Manifesting Destiny

I'm a firm believer in manifesting one's own destiny. In today's world, it's all too easy to drift through weeks, months, or even years simply existing, only to be jolted by the realisation that you're unhappy with your relationship, career, or life in general. Worse still, you might not even know how you ended up where you are, or what to do next.

For me, manifesting destiny means always having some semblance of a plan for the future. Early in my life, I became fascinated by personal finance, seeing it as a tool that could help me live a life of my choosing. One of my earliest goals was to own my own home. I saw it as an investment in my future: the less I had to pay in rent, the more I could put towards owning assets, building equity, and ultimately growing wealth that I could leverage throughout my life.

I began researching the realities of home ownership—how mortgages worked and what I'd need to afford a property. After some calculations, I realised that if I saved around £1,000 a month, I could realistically buy a home for myself and my future family within two years.

This became a goal I was determined to achieve. I meticulously went through my monthly income and expenditure, figuring out what I could sacrifice to make it happen. While I did spend very little during that period, I never felt deprived. I had a dream that I had transformed into a goal and a plan, and I could see myself making steady progress toward it.

The motivation of moving steadily towards my goal far outweighed any sense of missing out [FOMO] that others in my position might have felt. I was manifesting my destiny and reaping the satisfaction of seeing it unfold.

Another realisation that struck me early in life was my desire to be a father. But I also knew that I didn't want to struggle financially as a parent. The stress of that, I imagined, would inevitably affect my relationship with my family and myself. So, I asked myself what it would take to become a financially secure, mentally mature, and overall capable father.

A significant part of raising a child, I realised, is being young and fit enough to run around and play with them. That meant I couldn't wait until I was too old. I settled on 30 as a good age to start a family.

My wife, on the other hand, was keen to start much earlier. But after discussing my thoughts and plans, we decided to wait. In hindsight, this decision worked out beautifully. It allowed us the freedom to enjoy our twenties—exploring the world, becoming financially secure, and growing as individuals. We both feel we're now more well-rounded people as a result.

Part of this preparation for fatherhood was also about finding a career that I enjoyed, was good at, and that could provide financial stability. This led me to software engineering, where I gradually honed my skills, saving and investing along the way.

Recently, I reached a point in my career where I was a competent software engineer. With that came greater responsibility, including hiring and mentoring junior engineers. Through this process, I noticed that many of these younger engineers were not only highly skilled but also incredibly eager to dive deep into new technologies. Their enthusiasm was obvious and I recognised that unless I invested more time and energy into learning new skills, they would soon surpass me.

After some introspection, I realised that my hunger for learning the latest and greatest within programming had waned. It made me reflect on what skills I had acquired over time that set me apart. What made me unique?

While these younger engineers were incredibly proficient technically, they often struggled to see the bigger picture. It wasn't uncommon for me to question the value of certain projects or approaches while others were focused solely on finding a technical solution. Where they could plough ahead, I often stepped back to ask: Is this really worth doing?

I spent many nights reflecting on this, realising that this ability to see the broader context wasn't as common as I had assumed. It was a skill I could leverage in a new direction—engineering management.

With this clarity, I set to work planning how I could pivot my career. It wasn't long before I brought this up with my manager, expressing my desire to move into management and asking for guidance on how to achieve it. In doing so, I was once again manifesting my own destiny.

That conversation marked the first step towards becoming an engineering manager, a move I'm glad I made. And it's for reasons like these that I believe so deeply in the power of manifesting your own destiny.

My next goal is to become the best father I can be to my son. This involves improving my fitness and health and, perhaps in the near future, building our own forever home. Maybe, in a few years, I'll have another story to share about how I manifested the next chapter of my life.

I'd like to acknowledge my companion while creating this article, ChatGPT. While the content of this story is true to my life as I remember it, ChatGPT helped me in crafting it into an engaging text that I hope you enjoy.