We had our last leadership retrospective for the year at Synacy last month. My boss, Mark, pointed out one thing at the retro – 2019 was a transformational year. In so many ways, it definitely was for our organization, and I’m glad to have been a part of that change.
Beyond that though, 2019 has been incredibly transformational for me personally. My first child was born, I started a new job after 12 years, and our family moved to a new home. All that in a span of just two months. A quarter of the year later, I started working on my MBA.
And the craziest thing is, I never even felt how much my life had changed this year as everything seemed to happen so naturally.
What drives transformation?
To me, it was all about taking risks and being mentally prepared.
Taking risks is something that doesn’t come easy for me. Left to my own devices, I would typically go with the status quo. But trying to build a business last year made me realize I need to take on more risks to grow out of my comfort zone.
Being mentally prepared is equally important. I’ve heard all these nightmare stories about sleepless nights and nearly losing minds when it comes to newborn babies. These stories served me quite well as it allowed me to prepare myself mentally. Yes, I lost a lot of sleep, but it never bothered me as I had kept the scenario in my mind ever since we were expecting. When it became a reality, I wasn’t caught off guard.
As important as these two things were though, I have to say I’m a believer that a bit of luck always comes into play. I’ve had some lucky breaks this year that allowed me to achieve what I did. But whatever luck comes our way, I also believe it’s a matter of what we do with the circumstances that determines how things turn out.
2020, here we go!
I doubt I’ll have a year as transformational as 2019 in a long while, but who knows what the future holds? While I don’t know for sure how 2020 could beat this year in terms of positive change, I’m eager to see how it plays out. In any case, I’m pretty positive it’s gonna be a great year.
Happy new year, everyone!
Dexter is an engineering manager at Synacy, a co-founder of ATeam Business Software Solutions, and founder of TechManagement.Life. He loves to share his experiences and thoughts on managing software teams and running businesses.