Yesterday was an interesting day and I felt inspired. It’s getting close to the end of the year and most of us are thinking about the rebound in 2021. Yet we still have a good number of working days of 2020 left. I used the immortal words of I got some “gaps to fill”. Gaps in time, gaps in performance, gaps in the commitment I made to myself to be a better version of me. And I realised I was coasting to the finish line of this year and not sprinting through the tape. I always finish strongly.

When I write these posts, I thought it was just me jotting down all the things going on in my head. I really wasn’t aware how helpful they have been to people I don’t even know. I wasn’t aware how far they were reaching and who they were helping. Thank you to those who shared the messages and the feedback.

This week has been great, it started with me taking my elderly parents to the theatre, my mum asked if me if it was safe over a dozen times, even 15 minutes before I picked her up she said she was worried. I said music, fresh air, and time with your son is better for your soul than sitting in the house, getting further saddened by the negative news networks. We had the most amazing day, we even went out for dinner and they both told me that it was one of the best days this year. Lesson number one – Do not live in fear.

Lesson number two, a major advertiser decided to pull a Xmas campaign, my team didn’t blink an eye and by the time of writing they had filled the empty tv minutes and pages. I love the people I work with, they don’t always love me, but together we will continue to dominate the travel media space. Thank you to the opportunistic entrepreneurial advertisers out there who gave us lesson number two – Don’t be dramatic amongst the drama.

Lesson number three, how can we use the time between now and Dec 31 to add the maximum value to ourselves, our teams, our partners, our customers and our future us. We have to stop making excuses and lying to ourselves. Stop filling gaps, stop believing the crappy stories and raise the bar, use every minute left of this year to either finish 2020 strong and start 2021 even stronger. That’s what I have decided to do. I will finish my new book “There is an F in Future”, I will write “my letter to the future” much earlier – a letter we write every year to our future self, even this year’s letter despite the pandemic still delivered 60% of a very high bar. I will smile and inspire as many people as I can. Lesson number three – Leave everyone you meet better than you find them.

Thank you to those you stopped me filling gaps, making excuses and lying to myself. 2020 has been one of the best years of my life irrespective of the commercial challenges I faced. I have learned, grown, adapted, pivoted, won, lost and played a great game at the speed of life. As I am regularly reminded, you are going to suffer if you don’t like or want things just the way they are. I do not want to suffer.

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