Fitting in, not fitting in, and change

My training is in the arts – psychology, teaching – I was a school teacher prior to getting into Real Estate. I was going to teach the world to read and count, and solve all their problems at the same time. And I think that often in business, I have kind of felt that I just don’t really fit. When I look back, through the latter part of my 20’s and most of my 30’s (I am 43 years young now) I managed to do a great job of burying these ideals, and did all that I could to ensure that I wasn’t examining my life at all.

I have some clear memories of some of the great moves that I have made and some of the deals I have carved out. However, an awful lot of it was a rollercoaster ride that I did not really take all that seriously. On that same note, I think that there are also a lot of deals and maneuvers that I don’t remember – I do get reminded at times by colleagues. Without the prompts, the people and the properties have just slipped my mind. I think that this is because for a good part of it, it just was not something I was deeply engaged with. I have always had that itch of a feeling that there is more to life than getting up and going through the same commute to the same office and seeing the same folk and turning around and coming home, exhausted, maybe hitting the bottle, going to sleep, and doing it all over
again.

Not fitting in can be a bit of a curse, but I think that I have used it as a catalyst for carving out the lifestyle that I want.

There are many reasons to be afraid to take that step out into the unknown into something new. The risk of failure is high and the safety nets are not there. But the idea of trying something unsafe, of taking a risk, of journeying to new lands is in our DNA. And while on a personal level I have lived the last 20 years in the Auckland area (my family are spread out across Auckland and I don’t want to be too far away), I have been able to take journeys and satisfy that urge through the business and careers that I have tried.

I get to take my boat out mid-week, I have a productive vegetable garden. I get to be actively involved in the lives of my kids. I read… a lot… I have time for fitness and well-being. I get to give back and to follow my artistic interests. It has taken a mindset change and many lessons in balance. But here I am and here it is. I also get to start things, adjust, learn, solve and grow.

For me, not fitting, or feeling like I didn’t fit in, has led to an alternative path, a path that is full of opportunity and change, full of different ideas and roads to go down. We all have our own paths to travel and I hope some of the ideas that I have shared help you to consider some of the doors that may be open to you, and to allow yourself to just imagine that the life you are leading is not the only option that is open to you. There is a world of possibility and change out there for those that want to go and seize it.

Independent Agent is my latest venture, and it has been born out of a desire to see people operate in a way that is best for them, and to show that there are other ways to balance work and life. The office is a relatively recent invention and it’s not for everyone! Independent Agent has already in a few short months developed from a ‘remote working solution’ to an ‘individual branding framework’. I have boldly stated on our webpage that this is the future of Real Estate in New Zealand, watch this space.

Matt Jones
February 2021

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I keep a rolling goal-setting note on my phone. Over the years it has had income goals, housing goals, personal goals, it has material and immaterial goals. It is full of goals fulfilled that the school teacher may not have been able to achieve, but now it is time for a fully present ‘me’ to go out there and change the corner of the world that I have landed in. You see, we don’t have to figure out what our life is all about. We need to figure out how to create the life that we want.

Life tends to go in seasons. A season might last a year, a decade, a few months or weeks or even days or hours and in those seasons, long or short, so much can change. I enjoy today’s viewpoint, looking back on the previous season and see that the ‘me’ here today is a different, better version of the ‘me’ from before.