It is 10:15 am and the children started arriving a while ago. I can see a lot of movement outside but I am not allowed to be there. And I also can’t talk to anyone because everyone is busy running around. This morning, the sister asked my car to go and buy wood. Clearly, she went to buy the Cokes and Fantas for the kids that I said I wanted to buy… I just found the boxes being unloaded from my car by mistake! Not only am I not allowed to walk around freely but also everyone shuts up wherever I arrive. I gave up now and sat in a room by the laptop, trying to write a business plan while someone braids my hair. It took an hour and a half until they would let me out and still I had to run away. I could hear the children singing and calling for me… and finally the time came!
I heard what is likely to become one of my top 3 favourite quotes on a podcast on Friday. "Time is the only real democratic asset. We are all awarded the same time, it is what we do with it that distinguishes us". Now, I recognise that most of us need to work with survive and that is not democratic throughout. But on an equal opportunity basis, this is an interesting way of putting it. For many years I did not understand why MS thought my resume was so interesting. In fact, they chased me during the entire recruitment process, even though I had no idea of moving to London or Finance. I wanted to be a consultant and stay in Lisbon forever. But traditional consultants in Portugal saw nothing in me, and MS did not let me go. When I started screening resumes and hiring people a couple of years later is when I understood why I was different. TIME. I was truly different about what I did with my time. Not necessarily the basics - choice of degree or anything. But really ...
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