“Let’s move to Africa!”
My wife Anna put these words into the world 10 years ago today to the day.
January 15, 2010.
It was the catalyst for some serious movement in our life’s story. The spark that converted potential energy into kinetic energy.
A decade later, our life is very different. In July 2010, we moved to Tanzania with our two young kids (Jackson and Jemima), and while living and working there for 3.5 years, adopted Shay, Charlie and Jabari. If all of that wasn’t enough, shortly after returning home to Australia, we had a surprise 6th – Max!
Throughout these years living overseas, our eyes were opened to so much about our world, its people and ourselves. The frames and boundaries we’d previously placed around possibility in each of these contexts were either dramatically widened or completely blown away altogether.
Personally, this journey has caused me to gradually peel back the layers over time and reflect on the unique value I believe i’m here to add as a human in my work/vocation.
As I look down the barrel of my 40th year around the sun, my life is looking quite different. Having taught Mathematics full-time in variety of high schools over the last 17 years, in 2020 i’ve reduced my teaching load to part-time.
This will create some much needed space to scale up our own movement – a charity called Forever Projects that a few of us kicked off back in 2015.
So as a new decade begins, this blog is a space for my personal reflections on this ongoing journey from potential to kinetic.
From stationary to movement.
From nothing to something.
Why do some things that have the potential to move stay still?
And the things that are moving… Why? How?
What are the key factors in leading and co-creating a movement like Forever Projects?
What am I noticing? Which voices are guiding me? How do people change, and is it possible to intentionally create cultures where the likelihood of this change is maximised?
If so, what are the ingredients?
Where did I fail, what did I learn about why, and how did I iterate and reflect to make it a little better the next time?
I believe writing something publicly each and every day about what i’m noticing on this journey will somehow correlate with positive movement in the change i’m trying to make in my corner of the world.
At the very least, it’s a channel to put some language to lots of the thoughts and ideas that swirl around in my head each day!
I hope that if this resonates with you, we can engage in a way that is potentially kinetic for us collectively in this wild and wonderful story we’re all in together.
Potentially Kinetic 