So, in my previous post I defined my Purpose and Values as follows:

Purpose

Change the world one line of code at a time sharing my journey and experiences along the way.

Values

• Learn something new each day
• Always will myself to succeed
• Mentor and be Mentored at every opportunity
• Reach others by taking an interest and understanding them
• Be creative
• Be passionate
• Always give 100% into everything I do
• Enjoy each day striving to make a difference

I think that this is a good start. I really believe my purpose is to change the world through the programming and technological work that I do. Today, I see the main part of that change rooting in the second half of that sentence above, though. Previously I always thought this meant developing some great piece of software or becoming such an expert that everyone desired my time and skill. Today I believe the way I will change the world is through my sharing of my journey, teaching others what I know, what I’ve done and how they can learn the craft as well.

As a kid I thought about the mansion, the cars, having never-ending money but I never felt like that was me. I even use to say I would be a professional baseball player and just make the league minimum because I just wanted to play and even the minimum was plenty of money. Today I feel the same, I don’t need that fame and those riches. I believe this is where my values tie in (restated with a few additional):

• Constant Learning
• Mentoring
• Compassion
• Empathy
• Creativity
• Be Passionate
• Will Success
• Immerse Myself
• Family-oriented
• Carpe Diem

Where does this lead me? Below I have another list of where I am going and what I will be doing (or not doing).

Things I would like to be, do or have in my life

• I want to be Family-oriented
• I want to do a family vacation each year
• I want to have my kids in my life as long as I can

 

• I want to be a Teacher, Speaker, Mentor
• I want to do conference courses, screencasts and teach
• I want to have knowledge be shared freely and constantly

Now if someone asks where do I see myself in a year the answer is: I see myself establishing an online presence and sharing my knowledge with others. I will write more code on my own time to continue to expand my skills and grow my interests. I plan to continue to educate those up and coming developers. All of this while helping my daughter and family enjoy the summer before she attends high school in the fall.

As for the 5 year question: I see myself presenting at conferences and putting myself out in the community more. I hope to have created some applications or donated my time wisely to help business or organizations with software gaps they have. I want to continue to teach up and coming developers and mentor them to success in their own career. In 5 years, who knows maybe one of these developers will be my daughter as she discovers her path in life. By this time she will have started college, my son high school and my wife and I enjoying the fact we still have many years together.