What is important to you?

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Context

In a discussion about my career pathing with a mentor, we identified that I have a tendency to "judo move" the question, "where do you want to go" with "where the business needs are". I was reflecting on this yesterday and I've come to the conclusion that this is my challenge for this post. They explained what they enjoyed and what they tried to work towards, but I didn't have a good answer to this, well I did, after some thought.

My priorities/values are in this order; family, changing the world for the better, and having a bit of fun. Really what does that mean? 

Family

Family is my everything, without them I am just a man living their normal life. I always put my family first in all decisions. Quality time with my family is my favorite part of my day. Working remotely has really unlocked another level of enjoyment as I'm at home for the majority of my day. So it is quite normal to have a big breakfast together, have some lunch together (some days), and enjoy time after dad is off work.

Changing the world

Changing the world for the better could mean so many things, it feels cheeky (thanks Bluey) but I honestly mean it. I found that my desire to move into more critical roles for the organization stems from wanting to have a bigger impact where I feel I can help. I have ideas, not always great ideas (some are), but ideas. I really enjoy a good problem and coming up with solutions. My biggest hindrance to changing the world in a big way is my #1 priority, and this isn't a bad thing, it keeps me grounded by making too big of risky decisions. Being the sole provider means that I don't want to take on too much risk.

Keeping joy in life

What is life if it doesn't have fun? I enjoy hobbies to have fun. I create wood projects, play some video games, go on runs/hiking, and enjoy auto-sport. These are the fun things that I like to share with my family. It's getting to be super fun as our little one is getting to the point I can start introducing her to my fun :).

What does this mean with where I want to go?

Well, I've already started down the path of bigger groups to support at Grafana Labs. My boss has aligned me with working with a whole group to support and grow the next level of scale for the business. We worked together to ensure that it wouldn't impact my most critical time (my family time). I'm actually working on building out some more systems/processes to improve work and life balance for everyone I support. I'm excited and thrilled to have this opportunity. So what's next after that Tim? I'm still working on reorganizing my growth plan (I have a post I need to do about growth plans, they are super neat and helpful). 

Question

What is important to you?

Are the things you do in the world working with what is important to you or is it pushing you further away?

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