I’m not interested in being average. I’m out to be exceptional.

I’m not waiting to be picked. I’m actively creating opportunities.

I’m commanding my time so I can own my trajectory and maximize my impact.

  The Outlier Developer Manifesto

I signed the manifesto after watching Cory House’s brilliant pluralsight course “Becoming an Outlier: Reprogramming the Developer Mind”.

I don’t see my work as a job or a career, but a calling. Second only to my family. I summed this up in my work motivation, the way I see it now:

Simplify lives of users by creating software solutions that solves real needs. Preferrably with a highly skilled team of like-minded, caring individuals.

Oh, and make a dent in the universe on the way…

Pavneet

No lofty goals there… But this is my guiding star. So I’m beginning with the end in mind. Mind you, this is not a New Years resolution, but a long term mission statement.

Areas of focus Next Steps

As for the reaching towards that goal, I’ve decided upon upon which areas that will need attention. Based on these I can define my next steps.

  • Continue my community work as Chapter Lead for the local .Net user group (NNUG Vestfold).
  • Build and contribute to the new Vestfold Developer slack community for all developers in and around the Vestfold area. Contribute to making others succeed.
  • Take my CSS skills to the next level so I can deliver a true end-to-end experience for users.
  • Actively learn new front-end technology(ies) that I don’t use at work.
  • Speak at another user group outside of Vestfold, and possibly also a conference.
  • Answering closed questions with thoughts on my blog.
  • Continue to embrace team leadership, Agile, architecture and share my thoughts around this.
  • Create urgency by setting concrete goals.
  • Do it all in public.
  • Screw fear. It has held me back too long.
  • Work smarter, not harder.Personal productivity. Squeeze as much out of each hour as possible.
  • Be open to new opportunities that allow me to pursue this.

Reality-check

There are fail-safes that are in place here though. Pursuing the extremeties of becoming an outlier requires sacrifice, and it’s up to me to figure out the cost and pay it.

Family first

The family has always, and will always come first.

Considerate over ego-centric

Focusing on becoming an outlier requires focusing and pushing your priorities. There may come times when this directly conflicts with a team-effort / other individuals. I am very much about the team and that creating wonderful products is better when there’s a team behind it.

Health

Ever since my burnout I have completely lost focus on what I eat, and my running. These 4 months have been devastating to my physical health. I know that to obtain these mental and life-goals, my body needs to join the ride. Also, given the allergies and health conditions in our household, this is a necessity. If you’re interested you can read about part of our journey here (norwegian).

I am a running geek, and have loved running competitions, hoping to push limits to marathon. This is going to be bumped down to regular runs to keep my health in check. Maybe I can combine it with some cross-fit. We’ll see what fits.

I will focus on personal development through mindfulness and possibly meditation.

Sleep. Nothing more needs saying.

Friends & Hobbies

I’ll be doing some heavy pruning of my twitter followings and facebook friends. Twitter is pretty clean, since I follow some well-defined lists mostly. Facebook on the other hand  is a mess of friends & acquaintences close and far.

Playing football, running competitions (10k & half-marathons) and playing games are going to be sacrificed.

I will try to make the occasional road-trip to visit friends. Most happen to live 2-hours away. So I can let the wife drive and I can cram in some outlier time on the road.

Rounding up

I want to live my (professional) life to its fullest potential. But instead of aimlessly jumping on the next round life deals out to me, I want to have the opportunity and possibility to decide when my hand gets dealt. Or at least have a card or two up my sleeve.

So here’s to stop sucking, and being awesome! I hope you’ll join me on this journey.

Cover image “A Street Called Awesome” used under Creative Commons from moonlightbulb. 

Update: changed Next Steps -> Areas of focus