My buddy, Ryan Chua, is on the cusp of making a big step.

Exactly what that step is, I’m not exactly sure.

He may not be totally aware either.

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Going by his recent ruminations, starting with his post: In Search of Excellence (which was penned just after his 24th birthday), he notes:

Thankfully self-awareness (and the fact i turned 24 last friday) has somewhat played a major role in making me sit down and revisit and review my true north, as Stephen Covey would most likely have put it. During the wedding event (more on that later), i’ve managed to catch up with a couple of ex-classmates and the whole “Hey, what are you doing now” ass-probing questions were more than enough to keep me silent for the entire evening… It’s been 4 years since we all last met and the time span couldn’t have been worse in my opinion. The intentions of finding out what you were up to just weren’t right….if you ever had friends you never met in a long time ask you those questions, you know how its like.

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I guess for most of us, after doing whatever we were doing (or supposed to be doing) in our first career choice, achieving some level of financial stability, we’ve moved beyond Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs levels of:

• Physiological Food and shelter (level 1)
• Safety (level 2)
• Love and belonging (level 3)

We’re might be focused on the esteem (level 4) and self-actualization (level 5) segments.

Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs

You know you’re moving up the pyramid, when you have moments of:

“Since reading it, i’ve experienced some kind of higher awareness where my time goes and what i do with it. Even managed to purchase a cheap but big clock to hang next to my PC to remind me of the time (and how fast it ticks away). Marvelous.” (Ryan’s No Bullshit! post)

and a couple of days later, culminating in:

Declutter:

Mental note to self, reduce and simplify life, workplace, and home. Focus and clarity of direction and goals will be much easier after that.

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I know Ryan doesn’t particularly like to write, but he’s penned his thoughts at:

Site Dev, Site Dev…and more Site Dev

I won’t summarize his post here, but do visit him and leave a blog comment.

While we won’t always know exactly where we’re going, or what we’ll end up with, we do have a sense of whether we’re moving forward or not moving forward.

And if there’s a secret, if you want to call it that, we’re the ones who determine the direction.

Go forth and prosper.