During the next 6 weeks, I will be working abroad. The first stop is Sydney, where I will be tutoring a group of key users from around Australia and New Zealand for 2 weeks. They send me here on my own to support the local team. The next stop is London Gatwick, where I will support the Go-Live (rollout of the new system) for 3 weeks. I am flying directly from Sydney to London, resulting in a total trip of 6 weeks.

I am vastly grateful for the responsibility and the trust my company puts in me. This is beyond my greatest expectations. It feels as if they want to challenge me on my capabilities and that is exactly what I am yearning for in a job. They are not afraid to take calculated risks and dare to put me in an extraordinary learning environment. I cannot express how grateful I am for the opportunities I have at my current job.

Currently, I am sitting on the airplane to Sydney. It feels a bit surreal and very nice at the same time. It is the first time I leave Europe and I am going immediately to the furthest point possible on earth. And I even get paid to do so. What a life?!

For me, taking an airplane is always an event to standstill with the current state of my life. Detached from the internet I take the time to write in my diary. On the go to the location, I always set goals for myself that I want to achieve by the time I return home. I have never been on a plane for longer than 2–3 hours, so I am not used to this luxury of having so much time to think. But I love it! 25 hours full of me-time without anyone interrupting my inner peace. Let’s set some objectives!

Over the past 1,5 years, I have been working every day towards a goal: being able to travel and work simultaneously. The moment is finally here! I have not fully processed it yet, and to be honest it feels a bit “normal” as if it has always meant to be this way. But knowing myself, this will change in the coming days when I experience it first-hand.

In general, I am not a hype person. I don’t hype myself up for future experiences and prefer living and feeling in the moment itself. I am passionate about the process and therefore the objective is a logical result. At this very moment, I am deeply enjoying my 25-hour plane flight during which I have the time to fully focus on myself.

During this flight, I did the following:

• Clean and order the files on my laptop

• Clean and compress the files on my hard drive (500+ GB freed up!)

• Started writing 3 articles and completed this one

• Set goals for myself to dedicate myself to

• Read 60 pages in the book “Attached”

• Watched “The Jurassic Sea Monster” & “Whale” documentaries

• Enjoyed being alone

This document serves the purpose of holding myself accountable for the goals I set. It is no big deal if not all boxes are ticked in the end. But the lesser, the better. As long as I give myself 100% there is no reason to feel bad about anything. I always try to set the bar a little too high, but just reachable. This way I feel constantly pushed to do better but not so much that it causes me to lose motivation; just reachable. And if I achieve all my goals then it means that I could’ve done a little more or set the bar a little higher next time.

I am home. This is the evaluation of my traveling objectives:

• Green = fulfilled (1)

• Orange = partially done (1/2)

• Red = nothing done (0)

Execution score: 88%

Overall, my experience has been amazing. I have progressed vastly and beat my own expectations.

My first three weeks in Sydney were focused on:

• Work

• Sports

• Networking

• Mental Health

• Exploration

These weeks felt utterly productive. Not a minute got wasted. I lived up to my fullest potential.

My second three weeks in Gatwick were focussed on:

• Work

• Studying

My focus shifted accordingly to my obligations:

• Go-Live of Gatwick (work)

• Assignment + Exam Deep Learning (school)

I have excelled in these two topics and put in all my effort. And it got rewarded massively. I am proud of what I have delivered. But it was, as expected, at the cost of the other topics.

There is clearly one losing topic compared to the others: creativity. I could come up with a bunch of excuses as to why this happened. But I won’t. I didn’t push through enough. I treated it as the last objective on the list. And it resulted as such. It got pushed back towards the end. And towards the end, my focus went down. During the last weeks, I was less disciplined and allowed distractions to seduce me more.

Crazy how (my) momentum and discipline decrease once the finish seems more reachable than ever. Instead of pushing through with the same pace, the pace drops, and the goal is, by only a sliver, not reached. As if I am desperate for complaints on myself to do better next time. Thus: “Always grateful but never satisfied” with the results.