Posted via email from Jon Dean

Posted via email from Jon Dean

So, to one and all, here’s hoping 2010 beings you all that you ever need and want.

And remember, the harder you work on taking action in a positive direction, the more you will achieve – don’t sweat the small stuff and concentrate on what matters.

Take care, and see you next year

Jon.

Meet Nez!

Now, the difference with me is you’re not going to get the instant gratification of knowing what my goals actually are.  You are going to get my mindset on all my life choices, which I think is a heck of a lot more important.

Let me tell you why.

Everyone this time of year says “I’m gonna do something life changing this year” and lists a number of targets to hit (give up smoking, lose weight, pay off my mortgage, meet Brad Pitt etc).  Then people get all disillusioned when they don’t achieve them by the date they set themselves.

To me that’s just setting yourself up to fail.

Don’t get me wrong, I do set dates and tasks for stuff all the time (hey, I’m a project manager, I even have Gantt Charts!).  I just think that some things in life shouldn’t be forced and should come at a time when you’re ready to do them.

My way is rather simple.  You don’t set the goals to a specific timeframe, you live life by just a couple of questions, and you apply the questions to all which you aim to do.

My two questions are:

1) Will this pay my mortgage and put food on my kids table?
2) Will this make me happy?

If the answer to these questions is ‘Yes’ then I will go ahead and do whatever it is, if the answer is ‘No’ then I wont bother wasting any energy or time on it, because it’s not worth it.

I spent a long time figuring this out, and it works for me.

Before I worked this out I had a life that I wasn’t enjoying one little bit.  I worked a stupid amount of hours in a corporate world, came home and was so stressed that I really wasn’t a nice guy.  My wife was very understanding as she’d worked in stressed places before, but you can’t really explain to a 4 year old or a 2 year old that you just wanna chill out and not read them a bedtime story.

Then something pretty tragic happened last Christmas which made me take a long hard look at my life.  My brother Nick died of a heart attack.  He was only 46 and he wasn’t that unhealthy, we just have a history of heart disease in the family (2 Grandfathers & my dad also died of heart attacks in late 40s early 50s).

After a few months of trying to carry on in my corporate world I just came to the conclusion that it simply wasn’t worth it.  I want to still be around when my kids are growing up, and I don’t want the time I spend with them to be miserable because I’m stressed 24/7.

So I decided to do something about it, I came up with my 2 questions and I decided to move on.

Now moving on for me and moving on for everyone else is different, we all have different commitments and different responsibilities.  I was always worrying about taking the risk of going self employed (or moving jobs for that matter) because it could all go wrong and I need to pay the bills, but in the end I decided that if I didn’t do it then I never would and I asked myself the 2 questions about my current job.  It did pay the bills, it didn’t make me happy.

In the end I took the leap, and now I’m immensely happy and I can still pay the bills.

It could all go wrong tomorrow with the way the economy is, but that can happen in any company and not just to the self employed.  In fact, one of my previous colleagues emailed me right before the holidays and told me they’ve been put on redundancy notice, so if I had stayed there I would be facing a New Year with no job.

I know that if it does go wrong I will still be happy and will still have my family and friends, and in the end that’s all that matters.  Jobs come and go, as does recession and boom times.

In the end, I can always go and work on the bins.  After all, I’ll still be happy and it will put food on my kids table.

So my message is simple, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t achieve your 2009 goals by whatever date.  Do things which make you happy and put food on the table, you’ve only got 1 life don’t waste energy or time on stuff which doesn’t matter.

Here’s to a prosperous 2009 and whatever 2 questions you come up with!

Manchester took a step in the right direction today when it chose to say no to the congestion charge.  The early stats say that of all the people eligible to vote 53% returned their ballot papers, with a whopping 78% of them voting ‘No’.

Although my fellow Mancs said no (as did I) I think we can all agree that there is still a problem and it is only going to get worse.

Now I was all for the plans for the public transport proposals tabled for this referendum, I was just against paying for it via another tax on motorists which I believe unfair.

Although representatives from the ‘Yes’ campaign say that this was the only option, and now that Manchester has decided on a ‘No’ vote then the plans for an overhaul for public transport infrastructure is dead, I have to disagree.

You see I think there is a way to raise the money.

I think that as a region we should whack up speed cameras on 75% of our major roads and motorways in Greater Manchester.

Now don’t shout, bear with me and hear me out!

Many anti-speed camera campaigners have said for a long time that these things don’t act as a deterrent to speeding and that they don’t always have an effect on road safety.  Well that’s fine, because what they have proved to do for as long as they’ve been in existence is provide a steady stream of income for the Government,and not chump change but multi-millions.

So, if we put speed cameras on 75% of the GM roads then the revenue stream from this would go a very long way towards fulfilling the requirements of the proposed public transport plans.

This way only people breaking the law (ie speeding) will be paying for the benefit of all, and not just another tax on already hard-hit-in-the-pocket motorists.

Now I’m pretty sure AGMA don’t read this blog (does anyone?!), but surely the brightest minds in the UK can come up with a way to save the public transport plan without taxing all the motorists of Manchester on a daily basis.

Think outside the box people and do the jobs we voted you into office to do!

OK, that’s my two-penneth, you can leave yours in the comments section.

I was 35 on Friday last week and I don’t feel any older, I certainly don’t look any older, but there has been a noticeable change.

You see, I find myself liking the new Take That song (something about worlds, hold on, hold on),  I simply can’t get it out of my head.

I keep telling myself that it’s OK, I wasn’t a Take That fan when I was younger (although I did like Back for Good - as a one off pop song), I’ve always been into my guitar tunes and this new track does sound very much like something Snow Patrol would do, so that’s OK then.

But then I realise that it’s more than just the Take That track… I actually like that WIll Young track (is it called Grace?) as well. Although I’m really loving that Guru Josh Project track Infinity 2008, I then realise it’s because I loved the original released in 1989… nearly 20 years ago…

Oh no.. I’ve also got Smooth FM tuned in on the car stereo.

How can this have happened in the space of a week?  One of my favourite tracks of the past year was Pendulum’s Propane Nightmares and now I’m hankering after sodding Will Young’s album.

Is this how it’s going to be from now on, a steady stream of easy listening until I finally seccumb to a 2-seater red sports car and start tucking my t-shirts into my jeans, the ones with a crease ironed in them?

I wont let it happen I tells ya!

I make this solemn vow:

I will never buy a 2-seater red sports car or tuck any t-shirt into any trousers with creases in.  If I do, you have the legal right to punch me in the nose – no, you have a duty to punch me in the nose.

The only caveat to the last statement is if I happen to win the lottery and make a rash purchase of an Aston Martin – but that’s got nothing to do with middle age hankering after lost youth and everything to do with a 7 year old boy watching Goldfinger with Sean Connery for the first time.