Reflections for 2007 AD

The year 2007 had been a excellent year for me. Busy but fruitful as my first kid has passed his first year and the second one on the way, due next year.

I also had a chance to do my post-graduate studies, a dream that had taken me 5 years later than when I had planned to start. But nonetheless, it is choice and tradeoff that I have no regrets as my model of personal priorities are clearly laid out in my mind. Something like a personal balanced scorecard that was first envisioned by Norton and Kaplan.

1) Family
2) Professional Life
3) Personal Investment/Finances
4) Personal Life
a. Spiritual
b. Physical Well-Being/Health
c.Learning and Development

The first 2 quadrants seems to be related to our community, one at home and the other at work. The second set of quadrants relates to the individual person, with finances in the current modern age a real important factor. Of course the 4th quadrant, is what I would need to focus on for coming years as well as I grow older. Especially, the part of 4b) which I have been lacking in fitness for far too many years. Being overweight is probably one of the failures in my scorecard, which I am determined to reach goals in 2008.

Currently, reading on Norton and Kaplans' The Strategy-Focused Organization which shows how a strategy map can tied to a balanced scorecard.

Sometimes what we learn in business, leadership, history, books and films can be applied into our personal lives if we just take out a little time to critically think about them. Of course, some tweaking and adaptation can be made to the original models.

I hope this blog that I first started in April 2007, is a form of explicit knowledge of what I have learnt throughout the year. I may have missed out some of the learning due to a busy schedule which prohibits me of writing but then again, even capturing a certain percentage of the tacit knowledge that resides in my brain is still good enough. In time to come, when my hair has gone gray, I would definitely refer back to here to see what I was doing and thinking in the year 2007 AD.