paul tagell

Well, believe it or not, the answer the existential blog/life crisis I’ve been facing came to me yesterday on a bike ride early in the morning. Let me explain. I’m quite fortunate in my job in that occasionally (about once a day every fortnight), I’m able to work from home. Not only do I find I get more done there, I find that I feel more sane after this temporary escape from the mundane requirements of needing to suit up/put clothes on and go into the city for a day of work just like all the other worker ants out there. Yesterday I got up with my wife (who has to physically be at her place of employment) and bike rode into South Yarra where I visited a great new coffee shop called Outpost just next to the train station. I got there at about 8am and was able to sit and enjoy a coffee then, as I was feeling a little lazy, I went to the train station to get the train back home. That’s when it hit me…

• The train was virtually empty and I could sit down
• I could take my bike on the train during peak hour
• I had done some great exercise and had an excellent, relaxing cup of coffee (at the cafe and not while walking to the office)
• I was not one of the packed sardines being pushed into the city via trains heading the other direction.
• It was a beautiful, sunny day and I was going home at 8.30 in the morning to spend the day with my dog (Gandalf) and work from the comfort of a lounge chair

I was going the wrong way and I loved it!

I should explain that I’m not a stranger to the desire to escape the rat race and I think that my drive to get away from the 9-5 is partly what makes me good at what I do (web design, web strategy, entrepreneur) as it forces me to strive for ways in which to make things work more efficiently. What made this day different was the combination of things listed above and the way in which all these things came together and a simple train ride became the physical manifestation of all of those thoughts, desires and dreams I’ve found so difficult to put into action and words. I felt so positive and I finally have a topic on which to share my thoughts!

So I hope this background info helps explain a little about what it is that I’m going to try and accomplish with this blog. It is about my adventures trying to escape the rat race, to ride the wrong way and to find a way to fill my life with purpose, meaning and directed passions so that I don’t end up as just another member of what Steve Sammartino aptly terms the white collar underclass. I know there are many books out there that try and deal to this topic, but every time I read (or try to read) them, I can’t help but feel that they are too distanced from my own life and too generalised to be applicable in a useful sense. Still, if I find things that interest me and help me on my quest to travel the wrong way more often, I’ll document it here.

Once thing I’ve realised is that the biggest passions in my life (and therefore the things I feel I am most likely to write things worth your valuable time about) are those things which offer me the promise of not having to get on that packed train each morning and head the “right way” into work. Looking forward I think this means that sometimes I’ll write articles about web applications and entrepreneurial ideas that interest me  (like my current projects assessd and other experiments like knowboats.com and melbourneideas.com.au) and others I might post photos I’ve taken (photography is a hobby I find helps me appreciate beautiful things we see everyday that we often miss – it’s also something I only get a chance to do when I’m not in the office, so therefore fits my criteria). I’m also interested in ways in which to apply my skills and knowledge in the pursuit of a better world. I know that sounds like a lofty goal, but I’m convinced that there must be an opportunity to tie web technologies together in some way that can make a real and tangible difference to the world and the people in it.