Zowie! The end of the year. It was a great year for me and I hope for you too. But day after day, year after year, your support for this column and hearing from you from time to time continues to be a very special thing for me. Each year, I get to meet some of our OTR community whom I've never met before and this year was no exception. You guys are a special bunch. I look forward to us sharing another year together. Btw, you can connect with me here (felix.steve@gmail.com). Thanks to all of you.
For me, 2011 has had lots of twists and turns professionally and I look forward to new opportunities in 2012. It's been a year of a lot of babies being born into our family and now the planning of how to visit them face2face periodically until they are old enough to come visit us. We're already talking about where everybody will sleep but, as many of you have probably experienced, when it comes to family every available bed, couch, futon and inflatable mattress (aren't those things great?) is fair game.
A number of you have written to me about the changes that either have happened to you or that you're initiating in your lives. Philosophically we're told that change is good. But it also brings with it uncertainty and some degree of stress. Everyone handles stress differently. For almost my whole life, I have used banging at (when I was very young) and playing the piano as one of my 'Stress Reduction" tools. I also like going to a movie theatre and eating buttered popcorn and drinking a Coke (This week I saw a nice feelgood movie, "We Bought A Zoo."
Today is the last day for me in my current job. I got to work with some great people and I learned a lot. When I talk with people about their careers, I offer this suggestion: "Decide what you like to do, decide what you're good at and then find a place to do it." So now, I'm remembering to follow my own advice. A quote from Goethe that I've always liked, ""What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." And one more quote from the movie, Hoosiers. "Boys, don't to get caught watchin' the paint dry! (A basketball term which basically means, "Don't get caught asleep at the wheel.").
A number of you have written to me about the changes that either have happened to you or that you're initiating in your lives. Philosophically we're told that change is good. But it also brings with it uncertainty and some degree of stress. Everyone handles stress differently. For almost my whole life, I have used banging at (when I was very young) and playing the piano as one of my 'Stress Reduction" tools. I also like going to a movie theatre and eating buttered popcorn and drinking a Coke (This week I saw a nice feelgood movie, "We Bought A Zoo."
Today is the last day for me in my current job. I got to work with some great people and I learned a lot. When I talk with people about their careers, I offer this suggestion: "Decide what you like to do, decide what you're good at and then find a place to do it." So now, I'm remembering to follow my own advice. A quote from Goethe that I've always liked, ""What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." And one more quote from the movie, Hoosiers. "Boys, don't to get caught watchin' the paint dry! (A basketball term which basically means, "Don't get caught asleep at the wheel.").
Remember: "Where we're going we don't need roads"!
Happy 2012 everybody.
Steve
On the road...
Jan. 11-13: Chicago
Jan. 17-20: Laguna Beach, CA to attend IMN's Ninth Annual Winter Forum on Real Estate Opportunity and Private Fund Investing
Jan. 24: London to attend the INREV UK Winter Seminar 2012
Jan. 25: London to attend and moderate a panel at the Fifth Annual Thompson Reuters Global Property Outlook 2012 (Invitation only)
Jan. 30-Feb. 1: Scottsdale, AZ to attend IREI's VIP Conference
Feb. 27-29: Scottsdale, AZ to attend the NCREIF (National Association of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries) Winter Conference
March 29-30: Philadelphia, PA to attend and be a judge a the Villanova University Case Challenge
April 25-27: Vienna to attend the INREV annual meeting
These are my views and not that of my employer.
