I wanted to blog about what is going on with my life. Many changes, many things happening, mostly for the good, but with the good does come some sacrifice. Although I’d love to write everything into a single blog, given our society’s short attention span, I decided to break it into multiple parts. Here’s part 1 of 2.

Summer of 2009, I’m at a company event, doing what I do. I have a good position with this company; I do what many call “magic”, while I call it my job. I have always been good at what I do, but I constantly set expectations high (where I can), and over deliver. Maybe that’s a sales trait, but I have been doing it before I joined a sales organization. Confidence is what I like to call it, sometimes cocky, but never with people I’m unfamiliar with.

At this company event, I win an award. It’s not like I haven’t won these before, but this one was followed by a slightly drunken conversation with a co-worker, and finally it clicked. I need to quit being so fucking damn humble.Stand up and proclaim “yes I can, yes I will, now move the fuck over and let me get it done.” My co-workers have always instilled confidence in me, but it took this person to make me realize, that this isn’t a freak accident, or a seldom occurrence. Many of my works turn out into some type of success. It was time to take my career to the next level.

The following week, I flew my wife into California, to vacation. This was the best spontaneous vacation I ever had.We spent 7 nights in 6 different sleeping accommodations. We toured the bay area, like I have never toured before, and had an absolute blast.Within 24 hours of landing, and experiencing the wonders of the bay area, my wife, already mentioned how it wouldn’t be so bad living there. On the last night there, I just happened to run into my company CEO, mentioned this to him, and his eyes lit up like fire: “We can make that happen”.

Fast forward a year, to the 2010 company event. Having endured another year of successful work with my company, where I won an internal competition, and was in line for even more awards, even making the CEO’s “party invite list”. I had dinner the first night with some staff from senior and executive management, where I proclaimed I was ready for a move to the bay area. After kicking his chair out, and asking “are you serious”, I knew I had sponsorship from the executives.

For the next few weeks, I worked my wife into understanding the benefits of living in California. We were 32 years old, and already achieved all previous life goals. We were living the dream, but not in a dream location. It was time to make it Awesome! She’s still not convinced, but we already moved, and committed for at least 18 months. Hopefully by then, she will be fully supportive, as my new life goals have become staggering, and the new dream is something that will take lots of work, blood, sweat, and I’m sure some tears. I believe in myself, and my friends and colleagues, whom I am close to and work with me all agree; one day I can, and will be a Chief Technology Officer. That’s my dream, my goal, and moving to California was the first step in realizing it.

Is it lofty? Yes. But if you don’t set the bar high, you will never try harder. I don’t need to be a CTO tomorrow, nor the next year. But I do want to strive to become one. With time, experience, maturity, and exposure to the right people, I will ultimately achieve the dream.

Mind you not achieving this goal will not make my life a failure; I’ve already achieved everything I wanted to do, and it was time for a new dream.

And this line is for a co-worker and friend whom I have much confidence in, listen to attentively, and heed his advice every time we are together.

Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?