A Good Week Is Where You Learn Something Useful You Didn’t Know Before

About two weeks ago, while cycling down Canning Street, I had a lightbulb moment. It sparked the strongest impulse I’d felt in a long time: I wanted to go all in on communication.

Communication as a skill. All of it.

Earlier this year, I’d read something that connected creative writing with how we communicate every day. Through emails, messages, and all the little ways we try to get our thoughts across. That idea had stayed with me,

Two books, a creative writing class, and about twenty meaningful conversations with new people later, I’m looking at things differently. It’s still new and raw enough that I can’t quite put it all into words.

All I’ll say is that I’m learning that people might just be the key to the world.

The last ten days have felt particularly dense. A lot more “rock and roll” than the three weeks that came before them. I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime in just over a week.

I spent two days in EY’s Melbourne office for the Career Compass Program, which was a great learning experience. I’m hoping to make it through to the next stage of their vacationer program application process. But whatever happens, I’m glad I had the opportunity to be there.

I also attended Helen Pitman’s workshop, Be the person who notices. She deserves the credit for the title of this post. She spoke a lot about gathering evidence and, if I’m remembering her words correctly, giving yourself permission to do so. As I interpret it now: giving myself permission to fail.

It’s such a strange but great feeling when someone puts something into words at exactly the moment you need to hear it. Looking at life through this lens, it’s harder to regret the things I’ve done when I’m genuinely grateful for where they’ve brought me (which I am).

Right now, I’m heading to Sydney, where my girlfriend and I will drive up the east coast to Brisbane. I keep coming back to conversations. The ones I’ve had, what they’ve taught me, and the ones I haven’t had yet. I’m realising how much they’ve shaped who I am. Now I’m chasing after them.

ps: the photo is from the second day at the EY office