Reflections on 2017 and my goals for the new year

By the end of the year, I love to reflect on how I did on the goals I had defined for myself 12 months ago. I trust it is a good exercise to look at my own reality from some distance and see how much the feared time-drains and daily routines pushed to take over my initially stated objectives.

Last year is bluntly stated:

For 2017,  I have only one goal: Do less but better. I like the idea from the Essentialism book, that priorities should be a singular word, we should have one single priority!.

And the most important thing for me is to enjoy the journey with the right balance between Family – CARTO – Extended Family/Friends – Ecosystem

Success for me will be measured by how my family enjoys 2017, not just copes with it.How we all have the time, the energy and the health to face the challenges with optimism and clear minds.

Seemed easy, right?, not too many goals and more importantly, expectations which appeared to be under in my sole command.

I ended my wishful post in December 2016, with this awesome mantra:

Set my priority right, postponing what is secondary and with FOCUS.
Thinking before speaking
Smile against adversities, smile more, and more.
Be thankful, a lot, for my privileges and the opportunity to be here, present now, to enjoy life to the fullest.

How did I do?

Well, all in all, 2017 has been a tough year, a rollercoaster full of steep ups and downs, but overall my feeling is quite positive. It has been, somehow, a year of completion, a change of a cycle after four years of full immersion into a never ending challenge.

I have, indeed, tried to do less things, as promised. I traveled less, for instance, and I almost achieved my goal of spending no single weekend out of home during the whole year. I have delegated so much more in CARTO that I ultimately realized that I was ready to move on into something different, with the proud feeling that my team is more than ready and capable to take over.

I went to less irrelevant ego-driven ecosystem events, which actually didn´t missed for a beat the fact that I did not attended, which is always a good sign to determine if you should go or not to an event.

I tried hard to think before speaking and while I didn’t manage to smile as much as I expected to, I have been immensely thankful for every moment of joy, creation, love, laughs with friends and time spent with my family, which this year has delivered to me.

After I told the team a few weeks ago that I was leaving CARTO, I got a lot of heavy hearted responses from my fellow colleagues, my dear friends. But there is something that struck me a lot and which I am very grateful for.

A leitmotif in many of the letters was, that I have had a lasting impact in them, not by being a hard-working maniac, or a controlling freak who knows about SaaS or Finance, or about relentless hustling and demand generation. BUT, because I have taught them to care deeply about others, to be open and humble, and always have a minute to help or focus in the challenges others are facing as if they were your own.

Those were not intended teachings, but it is what matters the most. Always.

In 2018, there are many changes approaching my horizon. I will get to meet new colleagues, join a very different organisation, travel to very different places I have never been to and try to have impact to make the lives of entrepreneurs easier all around the world. Again, what a privilege!.

With so much going on, I want to keep my 2018 goals short.

1. Let go of the past and embrace the imperatives of the new situations, to prepare myself for a running start.
2. Meet the expectations of my new stakeholders: my new boss/es, new colleagues, the ecosystem, but without missing the expectations and promises to my loved ones.
3. Spend more time with friends and family – My marriage points account shall not be compromised in 2018, after all the strain I put into it over the last years. It is so important to nurture those who care deeply about yourself, your tribe, which would hold you if you fall, and not just follow you if you rise. They are just a handful of individuals, but they can surely change my world.
4. Be humble, be realistic and remain a possibilist. Aim for the things that can be done considering the circumstances, my own skills and the balance between my needs, the needs of the ones I love and the never ending flow of external requests.
5. And never forget the privilege I have to be here and now, present and ready to enjoy the challenges of the future.