The New Revolution

As some of you know, if there is anyone that still reads this, I have been somewhat tardy with my blog writings of late. The reason I am putting this down to is two-fold; 1) I have been writing my book, and I want to dedicate as much time to this as possible, 2) the blog was about my general life and I wrote about which ever whim took my fancy. It was dependant largely on mood as well as news worthy activities that I had encountered.

This meant that sometimes when I was in the mood to write, I couldn't because there was nothing to write about, and other times when I didn't want to write I had felt a duty to enter a blog entry because something grand had happened. This led to some strange entries, even if I do say so myself. In times of no real news, I would let my imagination play away and the result would be something peculiar at best and just weird at worst.

But the new blog will be different, not because I am going to write in a different way, or that I am going to be more disciplined (even though I will be as well), but more that the new revolution is something very real that I want to change about my life, and the blog is just a vehicle for me to track my progress. Therefore a specific theme for a specific blog, and coincidentally the title still remains apt.

I am going to change my life from the one that most people recognise me for. The life that probably, and scarily, defines me to people who don't know me, more than the other aspects of my life which sum me up better.

I, of course, am talking about the Corporate life that I have existed in for the last 12 years. The Old Accountancy Avenue. The Bean-counters Boulevard. The Corporate Crescent. That vocation that I have landed in, more through a laziness to think of anything else that I wanted to do, and a few failed dreams along the way, than an actual considered direction.

Guess what, I have found direction. My lighthouse is shining bright upon the rocks of the darkened bay, and guiding me away from danger. Now most of you that know me will, I am sure, think that you have heard me saying similar things roughly every year. Well, you may be right. This time, however, I have much more belief behind me, and also one other quality that will lead me to the Promised Land. Energy.

This was the problem that there always was with the band. Our energy levels were almost underground. I read somewhere recently that you only get back from the universe what you equally put in. Although this sounds quite spiritual, it is echoed in many places in one way or another. Even The Beatles sang, "The love you get is equal to the looooo-vvvvve you give."

The difficult dimension with the band was that there were 5 of us, and that is hard to pull in one direction. That isn't even including the wags, that honestly never wanted the band to succeed because it would have meant a life on the road, and not the ideal lifestyle for starting families. Although some of them wouldn't have said that in so many words, especially not Claire, the band knew it, and it was an invisible rope keeping us tethered to the hobby.

Now my new journey will be on my own, it is aligned with supporting a family, and it will provide many more opportunities than ever would present itself if I stay where I am.

A number of signals have been sent my way recently that have pushed me further and further towards action, rather than passively moaning about things.

1) A friend of mine that was 40 died a couple of weeks ago. I used to play football with him, he never had any vices, and he had 3 young kids. He hated working as an accountant and for at least 15 years he didn't enjoy life to the absolute maximum because he spent 40 hours a week in a rut. Then it was all taken away from him, suddenly. What a slap around the chops.

2) A long standing pension at my company, that people who had worked here since pre-1996 held, was taken away without any warning a month ago. This was known as the golden handcuffs. It was a final salary pension that encouraged loyalty from its members by keeping them here until they retire and they will be richly rewarded. By taking it away this promise is no longer there, even to those that were in the scheme. Those people that have worked for 20-30 years have now been slapped in the chops. Where's the loyalty from the other side. The answer is there is none. As long as you work for someone else then you can never be fully in control of your life. You will never have as many choices as if you held the strings yourself.

3) A variety of other signals that are small in isolation but at every one the message is heightened.

It seems as though now the whole universe is shouting at me to change. I realise that this is a symptom of focusing on a particular subject. Ever bought a new car and then seen that car everywhere afterwards? But, the message has reached the point where I have now screamed back, "enough already." (bit American, sorry about that)

So the time has come for a change, and I am the only one that has the power to make a change in myself. It's never going to be given to me.

The plan is this. I will use this blog to monitor my progress to an end goal of establishing a number of different income streams in a year’s time. I want to try a number of different things to assess the reward gained, the ability to ensure a kind of certainty around it, and also, more importantly, whether I enjoy it or it becomes a chore.

If the idea eventually is to continue in to the unknown with a number of these running simultaneously then by definition they need to be able to co-exist with each other. A good way of proving this is to jump into it while I am working 9-5 (on a good day).

In the next instalment I will aim to make a list of some of the ideas that I have had this far and hopefully come up with an approach to at least tackling number one. Also, you can expect to hear stories from the front line of capitalism as well. As this is the reason why I am chasing a new future, it is important for me to realise why I am leaving this security blanket. And I can't help myself either.

Until next time, Comrades. Peace.