Robbie MacKay

They start charities and non profits
They start social movements

These all require similar skills, spirit and courage… but have slightly different goals.

An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome.

- from Entrepreneur on Wikipedia

Bring your enthusiasm to life

Don’t settle for being a cog in the machine.

It’s really not the job your in that matters

But what you bring to it

I know I can bring real enthusiasm and passion to life
And I know from the people around me who do bring their passion too that it makes a huge difference to those they interact with

Let go

Share yourself

and see just how much richer life can be…

I read quite a while back in a post by Seth Godin on Chris Anderson’s book Free, that it doesn’t matter if we want Free, it’s already here anyway.

“Who cares if we want it? It is.”

The same is true of markets, capitalism, globalisation, etc. It doesn’t matter if they’re good or not, or if we want them. They’re here. We have to deal with them while they’re here (Don’t worry it probably won’t be forever).

That’s why Fairtrade is such a good idea, and micro finance too. They work with what we’ve already got, to make a positive change in the world.

Hopefully they’re the first of many good plans.

This isn’t to say that you should always just accept the status quo. But I’m not convinced you can ignore the whole of the current system. Take the bits you can work with, and refuse the bits that don’t work. Some great successes have come from those who chose to ignore the status quo, but usually only on a few key points – not everything.

I had an insight about choices recently. I was talking with a friend about going travelling overseas and he asked – “Why travel? What’s wrong with New Zealand?” . I didn’t have an answer, I just thought “There’s nothing wrong with New Zealand – I just want to travel”, but still he’d got the impression I was trying to get out of New Zealand.

Wanting to go somewhere else really doesn’t have much to do with New Zealand and what’s wrong/right here. The question was appropriate to where I was at when it was asked but as I moved past it I discovered gift.

When faced with several alternatives, choosing one of them doesn’t mean anything about the others.

This applies to other situations too:

• Ending a relationship doesn’t mean anything was wrong, it was just no longer what you wanted.
• Moving to another country/city/house doesn’t mean anything was wrong with the current one. You are just choosing to move to something else.

This is particularly relevant for me as I’ve recently accepted a job offer. This is a change from working as a freelance web developer, and happens when I’m really beginning to enjoy my work. There are even some things I’m not too sure about with the new job, like working more normal hours again!

But it’s a new challenge I’ve chosen. Hopefully I will enjoy it, I won’t know till I’m there. But I do know that if I compare it to freelancing then I’ll always find something to dislike.

Often when we make a change in life, we are asked to justify that choice. In an effort to justify ourselves to other, we sometimes make the way things were into  ‘the wrong way’, when in fact we  just chose a new way.

I originally wrote this post on Anzac day. At the dawn service that morning I was struck by a comment about along the lines of “We do not seek to glorify war, but to honor those who fought for our freedom”. It is worth remembering this – in choosing to not go to war does not in itself dishonor those who have fought for us in the past, it simply says that we have now choosen something different.

Again, this applys to many things in life: We do not have to dishonor our parents and/or ancestors when we choose a different path from them. I think we would be wise to understand their choices and the consequences, whether we disagree or not. Then choose our futures freely.

Choose the future while honouring the present & the past.

I’ve just moved all my old posts over to this new blog under my own domain. I’m already enjoying having the freedom to install whatever plugins I like so I think it was a good move.

This blog is still a work in progress as always, including the title at the moment. I’m now working under Leadership creating leadership.. I’m not sure if that quite fits yet but my current aim is to offer inspiration to wake you up (or keep you awake) and have you start being more responsible for your world!

If you keep reading then let me know how I go… Any feedback, good or bad, is greatly appreciated!

I’ve got a few draft posts in the works so come back soon or subscribe to the RSS feed.

I’ve just finished my exams (Yay!) so now I’m looking for a job.

I’ve just finished my bachelors degree in computer systems engineering (though I don’t get the bit of paper till May 09!). I’ve worked as a PHP programmer and general web developer while I’ve been studying but I also have experience with C/C++ programming, electronics and embedded systems. I’m interested in working in web development and open source projects such as the Mozilla project, or working in robotics and related fields (embedded systems, etc).

I am passionate about helping people, society and the world.

If you’re looking for employees or know anyone who is – let me know rjmackay at gmail dot com

Download my CV and find out a bit about my experience. I can also supply a list of references on request (email rjmackay at gmail dot com).