We just crossed over to 2011 and a lot of us were counting our blessing for what happened in 2010 as the economy bounced back. Some of us even looked back at the past 10 years. So what’s different for you when you compare your 2000 to your 2010?
For me, the key highlight will be I had 3 kids and my career is now on the fast track. Of cause my digital life have also grown a lot amongst other things.
But what will the next 10 years be like? How can we prepare for 2020 in order to get a head start? What kind of mindset should we start adopting to get ready for the next decade? How can I as a parent prepare my kids for 2020?
Good Reads
A month ago I read The Four Secrets of Playtime That Foster Creative Kids by Frog Design and its a fantastic read.
So, my question is, “Are our children getting the play they need to thrive in the 21st century?†According to reports from sources such as Harvard University, Time magazine, Newsweek, and The Futurist, the answer is no. ~ Frog Design
Incidentally a colleague of mine bought me The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Sir Ken Robinson as a Christmas gift (thanks Preethi). Many would have known him from the Ted Video Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity.
I’m still reading it, but just the first chapter alone is powerful enough for anyone to start thinking about what are they doing now and what are they really good at. Life is short enough, so if you want to start living and stop complaining about the daily grind, then take action. Quickly find out what you truly enjoy doing and go for it.
When I was in Uni, my Internet Security Lecturer told us on the very first lecture that whatever he taught us will be obsolete when we graduate. He was mostly correct. The world is changing too fast and its really anyone’s guess on what it will become, especially for my industry which is the internet.
If we can’t predict the future and our best guess will still be a guess, then how can we prepare for it? I believe we can at least prepare our attitude towards it and adapt to it when it happens and invest time really discovering what we are naturally good at.
Threewords.me
Being in my mid 30s, I believe I know myself quite well and am quite sure I’m doing what I love and what i’m good at, but what if i’m wrong? What if there is a huge blind spot and I can’t see it. What if there is something else? I believe Web Project Management is my job, my day gig, but could I transform into a superhero outside of this day gig?
So if you are a personal friend of mine or have worked with me in the past, do help me discover my super power by just providing me three words at http://threewords.me/nickpan. Its super easy and you can do one for yourself too. :)
As for my kids
I’m on a mission to enhance education for my children, I want them to enjoy what they are doing in their life and at an early age discover what they are good at and encourage it. Right now I think Clié is a dancer, Cleo is a collector / curator and Clara is a leader. But its still too early to tell.
Here is Clié dancing in HK Disneyland. This was in 2008 when we visited Hong Kong Clié was 6 then.
The thing about her is she can’t sit still and will move to any melody she can pick up. As you know Disneyland constantly have a soundtrack going on, so the entire place is filled with music. We were just sitting down, waiting for my wife to pick up photos when I notice Clié dancing in front of me. Took out the camera and recorded this impromptu dance she did.
Also we have started a project to create a world where its filled with their imagination and we named this world Slant Land. The trees are slanted, the houses are slanted. We have a map of Slant Land and we are progressively filling it up with my kids’ imagination. I hope we keep at it and create something they can remember for the rest of their lives.
2020, see you soon.
