There are many analogies that bloggers use in their articles and this one is no exception.  I’ve always looked at my hobbies and certainly my mountain unicycling as an example for many things that reflect my personality in my life.  Learning to ride a unicycle is not an easy task and it requires perseverance and a high level of dedication to stick to it until you get it.  It’s a skill I’ve mastered and having that mountain unicycling skill always reminds me that I can take on new things by perseverance.  Well today was no exception, I planned to seek out a mountain top about 2500m and day hike it with my unicycle so I could ride back down (as much as possible anyway).

I decided to go up Mount Allen in Kananaskis about 1.25 hrs from my house in the Canadian Rockies.  It’s 2800 m high actually and a very difficult ascent with over 1500 m of elevation gain.  This task proved to need serious perseverance.  I had read it can take 10hrs to hike to the summit and back due to the technical hiking and steep slopes.  I was hoping to complete it in about 6-7 hours by packing my unicycle and riding whatever areas I could to cover distance faster.  Plus I had some new hiking shoes to break and I really don’t like going anywhere in the mountains without my unicycle.

So, I started the trail head at 9:30 am and starting heading up.  I was able to ride some of the lower sections through the forest and a few areas above the tree line but most of the slopes were steep switchbacks and loose rock, not something I wanted to even attempt riding up (down is another story though).  Pass a few marmots, plenty of squirrels and chipmonks but didn’t see any other wild animals.  Lots of signs of bear with prints and scat in the snow and on the trail.  I didn’t see any bears directly though.  I was the third hiker up (I could tell from the snow prints and by meeting people coming back down once I got closer to the summit) and when I did summit, the group behind me said they saw about 25 areas dug up on the trail by a bear digging out bugs and whatever else it could find.  I didn’t see these dug out areas until I headed back down so the bear was between me and that next group only about 30 minutes behind me.  Anyway, back to the point of this article.

Along the climb, its funny how perseverance comes into play.  At many points I was thinking that I would turn back early since my pack was heavy, my back was already a bit sore and my feet and calfs were definitely feeling steep slopes early on.  Luckily, I keep thinking about getting to the next point, bit by bit and then continuing to push myself again once I get their.  That is really what perseverance is all about, it simply motivates you keep going and persist on your goal, in this case, the summit. Surprisingly, I came across a group of adventure runners and I knew one of the women in the group and she was quite impressed to see me doing the hike with my uni, so she had to take a picture together.  I hadn’t seen her for a couple years so this was yet again, another thing that inspired me to persevere and press on to the summit instead of turning back. The final summit climb looked the most daunting and fortunately by this point, my back and feet were sore but not getting worse, so I knew I could press on and get to the summit.  There was a lot of snow and some areas you had to hike up 30-40° snow slopes on skree which made it a little risky and I definitely had to go very slowly and carefully to keep my footing without slipping.  A slide down a mountain with half snow, half rock is not an experience I ever want to have!!

So, I made the summit at 1PM so the hike took 3.5 hours.  I stopped for lunch, a break and many photos and to chat with the next group that reached the summit after me.  So 50 minutes later, my pack back on, I headed down the mountain.  I found a safer route than what I climbed that was mostly rock, with little snow, so the summit descent was much safer than the climb luckily.  I then enjoyed many of the downhill areas and technical rock areas riding my uni so was able to get down much faster in about 2 hours.  So it perseverance of course that keeps me riding my cycle to places many people wouldn’t even dare walk and its perseverance that got to the summit and back in 6.5 hrs, which I was quite happy with.  I’m sure you have your own stories of perseverance, I’d love to hear them and I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from my hike today.

Posted by Mike King under Personal | 23 Comments »

Career progress and performance is an important area in life and through my experience in striving to improve my performance I’ve learned to find many ways to perform well in my career.  It’s not been without its share of hard work though!  And as a manager, I also have insight and perspective from the other side of expectations and performance improvements and so these career tips come from that mix of experience and from my own study and practice in my career.  Please comment below if you have related experience or any experience/stories where you have used this tip!

Run From Gossip

This tip is unfortunately well known but rarely practiced.  It’s about gossip in the workplace, the dangers of it and why you should run away from gossip whenever you detect it. I’ve written an article called, How to Free Yourself From Gossip which is a great article to refer to if you need help on implementing this tip which is basically to avoid gossip and run away from it whenever you can in the workplace.  Gossip destroys relationships, it creates unhealthy conflict, bitterness and even resentment.  There is no value in it and usually it is much more destructive than people ever know.  If you want to make your working life easier and keep more friends, you can do this by staying out of gossip and not participating in it and even staying away from it altogether.

The most important steps for this career tip and to know when to run from gossip are outlined here. First learn to recognize gossip.  Listen specifically for it and use the basic rule that you should never be talking about someone else without them attending unless it is a discussion about how to help them.  Most other conversations about a person not listening is gossip, this the easier way to recognize it.  Second, excuse yourself from any gossip by simply saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to talk about John unless he is here as well, so please excuse me.”  Finally, learn what people tend to gossip, when they do and simply stay away from it, excuse yourself consistently from gossip and keep your distance from it as often as you can.

Running away from gossip is a smart thing to do in your career and an important skill to learn.

Posted by Mike King under Business | 5 Comments »

Career progress and performance is an important area in life and through my experience in striving to improve my performance I’ve learned to find many ways to perform well in my career.  It’s not been without its share of hard work though!  And as a manager, I also have insight and perspective from the other side of expectations and performance improvements and so these career tips come from that mix of experience and from my own study and practice in my career.  Please comment below if you have related experience or any experience/stories where you have used this tip!

Keep Your Resume Up to Date

Weather you are in a position since last week or last century, there is great value in keeping your resume up to date for your career.  You never know what can happen and especially in recent times of the economy, things can change quickly and it a possibility for pretty much anyone to suddenly find themselves needing a resume for a job hunt.  That said, you should keep your resume up to date BEFORE you need it and you will save yourself much pain and frustration from occurring at the same time as other struggles if you are hunting for a new job. Your resume being up to date will give you the kick start you need for a fresh job hunt, whether it be online for Canada jobs, locally in your industry or via your network on social media.

This is especially true if you have been in a role for a year or more as there should be a number of accomplishments that you think about including for your resume.  Make them specific about what results you obtained whenever possible instead of the resume’s that simply list mundane tasks and impress no one.  Put some effort into updating your resume every few months or at least twice yearly to ensure you have recent accomplishments and responsibilities outlined and so that those items are passed by forgotten.

Another great reason for updating your resume as it can give you a significant advantage for review presentations or performance reviews.  Often you need to include comments or your accomplishments and major activities.  If you already have this on your resume from updating it regularly, this review will be a piece of cake.  Having details on hand can even help you to address things forgotten by your manager or extra points to highlight which can drastically help to influence your ratings and review issued.

Depending on your level of role and network you engage with, you may also find that you are often contacted by recruiters for positions or offers.  Having your resume on hand and up to date might be the difference from them pursuing you and going to the next guy.  Anyone who keeps their resume up to date is more professional and serious about their career (recruiters and hiring managers know this already) so its very helpful to ensure it is recent and ready to send out at any time when needed.  How long has it been since you updated your resume?

Posted by Mike King under Business | 2 Comments »

I have to say that I am hugely impressed with Jonathan from Advanced Life Skills for the speed and overall style of how he has put together a brand new free resource newsletter.  He asked me just a few weeks ago if I would be willing to offer an article for a new newsletter idea he was planning and he just release the premiere issue!  I am not only impressed by Jonathan’s style and speed with this, but also with the caliber of the articles and overall newsletter.  So, I am happy to be an author in it and wanted to share it with my readers here for each of the articles included as there really is some exceptional content.  You can also visit the site to read more about each of the authors in this edition (scroll to the bottom

So, don’t hesitate, head on over put your name and email in the list to receive the first publication immediately and to subscribe to future issues for free.  You will surely be as impressed as I am!

http://sharinglifeskills.com/

Posted by Mike King under Learning | 2 Comments »

The Joy of Reciprocity in Relationships

There are a number of rules and laws that are often used to describe leadership, such as Steven Covey’s laws of leadership and specifically the law of reciprocity. This one happens to show up in leadership to me because leadership is so heavily dependent on building great relationships.  I believe any leader has to be able to form strong relationships to lead and so I’ve put a spin on this law to look at it more specifically with the joy of reciprocity in relationships.  The dictionary definition of reciprocity is:

A mutual or cooperative interchange of favors or privileges, especially the exchange of rights or privileges of trade.

That exchange of favors that seems so natural with benefits for both parties is also, unfortunately, what gets in people’s way before reciprocity ever occurs. People get caught up in looking for the immediate benefit to themselves in many situations and don’t initiate that generous first step of offering their own help or service first. They also often expect a favor in return or feel that they owe someone who has done good to them. This selfish thinking or score keeping often stops a good deed from being done in the first place, which over time limits the good deeds returned. Its a cascade effect and emphasizes cynical thinking and just reinforces the selfish attitude and solitude for an individual.

The law of reciprocity is NOT a law that can be measured in any instance of time or even between the same parties involved for the give and take. It works across ones whole life and so the payback or benefit can’t be recognized by looking at any scorecard with an individual or even in a specific relationship. Its a balance beyond any single measure, any single relationship and even beyond the time you serve here on earth (Romans 2:6 – He will reward each one according to his works)

Instead, what needs to occur is simple generosity. Be willing to offer help, give that time, pay for lunch, make that apology first, share some vulnerable personal story, step out of your comfort zone, make a step in faith, be brave, be first and be generous. Do this without keeping score, offer it every chance you get. Put the effort into your relationships without expectation! Everything about doing this changes your attitude, increases your outlook and joy in life and is eventually paid back, if not immediately, later in life and even in eternity. Every personal connection you develop is another opportunity in your life, both with business colleagues, friendships and family. A generous mind will graciously give AND accept offerings of help, money, service and advice. And these will come to you more naturally, and at the time of need for yourself or others.  So, put everything you can into your relationships and experience the joy of that on its own and eventually the joy of the reciprocity that will occur if you simply put in everything you can and let the law of reciprocity occur!

Posted by Mike King under Business | 4 Comments »

Career progress and performance is an important area in life and through my experience in striving to improve my performance I’ve learned to find many ways to perform well in my career.  It’s not been without its share of hard work though!  And as a manager, I also have insight and perspective from the other side of expectations and performance improvements and so these career tips come from that mix of experience and from my own study and practice in my career.  Please comment below if you have related experience or any stories where you have used this tip!

Building on Others’ Ideas

Ideas are an important aspect of change and change is what drives any organization closer and closer towards excellence.  If ideas are not used to feed the company’s progress, then growth will typically halt.  However, ideas need to be shared in a way that reinforces that ideas culture, not destroys it.  Ideas are often very personal and the reaction to an idea can easily have a lasting impact that influences future behavior quite strongly.

When an idea is presented some people criticize that idea and others ignore it and come up with another idea or change it. Saying something as simple as, “Here’s a better idea, blah blah blah” is very common but in actuality, it is harsh criticism about the original idea and a way to claim the new idea selfishly.  It is subtle but very destructive.  This tip is to change your working and approach when it comes to ideas and that is to always build on others’ ideas instead of criticizing or replacing them.  Changing your response to, “That is a great idea AND we could add this or do that also” is an easy way to build on others’ ideas.  Supporting people’s ideas instead of judging them is important to promote cooperation and collaboration to work together instead of against each other.

Replacing ideas or criticizing them builds competition and quickly has people learning that when they share their ideas, they are criticized, which leads quickly to people NOT sharing their ideas anymore.  This is the last thing you want for any organization and its especially not something you want for your own reputation either.  So, support others and their ideas and build on them, adding value and leaving them the credit instead of looking to take it or replace their idea with your own.

Posted by Mike King under Business | 4 Comments »