you open an old can of pork and beans and found a genie inside who said – Boy, it is great to be out of that can!! Thank you! In return I would like to release you from your can.*
Lynda Barry

A new colour on a box doesn’t revolutionise anything, and it won’t last. But it’s easy, and it might marginally improve outcomes right now.**
Dorie Clark

I’ve heard the phrase “half a decade” used several times
over the last couple of days,
identifying a significant period of time.
After all,
It’s 50% of a decade,
And ten years does gets to have its own special name!
A decade is also identified as being
Equivalent to 10,000 hours of
deliberate practice,
So,
If my maths are right,
There could be 5,000 hours of deliberate practice wrapped up in five years.
That makes for a lot of change,
Though change is never easy,
And tends to be time-consuming,
So adding a different colour
to the can or to the box we find ourselves in
is way more easy,
Even attractive,
Until we realise that it leaves us
right where we are.
Seth Godin writes,

The same life story can be told i many ways, and the way we tell it changes who we are and who we become.^

Inside each of your lives
there are many adjacent possibilities
to explore.

Following our curiosity
into interest
and then into passion,
And pursuing this for the next five years –
Because life is a long game –
Is not guaranteed to lead to fame or fortune,
Or even a living,
But may well leave us feeling utterly alive.

*Lynda Barry’s What It Is;
**Dorie Clark’s The Long Game;
^Seth Godin’s blog: Your autobiography.