Nine years ago I attended a big professional conference at which I met a pair. That pair changed my life and career in profound ways, and today has in many ways been a culmination of that change.
I’ve told this story many times, but never this publicly. Now it feels apt to tell.
I still remember that Autumn of 2010 very clearly. Chile, my first occupational therapy international conference. OT World Cup they call it (it’s every four years). Ceremonies like the Olympics they said. It was all true.
But what really stuck out was this pair. Two people who appeared on the stage. They had strange accents I could not place. And their presentation was just wonderful. They stood out in the quality of their reflective thinking, on humbleness, on analytical rigour. They did not claim to be science but OMG were they making a contribution to thinking.
Later that day I saw the pair sitting on a bench, approachable for a lone out-of-place weirdly challenging person like me. I sat down, we chatted, they invited me to join their crew for dinner. We chatted more over dinner. We followed things up after the conference. Met teams. Worked together on some big studies. Supervised projects. Ate curry.
As of today, both people in this pair are now my amazing clinical academic PhD colleagues. From that encounter, and your kind offer to include me in your group, developed a decade long partnership.
It hasn’t always been easy – I am sure each of you have firmly cursed your involvement with me at times. But that’s ok. I’m happy to live with that for the journey and outcomes we’ve gotten.
My point is. We sat in a pub 9 years ago. With hopes, plans and aspirations about how we would change the world. My realistic head says we may not have changed the world that much – yet. But we have changed ourselves. We’ve learnt, developed, acquired knowledge and skills. And for that we are much better placed to advance our aspirations.
My point is. It pays to think long term.
It may seem like the end goal is far away, but perhaps that just means we better start now so as to get there as soon as we can.
