Gys du Toit

When is a good time to do something?

I opened my WordPress account in April 2013 while sitting in a cosy coffee shop in Linden, Johannesburg.  …I would never have thought at that stage that I will be writing my first blog almost five years later from Switzerland.

I was very excited as a young boy getting out of bed one winter morning, my father taking me outside to see a snowman that he and my grandfather have build.  The memory was so beautiful, I still remember that it was my grandfather’s hat on the snowman.  South Africa is a relatively warm country, I have only seen snow twice in South Africa, so this one time was special.

The irony is that we have so many resources surrounding us these days that we become complacent.  I spent so much time in my corporate life surrounded by resources that I got too used to it, for better and for worse.  The better part is the joy of working with great people and companies – like getting into the creative aspects of an employer brand, working with agencies and pushing a company into new frontiers with social media.  The worse part was likely the addiction on company performance and results, while neglecting to get the same satisfaction in personal “projects”.

I like the idea of things …the only problem is that it remains an idea, until done.  The non-conformist rebelling in me must have been the reason why I jumped at the opportunity to have gone to Qatar and now Switzerland.  The idea of stagnation has pushed me to keep on searching in life.  It was my curiousness in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that led me to enrol in Otto Scharmer’s U.Lab edX programme from MIT (U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self).

The significance of snow lies in how you see and interact with it.   This is perhaps also the learning from my 13 week journey with the U.Lab.  I met a few strangers in the Zurich Hub for the U.Lab and we spontaneously formed a coaching circle.  We met a few times sharing cases, digging deeper into co-sensing.  This was a rewarding opportunity, taking time to step outside my routine, to give to others and to myself.  I also gave myself the authority to prototype …so here it is, my first blog!

I learned this weekend, a day after rolling our snowman’s body that it is called “packing”. I just went with the motion.  Just imagine what we can do if we play more like children!

P.S. Thank you for reading my blog.  Please comment – I am interested in what you think. What has sparked your interested? …ideas to explored in future blogs.