCOR before the 2024 curtain call.

So what has been my biggest roadblock? What, more than any one thing, has fowled my every attempt to move the ball forward?

Me.

If there is one major lesson I’ve learned in 2024 with respect to all my ambitions, it is this: leave some time for ‘me’.

If there is a second major lesson, it would be this: Just start! And as an addendum to that – just take one step, one day at a time.

Leaving some time for ‘me’ to me means just what it says. After giving so much of myself to work, to my family, to my dreams and aspirations – all of which are important and major parts of who I am, they are not the sum total of what makes me tick, and I didn’t really leave any room for the other stuff that does. The major consequence of failing to do so is burnout and its crippling side effect, procrastination. Its more than just time management. It is about giving yourself time to disconnect and in that period of disconnection to get reenergized about all of the things you’re pursuing in the first place. I’ll take this lesson with me into 2025 for sure, but I am definitely incorporating it now, before 2024 concludes. I need a holiday.

Just Start! Just take one step, one day at a time. I tend to overthink. In fact, I sometimes overthink about overthinking. Before I can press go, everything has to be ‘lined up perfectly,’ every single detail planned out, every what if answered, every scenario mapped out….yada yada yada. And before you know it, you look up and you’re still standing at the starting line long after the race has been called – or at least that’s been my experience. But what I’ve learned reflecting back, not only over this year but also over years gone by, is that my tendency to overthink is really just a manifestation of fear – or at the very least anxiety. Anxiety over not having visibility of what’s around the corner. Of course, the obvious fallacy here, is that the closer you get to the corner, the better the visibility becomes – but it requires getting off the starting line. Taking that first step. And then the next, and the next. It is an oversimplified antidote, perhaps, but the weight of this lesson in the waning part of the year, with so much of my checklist left unchecked, is immeasurable to me.

When I wasn’t burned out, I was often times stuck at the jumping-off point – unsure about the how and paralyzed over that uncertainty. Moving forward I intend to lean into the uncertainty, to be okay with it and to trust that one step, one day at a time will bring clarity and improved vision with each new step.

This blog post, my first, is one of those ‘first steps’. And it marks the checking-off of another of my #MoreIn2024 goals. While the subject matter of this first post is far from what I had envisioned it would be – just starting it feels pretty damn good.

So, forward! No, 2024 isn’t over yet, but as we get closer to closing it out, I for one am looking forward to 2025, the completion of this and many more goals. Equipped with a fresh perspective. Reenergized and motivated anew!

“It is about giving yourself time to disconnect and in that period of disconnection to get reenergized about all of the things you’re pursuing in the first place…I need a holiday.”

Dave Brown