Being the week of my birthday I have been relaxing with some friends in Bali. I thought I’d take the time to not only set some more goals for 2014 but to reflect on the last 12 months of my life.

Often, I find, that we can get so caught up the day to day matters of our life or the urgent demands and stresses common in the modern world, that we fail to spend sufficient time reflecting on the many amazing experiences or achievements that we have experienced and therefore we perhaps deny ourselves the extra joy and fulfilment that can come from such moments of reflection.

So here is a recap and some highlights of my last 12 months.

It’s been perhaps the most intense, crazy, exciting, rewarding and challenging 12 months of my life. I can say I am more excited today then ever I was, about my life and the amazing, seemingly endless opportunities for my future.

They say life begins at 40 and my first year in my 40,s certainly is helping convince me of that.

October 2012

Being the month of my birthday and turning 40 it was a year to up the ante on my b’day celebrations; So instead of the usual 3 weeks of celebrations and two parties in different cities it was a 5 week celebration spanning several countries. Some people party to escape life but I think that we should only party to celebrate life and in 2012 I definitely celebrated 40 years of my life with many wonderful friends, family, colleagues and associates.

I am certain that with the right perception we can always find plenty of reasons to celebrate our lives; If not just to celebrate for the sake of having breath in our lungs and living in one of the most prosperous, abundant and opportune times in the history of the modern world.

So October 2012 started with b’day celebrations at my Gold Coast home with friends. It was decided to have a Casino Royale theme as you’ll soon see why.

The following week my b’day party celebrations moved to my Melbourne city apartment. I continued The casino Royale themed b’day celebrations here also. This was also followed by the wedding of one of my best mates. I claim credit for this little ‘match make’ which, turned into love and marriage with kids on the way. I was fortunate to be asked to be MC at their awesome wedding.

After this everyone was heading to Las Vegas for a week of B’day Celebrations. About 70 friends flew in from around the world, but mainly from Australia for 4 nights straight of partying. The first 3 nights we partied at pool side cabanas at great clubs and the main party was held at Hugh Hefner’s suite at the Palms Hotel. This suite is definitely a place to check out for its opulence and history. Amazing!

Most hotels discourage parties but not in Vegas and definitely not the Palms.

“Mr McIntyre we can cater up to 300 guests over the split level apartment” the hotel told my secretary, which was more then enough for 150 odd of us that partied the night away. I even received a huge b’day cake with a dancing girl popping out of it singing like Marilyn Munroe was alive again.

After a huge night luckily I had a full day to recover before speaking at a US Investment conference held in Vegas. This went well and I spoke about my investment experience in US Property and why like, Warren Buffet I thought US Property was an ideal acquisition (and still do) before heading to New York for a few days of shopping.

If it wasn’t for a party I was committed to attend with friends at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles for Halloween then I would have loved to have stayed longer in New York. It is certainly a magical city with so much to offer; But little did I know that if I hadn’t caught the flight that day to LA I would have been stuck in New York for a week with no electricity and little food as Hurricane Sandy hit New York shortly thereafter and shut down flights causing havoc across the country.

After fun in LA it was back home for the final week of parties this time a joint 40th with my Dads 70th at the farm where I grew up. We erected a marquee for 200 guests and many of my city friends enjoyed a weekend at the farm despite it pouring rain and flooding.

At Xmas I spent time on my farm with family. I always love going home at xmas and the night out before Xmas we visit the local pubs to catch up with old school friends then spend a week on the farm with dozens of my nieces and nephews opening presents and running amuck.

For New Years I returned to my Gold Coast home and celebrated New Years on my boat with friends which was a great night then in early January I flew to Bali with friends for a weeks holiday which, is one of my favourite places to visit.

Then late January it was back to work for an exciting year ahead. This was the same time our former prime minister Julia Gillard called an early election for Sept 14 (no one knows why she called an election so far out, causing the economy to be put on hold and deteriorating weak consumer spending further and annoying Australian voters with an 8 month election campaign.)

Like many Australians I felt the political circus and one of our worst governments in history was becoming an embarrassment for our country.

February

Return to work with management and board meetings.

I announce Arnold Schwarzenegger’s visit to Australia to address my 21st Century Financial Education Summits events in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne for June 2013.

It receives national and international press coverage.

March

Following the state of Australian politics closely as labor and Gillard government make a mockery of our great country and become possibly our worst ever government causing most Australians to be in utter despair at the choice of only Gillard or abbot as political leaders, and after a week of pondering and discussions with advisors I decide to launch a nationwide political movement in late March. We decide to call it 21st Century Australia Party and am nominated to run against Tony Windsor and Barnaby Joyce in the region where I grew up in the federal electorate of New England which is in Northern NSW.

The announcement receives instant media coverage and begins an intense 6 month political campaign with daily media interviews; this all took place whilst still running my group of companies and co-ordinating the Arnold Schwarzenegger visit to Australia.

Many friends said Im crazy to enter into politics which is understandable however creating positive change for the country is something I’m passionate about and I never shy away from a challenge however impossible it may seem to some.

I set a 10-15 year plan to help reshape Australian policies and released a detailed 25 point plan to improve Australia in national newspapers around the country and ran advertisements on sky news.

Downloads of my book, 101 Ways to Improve Australia, increased rapidly as a result.

I attended a function in Melbourne with Rupert Murdoch who spoke about the importance of free trade and a free press ( although I’m not sure I agree with Murdoch’s manipulated form of so called free speech and free markets unfortunately don’t always mean free ). His speech was surprisingly refreshing and inspiring. At this function I met Tony Abbott briefly and informed him that I was entering politics. I complimented him on his improvement in public speaking. I also met with Gina Reinhart, Australia’s richest person briefly. She had previously invited me to be a member of Andev the economic development of Northern Australia which is one of 21st Century Australia’s policies. I mention to her that I’ll be running against her family friend Barnaby Joyce for the seat of New England. She seems a very lovely women and has a lot of ideas that can benefit Australia, however the left wing nutters that work as journalists in some dying newspapers like to twist what she says to discredit some of her ideas which are more then valid. Being a rich person is generally not going to make her popular with many that fall for the politics of envy which is pushed by a desperate former government and it’s financially incompetent leaders.

April

I’m Invited to meet with Oprah Winfrey in Canada which is an honour as I’ve always admired what she stands for and her positive impact on the world. As I have to also fly to LA to meet with the former California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger in order to discuss his impending June visit to Australia where he speaks at my Annual 21st Century Financial Education Summits, do a live interview with him for 21st Century TV and also enable interviews for Channel 7 and channel 9 morning shows etc… I tie in meeting Oprah a few days after this.

Arnie also invites me to the University of Southern California to hear him present at a Climate Change Conference. I fly with my friend Max Markson the Australian Celebrity Agent who is always a blast to hang out with and one of the few people I’ve never heard say a bad word about anyone.

The Australian media interviews go well and it gains great media exposure for his visit. Arnie speaking in Australia gets a lot of international press before and afterwards.

I get to meet with Oprah briefly in Montreal after hearing her speak in Ottawa to 15,000 excited crazy women the night before. Max and I have never been surrounded by so many women before but notice we are remarkably comfortable with so much feminine energy around.

Then it’s back to Australia after two days of flight delays causing me to be stuck in Chicago for a day and night on the way home, which turns out to be a blessing in disguise as I’ve never been to Chicago before and discover it’s an amazing city and I rate it almost as high as New York. I also spend a day being shown around dozens of US houses my team had acquired in Chicago which I had never seen.

Afterwards I tell my acquisition team to target Chicago and Indiana areas more for quality US Property Investments as its so much better then cities such as Kansas as more reliable tenants and local councils take such pride in keeping streets and houses super tidy even in lower socio-economic areas.

I arrive back in Australia and into full swing with political campaigning. I was very inspired by the sheer number of people resonating with what 21st Century Australia was about. This grew our grassroots support Australia wide with so many wanting to help out.

We launched with Red Carpet Political events Australia wide, and I addressed larger audiences passionate about politics and change in Australia.

To be continued

May to October 2013

Maybe take the time now to do a year in review for your last 12 months month by month. Take the time to reflect and journal and also set targets for the year ahead. It can be a very valuable exercise. And if you don’t have a blog perhaps start one as a way to record your life. Check out www.21stcenturyenetwork.com.au to learn about blogging and access blogging platforms.

Jamie McIntyre is the Founder of 21st Century Australia Party and the CEO of the 21st Century Education Group of Companies. He is also a major shareholder in 21st Century Media, a Publicly Unlisted Company that owns assets including 21st Century News. www.jamiemcintyre.com

Jamie McIntyre is the Founder of 21st Century Australia Party and the CEO of the 21st Century Education Group of Companies. He is also a major shareholder in 21st Century Media, a Publicly Unlisted Company that owns assets including 21st Century News. http://www.jamiemcintyre.com

Author Bio: Jamie McIntyre is the Founder of 21st Century Australia Party and the CEO of the 21st Century Education Group of Companies. He is also a major shareholder in 21st Century Media, a Publicly Unlisted Company that owns assets including 21st Century News. www.jamiemcintyre.com

Category: Education
Keywords: 12 month review, 2014, 21st Century Education, Goals, Jamie McIntyre