When you set the theme for your year as “learning to do”, you’re in for a long year. It was definitely a long year, but it was a good one. I managed to got a lot done; professionally and personally. I dreamed, planned, pitched, worked hard and I’m not looking to slow that done one bit. The Bee and I welcomed the beautiful Mira into our lives (though the Bee and Mira had a lot more to do on that one, I like to think I played a strong supporting role). Not bad at all for a years work.

Last year, the bee and I joked, was a year of purgatory. Well the year is over and our stay in purgatory is nearly over. Next year’s the resurgence (you have to say it three times, RESURGENCE, RESURGENCE, RESERGENCE), so watch out.

My personal theme is “making things happen” and I can’t wait to make stuff happen and I can’t wait to share it all with everyone on this blog.

Side note: Kind of cool that I was listening to the song “Good Life” as I wrote this post. Totally captures how I’m feeling right now.

First the obvious, the continued explosion of social media – This whole post is a great excuse to highlight the fact that Rage Against the Machine is the Xmas number one in the UK. A purely grassroots social media campaign got the song – which is over 15 years old – to the top spot. Regardless of what you think of the song, you gotta love the fact that a Facebook and Twitter campaign toppled the machine (get it, rage against the…) that is the x-factor. People trump marketing dollars in this instance. I think more and more companies are going to spend less and get more mavens, influencers on board to promote goods and services, 2010 is the year where marketing dollars seriously move from the traditional to the emerging social channels. An example is the news today that the Economist is going to try and acquire over 500K in facebook fans and 750K in twitter users.

Secondly the less obvious but pretty transparent and related to the first, the continued explosion of local – small is the new big. Being small, being nimble, being flexible is going to win. Big brands are going to lose more and more market share to the little guy. As Gary Vaynerchuk likes to say, “small town rules”, where the internet allows smaller companies to compete. More small guys are going to leverage social and other channels to acquire costumers at the expense of the big guys.

Thirdly, the wild/out there, based on a hunch – Newspapers will fold their print publications. I’d like to see a couple of major newspapers move from a mix of print and online to being purely online. Physical newspapers are costly, not only in manufacturing but also in terms of distribution and other costs. I think we’re going to see some news brands move to less copies (if not none) and more online news distribution as their major means of revenues.

Fourthly, I think we’ll see the return of the IPO. Linkedin or Facebook are my bet for this one. I think one of these companies will get going on their move to an IPO in 2010.

Lastly, the big dream, I believe there will be a lot of good happening in 2010. I think we’ll get closer on the climate change exchange, maybe not a legally binding agreement, but there will be a serious agreement on climate control. I think politics will move in the right direction. I think the US President Obama will have a much better second year than his first. I think he’s inherited and had to deal with some serious challenges and we’re going to see 2010 where the US, and it’s administration, gets over the crap from 2009 and starts really performing.

Not sure which of these predictions will come true and which ones are going to fall flat, but I would totally trade all four of the first ones for the last. Any out there have any predictions for 2010?

If becoming a dad does anything, it makes you wish there was more of you to go around.

I remember when people asked me how I managed to do my MBA and work full time at the same time, I used to respond with it’s like juggling, you just have to accept that you can only juggle two balls but your trying to juggle three, so something always ends up falling, you just have to know what’s falling and know that you have to pick that ball back up.

Problem is that as I’m getting older, the balls are getting more precious. It’s like now I’m juggling balls that might break, so if you drop them you’re thinking that they might be lost. There’s no picking them back up. You just have to learn how to juggle better.

Yesterday Aziz mentioned that it was going to take him an hour and fifteen minutes to take public transport to get to work in Toronto. He tweeted repeatedly about how crazy his journey, suggested improvements (like mobile phone coverage) and you could tell he was annoyed. I responded with the tweet:

@azizkara one of the major reasons why I won’t move back. Unless it get’s TO’s transport gets to a world class level fahgeddaboutit

This really got me thinking about Public Transport in North America. I’ve lived in Europe for the last 10 years (seriously, 10 years? How the heck did that happen?) and I’ve always been impressed by the quality of public transport you have in Europe. Paris, Rome, Milan, Munich, Barcelona and yes even Geneva and Zurich, all have great public transport. What’s my definition of quality public transport? My definition is being able to get to and from work or school, the airport and public services, like the Hospital or any social services you might need, fairly easily – and by fairly easily I mean comparable to the time spent taking a car.

I also commented about how the lack of really good public transport in Toronto keeps me from moving back, it’s not the only reason but definitely a major one. I know I could live downtown and get to work probably okay, but the problem is a lot of the people I want to see are spread out and going to the “burbs” in Toronto without a car is difficult. Not to mention the fact that if you’re planning on getting to or from the airport to downtown Toronto without a car you should have a good book that you’ll probably be able to finish over the length of the journey– my friend told me they wanted to open a direct line from the airport to downtown, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

I haven’t been to many places in North America but wherever I’ve been I’ve needed to rent or have a friend with a car. I think that’s one of the worst things about the continent. Although the twitterati did respond with many comments with good stuff to say about Portland, Boston and Washington all having good public transport, I’m not sure any city could compete with the scale and spread of public transport in Europe.

The problem is North America was built with the car in mind and as a result a lot of people are fine to rely on the car to get around and now, sadly, it would cost way too much and take too much time to change user behaviour. Dubai, Qatar, Saudi and Kuwait are spending billions, yes BILLIONS on their public transport infrastructure, because good public transport can be a competitive advantage and is worth the investment and time. Unfortunately the US and Canada don’t have the appetite or the time to make the change they need to have world class public transport and as a result it will continue to keep people, okay maybe just me, away.

A little bit about me, for those who don’t know me or haven’t come across my blog before, I’ve been living/working in Switzerland for the last year, before that I spent about 8 years in the UK, working in London. I’m Canadian by birth, but haven’t lived there for almost 10 years. I’ve worked for big brands, small brands, the public sector, start ups, and now I’ve been working for Yahoo! for the last few years.

Ok, so here’s my theory on choosing a place to live where you’ll be happy. I believe there are five major categories to picking a place for work/life. In no particular order these include; professional, social/cultural, personal, financial and functional. All of these have different levels and at different times in your life may take differing heights of importance.

“Professional” is the job you’re in and the ability to find jobs that you’ll love. I came to Switzerland because I enjoyed the job I was in and wanted to stay in it. I went to London because the Brits were more willing to hire a web developer with a Kinesiology degree then the Canadians were.

“Social” is the people and the activities that you can participate in. You might enjoy the British Pub culture, or the outdoors life, swimming, hiking, skiing or snowboarding etc, or you might enjoy a place with culture, many museums (easy to access) or the opera or other social/cultural events or happenings. This criterion can also include the places nearby, being able to travel, explore and have adventure at your doorstep.

“Personal” is about your personal status and life, if you’re young and single, being in a place where you might meet someone is pretty important, when you’re older with children being in a place near your family might be more important.

“Financial” is about how much you can earn and how far your money will go. You could live in a place where you’re earning a lot, or you could be in a place where it doesn’t matter if you earn a lot because living there is not very expensive.

“Functional” it might be important for you to be able to drive everywhere, or to not have to drive anywhere. It might important for you to find a takeaway Chinese meal or a pizza. Or it might not.

Knowing how important the different criteria are to you and how well a place meets the criteria that are most important to you is a good way to figuring out whether or not you’ll be happy working and living in a place. Switzerland wasn’t our choice, but it met some of our criteria and we’re glad we took the chance. So as important as it is to set criteria and know how a place measures up, being open to new experiences and allowing your self to give new places a shot is pretty important too.

I usually end up reading a book a week. But twice this year I’ve stalled and ended up reading the same book for almost 3 weeks. The first was Disco for the Departed which is about a medical practitioner/shaman who is trying to solve a murder mystery. Good book, but man I just couldn’t get into it. So I ended up reading less and less daily, and avoiding it on the weekend, so it just didn’t get read. Then over the last couple of weeks I’ve been reading “Does Ethics have a chance in a world of consumers”, I liked the principle and I really wanted to like the book but it’s too philosophical, too slow and too academic. I just couldn’t get into a rhythm with this book, and so, 100 pages in, I’ve dropped it.

Next, I picked up Flip by Peter Sheahan, which you can read for free for the next couple of weeks. I’ve ended up reading over half the book in two days. Can’t put it down. It’s a really good book, with great examples (although some have already become dated since it was published in 07/08).

The point is that the economic principle of sunk costs (according to wikipedia – “While sunk costs should not affect the rational decision maker’s best choice, the sinking of a cost can”, i.e. sinking in makes it difficult to pull the plug) applies to a lot more then just business. Sunk costs can apply to a lot in life. Reading for one, you can stop reading a book that you’re not enjoying. The bee and I had this discussion about reading with kids as well, if you force children to read books they’re not enjoying then they may not enjoy reading. If you allow kids to drop books and pick up others that they might enjoy more then hopefully they can continue enjoy reading.

Exercise, writing, music (learning to play instruments, bands/records, even concerts), and a lot more can have sunk costs applied to them. If you’re not enjoying something, or if it’s not showing you any value, progression, stop doing it. Start doing something you like and you’ll get more out of it.

I hate this list.

I think everyone has different criteria for what makes a place liveable and most of the cities in the Monocle list would not make my short list. My criteria would include:

Don’t smoke in my face. Any city that doesn’t have a ban on smoking in public enclosed places would automatically fall off my list.

Be tolerant almost to a fault. Any city that doesn’t allow/recognize gay relationships wouldn’t make my short list. Not just because I think all people should be allowed to be happy and have equal rights. Also because as Richard Florida’s research has shown, wealth follows the pink crowd – I’m paraphrasing, but the point is basically that.

For the most part be courteous – I would take a stroller with a child or my 8 month pregnant wife around the city and see if anyone offers her/us a seat.

Solid public transport – I want to be able to get to work, entertainment and the airport all without needing a car or a cab, easily.

Other people – I love knowing that the city has produced great thinkers, great artists, and attracts other people with big ideas. Being attractive to other migrants and having a history of big thinkers is important to me.

Traveling to other places – I want to live in a city where adventure is a short hop away. Whether it’s in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin or North America, knowing that I can experience different cultures within a couple of hours (max 4).

Think six criteria is enough of a start, the list will probably change when we have kids, but for right now that’s my list. There’s other important stuff as well, like can family travel there easily, can we travel back to our family easily, but these are deal breakers. What are your criteria for where you live or want to live?

In high school I thought I would end up in New York in my 20s, I ended up in London. Not such a big shift. I realised I just loved a buzzing metropolis that was a true centre of creativity in the world. I wanted to be in a city that everyone knew and where lots of people visited, and I ended up in one. Just not the one I originally intended.

I was happy living the single life, and I ended up meeting my wife. Having fun was the goal and meeting the Bee, moving in together, getting married, and the last 6+ years have been, if nothing else, fun.

We were then thinking of Africa or India, and we ended up in Switzerland. I think we just needed a break from London. We needed to figure out if London was indeed a city we truly loved or a place where we had become comfortable.

So when I saw the John Lennon quote “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”, followed by the proverb “Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday” in a fortune cookie on Flickr, I couldn’t help but be a bit reflective.

I’ve always set out with big ambitious goals, and then let whichever road takes me there take me there. I think it’s a decent way to live life. Have some targets but be flexible in how you get there.

Flexibility in living life seems to be a pattern, whether it’s personal or professional, salary or position, debt or savings, whatever, have a target and then let the universe show you how you get there.

I love the word blessed. I think it’s a beautiful word with a beautiful meaning.

I’m blessed with an amazing wife, a lovely family, lovely friends first and foremost.

I’m blessed with parents who worked hard and moved from country to country to escape persecution, for opportunity that they might have an education and provide for their child to have an education (thanks mom). I pray that I can be as strong for my family.

I’m blessed with an education. I’m blessed with the ability to work as a result of that education.

I’m blessed with a good job and good people I work with – and have worked with in the past.

I’m blessed with a couple of days in my favourite city in the world.

I’m blessed with a strong community which made it possible for me to meet my wife, some of my best friends and countless amazing people.

And I’m blessed with becoming a father in the next few months and looking forward to sharing these blessings with a new child.

I don’t often (enough) count my blessings, but the last couple of days in London have just been so nice. And today waking up in this city with good friends, taking a cab across a sleepy London just waking up, a great breakfast with really good friends and a fab chat with the Bee I’m really counting my blessings today. There’s a word in Arabic I believe, Shukar, I used to say it all the time growing up. It literally means thanks. My mom and dad insisted that it should be my response to everything good in life. I think I lost this for a little while, but after a couple of days in London, with seeing some great friends and enjoying my time, it’s back, and I’m glad. Shukar.

5 years ago, barely anyone was on facebook.

10 years ago, if someone told you they didn’t have an email address, you probably didn’t give it a second thought

10 years ago, AOL, Alta Vista and Yahoo! were the internet.

I used to be thankful that I was born in this age, beyond rotary phones and Morse code. But lately I’m starting to wonder what the world will be like for my children when they are my age now.

Today, I made a small change to commenting on my blog – using js-kit so people can now comment using their facebook id, their yahoo id, their open id or as a guest with other info. Tomorrow, I might make some other changes, and who knows what this time next year will bring. That’s the speed of change we’re moving in right now.