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The start of being brilliant?

We love our website. It’s funny, simple and fab – just like the guy who designed it! His actual name is Carl but he’s got a hairy back so is affectionately known as Chewy (or ‘Chewbacca’ when he’s been especially naughty).

Here, Chewy looks back and remembers making a conscious decision to be a bit more brilliant.

“I turn 30 years old next week. Although in my head I think I’m closer to 16, as I reckon my life didn’t really start until I was making decisions for myself at 14… that was when my mum first gave me a pound and asked me to go to the shop for her. I think that was the first time I had proper responsibility?

“Sixteen years later, I like to think I haven’t changed that much. Yeah I’ve got bags more experience, met a lot of awesome people, grown a bit taller and a teensie bit wider… but in general, I’m still the same old me. The one thing that has changed is that nowadays, in line with the rest of the adult population, responsibility weighs a lot heavier.

“About seven years ago, my dad passed away unexpectedly. He was a fairly young fella at 43, so not only did it sting in all the usual ways, but I felt even more distraught at the fact that we were having to deal with something we honestly weren’t expecting for another 50 years. It was difficult, but as time went by, wounds healed and I started looking back on my life, the decisions I’d made, and then thought about the decisions I was going to make.

I realised that the old cliché of “Life’s too short” wasn’t a cliché at all, it was the absolute truth. How many things had I put off because I thought I could do them in “a few years’ time”, how many times had I not bothered to make much effort with something because I had gotten complacent?

“I started to make myself look at things a little differently. There were a few things I’d ALWAYS wanted to do, in fact, two in particular:

  1. Get good at running.
  2. Start a web design agency.

“Now, I worked as a website designer for my job, so had a bit of traction with that one, but always thought it was something I’d do when I was a bit older. Running wise, I was 19 stone. Walking was a sweaty business. Maybe I should kick running into the long grass, along with the web design dream?

“Let me be clear, my life was perfectly fine. But there was that nagging truth from two paragraphs ago? ‘Fine’ wasn’t what I wanted for myself and, truth be told, ‘fine’ isn’t what my dear-departed dad would have wanted for me either?

“So I chose to start being more proactive and positive about the things I wanted to do in my life. Less ‘wishing’ and more ‘doing’. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, it is really.

“I started going out running. I chucked myself into the deep end and organised a sponsored marathon (after tragically being denied entry to the Race for Life event… who knew it was only for women?) and raised a nice amount of money for charity. I don’t recommend this to other wannabe runners, as I almost killed myself in the process, you don’t have to be a health professional to guess that 19 stone plus 26 miles is terrible idea, but it was absolutely worth it.

“I then started working all hours of the day and week to build up a client base for my web design agency, focusing on doing the stuff I loved doing and working with brilliant people. Yeah, I was technically working two full-time jobs, but I loved my own work so much that it didn’t actually feel like work. Eventually, I saved up enough pennies so that I could leave my full-time job, and chucked myself in at the deep end again and went out on my own.

“Fast forward to today, and here I am, typing this in my office, having spent the day building websites, with aching legs after training for a half marathon in the summer. Despite the pain, I couldn’t be happier!

“Here’s the learning. The Greeks have two words for time. They have ‘chronos’ which is the tick-tock variety of time that we think of. This is important simply because there isn’t enough of it and when it’s gone, it’s gone. The Greeks also have ‘kairos’, a deeply personal sense of time. This is a powerful realization that the time is right.

“Life IS too short folks. And while I’m not suggesting that quitting your job or running a marathon is for everyone, my advice is to quit waiting for life to get exciting. Start doing the things now that will get you that little bit closer to your goals and ambitions, and then keep going.”

@carlbembridge