5/40 - Unlimited Possibilities

Two of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me were an overdeveloped sense of self-esteem and a vivid imagination. The first has allowed me to dive into new things and not really think much about what would happen if I failed. The second has allowed me to be in new situations and not be constrained by what has come before or what is in the known universe as I learn about my new surroundings, real or imagined.

Active play was a big part of growing up in my family. We had a few toys but we spent a lot of time pretending and dressing up as whatever we needed to be to make our imagined story work with what we had available around us. There was always a narrative playing out in our living room or in the backyard, there was always something bigger happening than what it seemed. My siblings and I hollowed out the backside of the front yard shrubs so we could hide out like warriors on the battlefield while we waited for guests to arrive or neighbors to walk by. The compost pile two doors down was our other bunker. My dad put a fort above our backyard sandbox. My mom's linen closet was our Home Depot for building forts and making superhero capes.

Using the resources around us, we created whole new worlds. Putting on new clothes allowed us to become new characters.  

Or said another way, I was an entrepreneur from day one.

As I look at the projects I've been a part of and the companies that I have helped build, they were another version of creating a new world and playing a new character. Each new company had to be conjured from nothing and was brought into existence because my team and I could see it before anyone else. Each role I've played has taken shape with the new costume I wore to be the best player in that theater production.

I've always been pushing for new things. I've always been dreaming about things that don't yet exist. I've always been looking for the world that is behind the next door and thinking about what I can do to bring it to this side of reality. And I am so glad that I was given the ability to do that from a very early age so that now, it feels more like play than work when the next big world needs to be conjured.