Halfway through 2024
// Flying Fast
Halfway through 2024 and I feel like I’m just getting started - you?
I’m sure that it feels to you like it does to me that the world is now flying past at 1000mph and time just doesn’t stop - it feels like only yesterday when I wrote the first article of ‘The Clique’ and in reality - it’s been almost a year. By the end of July, I will have (apart from one week when I broke my leg) written an article every week for a year.
But, it now doesn’t feel like an exercise to write something every week, it just becomes a part of the normal and I’m really enjoying it.
183 days ago, I was still in my ‘old’ job, I was serving out my 3 month notice period and I was looking forward to a new challenge. I was considerably fitter as I was playing football twice a week and trying my best to get ‘fitter’.
26 weeks it’s been since the turn of the new year.
The mad thing is - it’s been 14 weeks since I broke my leg in a charity football match at the end of March so in 2024, I’ve been injured longer than I havent and thats the weird part.
// The Article
I read an article on Linkedin this week by Gary Vee and something that really resonated with me was the concept of patience.
I often worried about whether I was moving fast enough or changing quick enough to move with the industry I was in - whether I was keeping up with trends, focusing on what I needed to do to remain ‘in front’ but over the last few weeks and months (since March really) - its been nice to take things at a different level.
I’ve had to be patient because I had no choice.
I couldn’t rush my leg back to health, I couldn’t rush the ‘walking’ of my recovery and I couldn’t rush the stitches to heal. I’ve learned a lot since the 25 March and the biggest thing is to stop pushing myself so hard.
The old me, the one who ended 2023 with repeated hamstring niggles and really sore ankles after every Monday night football was constantly rushing to get back to football - never wanting to miss a game and never wanting to let my team down but I’m learning to accept that I was doing more damage to myself than just spending a few weeks on the sidelines.
I won’t know if the sore ankles were a pre-cursor to me breaking my leg but I know that my unwillingness to stop certainly played a part and for that, I let myself down.
Gary talked about the eagerness to push forwards, forever innovating and forever full of appetite and hunger to drive things forwards and in sales, business and growth - thats the way to be but it does come at a cost.
// The Cost
The cost of relentless eagerness to push forward, without allowing for necessary rest and recovery, can be substantial.
In my case, constantly rushing to get back to football without giving my body the time it needed to heal exacerbated my injuries, leading to repeated hamstring issues and ultimately a broken leg.
This drive to never miss a game and not let my team down mirrored the pressures we often feel in business and sales - to always be innovating, advancing, and maintaining momentum.
However, this has before (and probably will again) lead to burnout, increased stress, and ultimately a decline in performance and health.
So, I’m actually coming to realise that while eagerness and drive are essential for success, they must be balanced with patience and self-care to avoid the hidden costs of overexertion.
Thats my learning for the first half of 2024.
// But..
In exactly 103 days, I intend to run the Bournemouth Half Marathon for charity (MyTime Young Carers specifically) so maybe I haven’t learned anything .. but it’s for good reason.
I believe I can do it - for the last 2 weeks, I’ve been running and running comfortably and for the last 3 years (YES 3 YEARS) - I have signed up for the Bournemouth Half Marathon and then never trained, never run it and let myself and the opportunity for charity fundraising down.
I am angry at myself because I always sign up for the half marathon as soon as the tickets are released with the best intentions - I will get myself fitter and run it.
But this year feels different because I got myself into a situation where I was 'too big’ - my own body literally snapped my ankle because of the force I was putting through it on the football pitch and that has to stop.
The time I had off because of my ankle injury not only taught me to be patient (especially in my recovery) but it’s also allowed me to take stock of my own lifestyle.
It’s kind of a wake up call.
// Thats not all..
The 14 weeks since my leg break also allowed me to start to be creative again - it’s what kick started my journey with the clothing brand (www.letthemhate.co.uk) and it’s allowed me to restart doing some of the things I love.
After the injury, Creator Day 2024 happened with You Are the Media and it allowed me to do some work on video - something which was drained out of me over the last few years.
I must say, I am incredibly happy when I am sat with headphones on, editing on Premiere Pro and looking at ways I can create a narrative and the remainder of 2024 has to kickstart the video content again.
There is scope to create video again within my new role - to be creative again and bring people in on a journey. Thats going to happen in the latter half of 2024.
I have other things being planned to coincide with the launch of ‘let them hate’ and over the coming months I will share more but I have to say that all this new creative work has been based around this, the newsletter.
// Callback
At the start of 2024 - I wrote this article (click here) and it detailed what I wanted to achieve in 2024.
So you don’t need to read the full article, the main goals of that article were to -
Remain sober for 2024 (hmmmm…)
Get functionally fit - which was working until the ankle injury (albeit I wasn’t taking steps to recover/rest)
Remain consistent with my newsletter (finally, I can say I did that)
Create more content - kind of on track right?
All in all, except for the ‘remaining sober’ goal - I think I’m doing ok. The fitness has always been one of my goals - it’s an ever present goal - something that should never leave and I’m starting to realise that I need to adjust my overall lifestyle to achieve that one.
There is still time to create content - the vlogs will return.
// The Goal
So for the remainder of 2024 - I want to start being and feeling like me again - this means using all the tech, all my cameras and creating stuff again.
Thats it. Just to be creative and enjoy creating again.
I have proven to myself, with this blog, that I can remain consistent and at the start of this journey, it was a pressure I didn’t want - I’m glad I’ve come through it.
It’s pushing me onto new projects, new ideas and it’s bringing me back to enjoying the process again.
Thats what we all want right?
Just to enjoy doing good work.