Destination: My Favorite Adventure Runs From Across the Globe

Some people collect stamps or guns. I collect intangibles like runs, trips, adventures and experiences. I’ve kept a mental list of my favorite runs from across the globe, but never written them all down.

I thought it would be fun to share my collection of favorite adventure runs with you. They aren’t in any order. They are all worth repeating. I haven’t included exact mileage or specific route details. Consider this list as a jumping off point to start your own adventure run.

San Pedro Valley – Valley Trail near SFO airport (photo credits parks CA)

San Pedro Valley Park near San Francisco Airport

Located in the hills above San Francisco Airport (SFO), this trail is within a ten to fifteen minute drive. I hunted for a trail while I waited for my brother’s flight to land. I saw the foothills above the airport and knew there had to be something good. Dirt fire roads, old paved roads with lots of rolling hills. Amazing views of the bay. I found this trail ten years ago and I keep going back when I end up with some extra time flying in and out of SFO.

Elvis Pawn Shop in Tupelo, MS 

Elvis supposedly bought his first guitar at this pawn shop in downtown Tupelo, MS. A customer took me along on his group run at 6 am as he pointed out the pawn shop “look that’s where Elvis bought his first guitar”. This run helped me realize that you can find something cool even in the middle of small town anywhere USA.

Seawall Stanley Park Vancouver, British Columbia seaside run (photo credits city of Vancouver)

Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia

is a gorgeous paved waterway urban trail hugging the English Bay as it extends out to the University of British Columbia. Keep hugging the water as you piece together Sunset Beach, Vanier Park, Hadden Park, Jericho Beach Park to the turnaround at Fraser River Park. I used to cover a sales territory in B.C and this was a treasured find that I repeat each time I make it to Vancouver. The beauty of intersection of sea and mountains makes the Vancouver landscape like few places I’ve been. I’m remembering this to be a 5-7 mile run.

Rural Dairy Farms in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania

Starting at the Hampton Inn in Shrewsbury doesn’t sound very appealing, I agree. The beauty of this run is that you quickly leave behind the Home Depot and hotel row and escape 150 years into rural dairy farms. Local farmers didn’t think too highly of my running tights and headlamp. The hills are steady and the farms and valleys don’t stop. This run reminds me of a scene from Forest Gump. You’ll see why.

The Regent’s Park London

London Tower Bridge to Westminster Abbey, Regent’s Park, Hyde Park

On my first trip to London, I decided to leave my hotel near Tower Bridge and aim towards Hyde Park. I basically meandered my way away to Westminster Abbey, paid my admission and then walked through the cathedral. Amazing! After I wiped a few tears, I started running again from park to park until I finished up at a Tube stop nearby Hyde Park. Taking the tube home enabled me to see a lot more of the city and not worry about directions back to my hotel. Now when I enter a new city I use running as a means of exploring and then I hop a train, subway or call an Uber to get back to my hotel.

Eiffel tower light up at night

Eiffel Tower @ night

My son and I spent Thanksgiving in Paris a few years ago. Our hotel was just down from the Arc de Triumph. Here’s a full post I wrote on our four days in Paris without a plan. Running the city at night was really peaceful and safe. The Eiffel Tower was light up like a beacon as the lights changed colors and danced in display. It was really special to see the tower for the first time all light up.

Kona HI finish in the pool after running the lava fields

Kona Lava Fields

My friend Kevin Lynch is a seven time IRONMAN, completed 70+ marathons and regularly bikes 200+ miles a week. Did I mention that he is in his sixties? Kevin is an ambassador of the Aloha spirit. Over the years, Kevin has introduced me to insider-only running adventures on the Big Island of Hawaii. This run was through the Kona, HI lava fields, along the shoreline of Kahuwai Bay, linking the wave crashing trails in front of the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, up through Kukio and back north to finish in Kukio’s private infinity pool. If you want to repeat this run, you’ll have to call Kevin to escort you. Let me know when you’re headed to the Big Island.

Oat Hill Mine Trail Calistoga Napa Valley (photo credits Napa Outdoors.org)

Napa Valley, Calistoga Oat Hill Mine trail run

I discovered this trail when my wife and I stayed at The Solage boutique resort. I found this trail meandering my way towards the hills above Calistoga. The trailhead is easily accessible off Silverado Trail rd. Coming from the mountains of Colorado, this 1500 foot hill climb was welcomed terrain. Phenomenal views, well marked trail with lots of vistas to look down into Napa Valley. Here is a trail map you can download and a nice brochure overview on the trail.

Crater Rim Trail circles Kilauea’s summit caldera.
Volcano Kilauea Caldera Photograph by J. Kauahikaua on September 27, 1997

Kilauea volcano crater rim trail

I ran this course as part of a 10+ mile race in 2007. The race does not exist any longer, but you can still run or hike this course along the Crater Rim Trail that circles Kilauea’s summit caldera. The trail actually takes you along the rim and then down inside the Kilauea Caldera to the floor and back up again. Amazing, moonscape like none other. Along the trail are steam fissures, cooling lava, tropical rainforests and desert. Add this one to your life list. Here are details for driving to the Crater Rim.

Don’t Allow Any Quit in You!

Before you turn around, ask yourself a few questions

“You’ve never quit anything before.”

Those are the words my brother-in-law Timothy said to me that stopped me in my tracks while hiking the Boulder Flatirons.

He said it as a complimentary claim about me and added a question mark at the end to confirm he was right in his assessment.

It’s not entirely true, but his observation in spirit is true.

I hate quitting. I simply refuse.  I can’t really explain when this began or what event seared that refusal deep within me.

I don’t have a story of a hard-driving father living vicariously through me. Nor can I locate an internal file or experience that explains this fire in me.

I just don’t like to quit.

My throw-in-the-towel list

  • I can’t stand this list I’m about to share with you. Even writing them makes my quitters ulcer flare up.
  • I quit my first marathon at mile twenty-four after vomiting for seven miles. I decided to eat Advil and spaghetti for breakfast, but not replenish during the Marathon.
  • In High School I quit a landscaping job after two days of working in the heat and humidity of a Midwest summer. I wasn’t ready to toughen up.
  • I’ve been on Mt. Rainier twice attempting to climb her crevassed glaciers. One time we struck out on weather and another time we got wore down and lacked the grit and experience required.
  • I’m sure there are many more things I’ve given up. Yet, I’m pretty sure I’d remember them since they bother me so much.

Before you quit you should
think about a couple of things

The pain or discomfort you feel right now will be over much quicker than you think.  

I just raced IRONMAN 70.3 Silverman Triathlon in Las Vegas. Two weeks prior, I was among 2800 other triathletes disappointed by the cancellation of IRONMAN Lake Tahoe.  Before Silverman I trained in the foothills and mountains of cool-weathered Colorado; I didn’t condition myself for the heat of the desert. Three-and-a-half hours later, the run began and the sun was in full sizzle, fry an egg on the sidewalk mode. As I ran, or maybe more accurately called shuffling your feet at ten-minute miles, I thought about this a lot. I was watching people walk off the course and give up.  All I could think about was, “Bro, the pain is going to be over soon, but you’re going to remember quitting for a long time”.  As soon as I stopped running, the pain stopped. The irony was that I finished 68th in my age group of over 400 and 371st out of 1655, being one of my best ever finishes. My race time was terrible, but so was everyone else’s.

The regret of quitting lasts a lot longer than you think.

The problem with quitting is that we evaluate our choices while we are under the tension, stress, or pain of the situation, relationship, job, activity, business, etc. It is so easy to give up when we are under stress. Just remember that as soon as you quit, you can’t take it back, you can’t get a do-over, or say you didn’t really mean to quit.

Don’t allow yourself to have “Any Quit” in you.

My friend Neal recently told me a story about an triathlete he knows who permitted himself the idea of quitting before he even started a big race. Neal said You have to have No Quit in you. I totally agree. My wife and I refuse to use the word Divorce in our home.  It’s simply not allowed in our household vocabulary. Why? If we permit the word to cycle through our conversations and arguments, then we are giving heed to the idea of quitting.

Start over

If you’ve permitted quitting in the past, then reboot your systems and start over. Draw a line in the sand and don’t allow that guy (or gal) to have any space in your future. It would be better to be the guy who draws a line than the guy who just keeps on quitting.

What have you quit before that you wish you hadn’t?

Don’t ever give up. Try something new.

No Caption Required

Jockstraps. That was my level of desperation. It was 1999 and I needed to close a deal.

It was a sales deal and I was working for an Internet startup. I sent jock straps mounted to whiteboards to five executives at a sports marketing company. Strategically attached to each crotch was my company’s logo with a succinct message, “We have the support you need!”

I’m not kidding you.

I’m laughing just writing this. I remember my CEO walking by, seeing me with my homemade assembly line, and disappointedly claiming,

“Oh, that’s what it’s come to now?”

It was during the Dot-Bomb era when our company was vaporizing every penny of our $10 million dollars in venture capital investment. We were living in the age of “build it, and they will come.” Genuinely, there was a belief that if you had cool technology, a bunch of young, energetic, smart people, a game room, stock options, bring your dog to work day, and some VC cash, someone will acquire you for “eleventy billion times” your annual revenue.

The startup wasn’t working

There we were pinning up the covers of Fast Company in our cube farm as inspiration for our future pending wealth. We were collectively working hard to bring in new clients, find uses for our innovative technology (the predecessor to web conferencing), and simultaneously outpace our cash burn rate by our growth rate of revenue.

It wasn’t working, which was why I was desperate for a win.

FedEx was scheduled to deliver each “package” by 9 a.m. Pacific Time. I logged in and refreshed my screen until I saw the “delivery confirmation.” I picked up the phone, called my prospect, and said,

Hey [Person], did you get my package?

Awwwwwkwaaardddd silence….

Yeah, we all got them.

I sent one to him, his boss, and his boss’s boss all the way up the chain.

I promised him the jocks were clean and our company was ready to support them, so let’s get this deal done.

Did my last-ditch-sales approach work?

Yes and no. My jock strap stunt forced their team to not dismiss our little company.  We were competing for their business against a much larger and seemingly stable provider. The message did get across, “We want your business and are passionate about supporting you.” We moved into the contract phase and began negotiations.

A couple weeks later, a press release was issued that they were closing their doors, selling off their assets, and letting everyone go. I called my contact and he was severely depressed, “They’re taking the furniture.” It was ugly.

Even though our contract didn’t last long, it did leave me with one burning lesson: don’t ever give up. Try something new.

Try something before you give up

I’ve always believed that if nothing is working, then try something else before you simply give up. Clearly from this story, you can tell I can be prone to taking it a little too far. I think I can help you the next time you are feeling stuck and ready to throw up your hands:

  1. Choose action over Inaction
  2. Chase Creativity over Predictability
  3. Dare to be Risky over Playing it Safe
  4. Ask for Forgiveness over Permission
  5. Pick a Fight over Surrendering

Friends, when it looks like you are down for the count, don’t ever give up. You should try something else.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend just sending jockstraps to random people, but what’s the unorthodox, paradigm-bending leap you need to take to make an extraordinary impression for your future?

[tentblogger-youtube ZmMFIganRQY]

Stories I Only Tell My Friends

 

The way I put it to my friends

There are two versions of every story. The one you tell on Facebook or at a cocktail party, and the one you only tell your closest friends.  For sake of invitation and encouragement, I’m going to risk telling you both versions of three stories. I’m trusting that the invitation will invite you to do the same.

Actor Rob Lowe chose this as the title of one of his books, Stories I Only Tell My Friends.  His title peaked my desire to be on the inside to hear the intimate stories that only his buddies hear while sharing beers over a late night poker game.

These are the stories I would tell you if we were friends.

I hold back a lot.

Living out loud for the world to see, hear, and read isn’t as simple as you might imagine.

The problem with holding back is that sometimes I censor to the point of excluding myself from the stories.

When writing my eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss, my good friends and editors Tim & Laurie  Thornton challenged me on my censorship.

“YOU are missing from Your stories. You are nowhere to be found. It’s ok, but it’s not as good as it could be if You put YOU back into the story.”

They were spot-on.

I purposely extracted most of the first-person intimate details from my career liberation, and as a result, it wasn’t that great.

I took their advice. I went home and wrote down everything I would write if only I was going to read it.

It worked!

I was able to silence my censorship filter and stop worrying about who would read it, what they would think, if they would be offended, love it, or hate it. My story, my intimate experiences, were unlocked and re-infused back into the narrative of How I Fired My Boss.

Before you share the intimate version of your stories,

here is some advice…

  • Keep your judgment
  • Retain censorship rights according to the group you’re talking with
  • Risk being known so others can love you more completely
  • It won’t always work
  • Sometimes people won’t listen, act like they care, or know what to do with your level of transparency
  • Start with a trusted few, then venture out to those outside of your inner circle
Photography by Gabe Sullivan

Two-Week Vacation

This past summer I took two weeks off work, rented a beach house in California five hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean, and didn’t check email for two weeks (I’ll write later about why we American’s don’t ever take two-week vacations). Skateboards, surfboards, runs, bikes, sunburns, friends, sand, sun, friends, and imperfection. We hired a Surfer Magazine photographer for a photojournalism shoot on the kelp-riddled marine preserve of Laguna Beach.

Stories I only tell my friends

Three days after high school graduation, my eighteen-year-old son left for a recovery program in the steamy hot countryside of Nashville, TN.  He bravely elected to commit to a six-week residential therapy program. We weren’t sure if he would be joining us for the pre-paid vacation we had planned for eight months.

The weekend before our two-week hiatus was scheduled to commence, my wife and I flew to The Ranch to meet him in a small 10 x 15 foot therapist’s office. We listened closely to her assessment of his encouraging progress as the white-noise machine broadcasted fuzz aimed at disguising conversations of the neighboring therapist.

The beach pictures show joy, but they don’t reveal the prelude of pain and heartache.

The Channel Islands National Park, California

Men’s Town Road Trips:

Every Spring Break for the past nine years, my son and I head west on a dirt-bagging road trip (I will write more later on the art of dirt-bagging) to visit a different National Park. No girls allowed.  We’ve only missed one year when my daughter Hadley, his sister, moved to Heaven.  We’ve camped the Oregon Coast, backpacked the Grand Canyon, and gone under ground at Carlsbad Caverns. The most recent was our sea kayaking trip to the Channel Islands National Park, twenty-five miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA.

Stories I only tell my friends

When he was in sixth grade, I decided to give him the sex-ed talk. It was terrible. I had to pull over so he could throw up. I thought I was doing a great job as a father, not waiting until his friends at school educated him about how he and his sisters got here. He can still recite every horrible adolescent analogy used by the CD’s narrator. He also has stories of death marches in desert heat with heavy backpacks, running out of water, and getting lost in the Great Sequoias. Each of the Men’s Town trips were imperfect, yet I wouldn’t trade one minute of any of them.

Me 2nd on the left-Ceremony of the Bell

Ringing the Bell of the London Stock Exchange

Two years ago, I resigned from my job without my next gig lined up.  I left because I believed there was something better waiting for me. One year after my vagabond departure, I found myself at the London Stock Exchange ringing the opening day trading bell as part of our company Kalibrate going public on the AIM Exchange. That is a story I could have never imagined.

Stories I only tell my friends

When I was twenty-five I read every issue of Fast Company magazine.  In those articles it appeared that when your company went public everyone got rich.  I remember all those pencil-neck little geeks cashing in their options and buying Ferrari’s. It turns out that a lot of those guys appeared wealthy until the bank repossessed their Italian sports car for missing their loan payments.

Here is the truth: I’ve seen too much. I’m not financially wealthy, but I’ve done well. After twenty years in the business world, I’ve met a lot of guys along the way who cashed in all of life’s chips in an attempt to become rich.  I’ve seen guys with fortunes loose them. I’ve seen startups fail and stock options be worth less than the piece of paper they are printed on. Ringing the bell was an epic moment in my career, but not worth throwing away the rest of my life in an attempt to obtain such a career crescendo.

Stories you should consider telling your friends

Now it’s your turn. What are the stories that your Facebook pictures don’t tell?

Who in your world today would hold the realities of your stories well?

What stories would you tell if no one ever read them?

Keep going, friends.

Why I Write About More Than Just Work-Life Balance?

(Written in 2014) I never set out to write a blog.

I told myself, that’s the last thing the world needs, another guy with an opinion. 

This month marks my third anniversary of this accidental creation, Work Life Play Blog/Podcast.

I am passionate about living a sustainable work-life rhythm that includes play woven continuously. I want to master the Art of Living, not merely default to balancing my career with my family. I’m convinced that integration must be our aim-not balance.

I’ve learned that my voice is best inserted @ the intersections and crossroads of all three Work Life Play. I hope that I’ve helped you blur the lines of distinction between where one starts and where the other ends.

Why this Trifecta?

This is unrehearsed, but here it goes.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking through how best to explain this trifecta. My life experiment is to become more integrated, less fragmented and compartmentalized. Those I admire the most live freely and lightly with little distinction in their work, life and play.

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.”

-James Michener

Blurring the Lines

I want to live a lifestyle where the daily lines between Work Life Play are impossible to draw. I want the rhythms of my life to ebb and flow within this trifecta every day. In my old life, I used to think

I work from 9 am to 5:30 pm.

I play on Saturday mornings or only on vacations.

I spend time with my family and friends on the weekends.

I’m in the process of undoing these old lines of demarcation. I’ve learned that a more gratifying-joy-filled sustainable lifestyle is achieved by blurring the lines every single day. I am becoming an artist of a Work Life Play lifestyle.

Work

I love to work. I’m invigorated by the opportunity to create and innovate. I’m learning to discover work I love while embracing the complexity, uncertainty, and growth as a playground for my development.

Through the vehicle of work, we can create good in the world, in people’s lives as we become more wholehearted.

Life

I believe living a meaningful life requires that we invest heavily in those entrusted to our care. Ancient Wisdom reminds us to “Love others, as you love yourself” and “learn to marshall and direct your energies wisely.” To keep going requires that we prioritize the health of our relationships, our physical and spiritual lives.

Relationships: A meaningful life worth living is rich with relationships. We offer to others what we offer to ourselves. Kindness, patience, forgiveness, trust require being deeply rooted.

I want to steward my relationships so that others thrive under my care.  

Personal health and wellness doesn’t happen on accident.  It takes a constant purposeful attention.  I want to live a long, healthy, active life without becoming obsessive about it.

I want to feel good at age 80 so I’m doing something about it at age 42.

Spiritual life: God’s life is real, and as inescapable as are human relationships. I love God, and I love people. My invitation here is encourage conscious contact with the one who can help.

Transformation, restoration and freedom are available .

Play

Most men I know abandoned play a long time ago.  They grow up, get jobs, become responsible, grow a potbelly, and settle for Fantasy Football leagues and Xbox games as their only adventures.

The world is too big, too wild and too mysterious to stay indoors.

I run, bike, swim, climb, fish, surf (novice), and I’m working on learning to ride a longboard (skateboard).  More importantly, I’ve learned to play amidst life’s difficulties, small margins of time, and life’s obligations.   I want you to play a lot more.

Get muddy, try something new, play with your kids, find an adventure, and stop always staying at the Westin and get in a tent instead.

I’ve needed to put words to this trifecta combo if only to help me make sense of it. Thank you for being apart of this emerging tale these past three years. I hope it made a difference for you.

Keep going friend-

Aaron

The Choices We Unknowingly Make

Six to Ten hours a week I chose this.

This is a post about choices.

I need to first set the scene so that you can understand how I discovered this nugget of truth.

Yesterday I rode (cycled) 120 miles in preparation for an upcoming race. Five weeks from today, I am competing in my second IRONMAN Triathlon. The IRONMAN  was originally cooked up by a couple of local Hawaiian nut jobs back in 1978.  It was a test of wills, guts and stamina.  Today it has become an international endurance athlete phenomenon.

You’ve probably caught one of the races on television and thought to yourself , That looks awful. I could never do that.

It might appear that IRONMAN is only for gifted athletes.  I don’t think this is entirely true.

More importantly than athletics, I believe it’s a race for the courageous of heart.

Watch a race in person and you will witness all shapes, all sizes and all ages fixated on their goal- the finish line.  If you chose to attempt an IRONMAN, you could complete it. I promise.

Ironman training is a choice

I want to put myself through this test again to see if I can arrive at the finish line and hear the microphone announcer say,

Aaron McHugh, you are an IRONMAN.

But this is not a post about the IRONMAN.

It is a post about choices.

It’s a post about LIFE and the small margins we are constrained to live within.

By choosing to take on this part-time job for ten months, IRONMAN training, I chose to limit my other choices.

When I dedicate eight-to-thirteen hours a week to training, then I simply don’t have time to do other things.

Here are a couple of choices that became limited as a result of my training:

  • Go to the pool with my family
  • Dry fly fishing the evening hatch on the South Platte river
  • Backpack over night into the Colorado high country
  • Regularly publish new blogs and podcasts
  • Drink beers with my buddies
  • Sleep eight hours every night

As I sit on my bike for six hours each Saturday and climb the rolling hills of the Front Range of Colorado, I’m reminded that I made this choice.

The Side Effects of my choices

I chose to race IRONMAN and this choice resulted in a list of preclusions.   I precluded myself from having the freedom to choose other things I love.

Probably like you, these resulting side effects often surprise me.  When we agree to a big project at work, sign up to coach our kids little league baseball, host a dinner party for fifty or buy that new Lexus we’ve been dreaming about, we are surprised.

I’ve been known to say something like theses: 

  • “I underestimated…”
  • “I had no idea…”
  • “I was planning on everything else going right…”
  • “I’m shocked that it costs this much…”

Maybe you’re a lot better than I am at estimating exactly what each decision will cost or require.

During my ride, I was reminded of the root cause behind why I am not writing more.  I chose an IRONMAN instead.

It’s funny I don’t remember writing a pros and cons list and adding, I will not be writing very often to the cons list.

I guess that’s what you call underestimating.

My parting encouragement to you

Maybe we chose the predicament, constraints, tension, pressure, stress, or disappointment that we are experiencing?

Maybe we didn’t consciously calculate all of the ways our decisions would affect other areas of our life, work and play?

Try it on and ask yourself What choices did I unknowingly make that I’m unaware of?

I gotta go.

I’m late for my pool workout.

Keep going.

Gear Every Road Warrior Must Carry

Thule Crossover backpack swallows it all

Gear Every Road Warrior Must Carry

I travel a lot. So much so that I try to not think too much about it and count how many days I spend away from home.  I’m going to download this list of what I consider to be key “must have’s” on any travel.  Whenever you travel away from home for business or pleasure, I guarantee these (or something like them) will make your bag lighter, more efficient and diverse.  This is Gear Every Road Warrior Must Carry. The result is your bag will weigh a lot less and you will be a lot more comfortable.

Thule Crossover backpack 25L

I’ve owned this pack for two years now and won’t ever go back to a traditional laptop bag.  This pack is very functional, easy to stuff full or cinch down when carrying small loads. Personally I like the work, life, play feel of this bag.  It is professional enough for business, but playful enough for personal travel. I also purchased the Macbook Pro sleeve that inserts into the built-in pack pocket.

Thule Gauntlet Macbook Pro Sleeve

Backpack Cost $100

Macbook Pro sleeve Cost $50

iPad with Logitech Bluetooth keyboard

I try to take only my iPad and keyboard for personal trips and business trips that last less than three to four days.  The weight saving is significant compared to dragging a laptop along.  I use Evernote, Dropbox, Skype and Lastpass to help cure the normal challenges you might experience from not having your full computer.  With the Bluetooth keyboard your iPad turns into an email machine during the day and Netflix viewing stand at night.

Price around $80.00

Logitech iPad keyboard

Mophie PowerStation Duo

How many times has your cell phone died and you can’t pull up your travel itinerary, digital boarding pass or use the GPS on the train or subway?  It has happened to me a lot. The Mophie duo gives my iPhone or iPad between two to four charges when starting with a full charge.  I’ve used this magic power pack all across the world.  My son even took it to Disneyland last week so he could stay in contact with us throughout the evening after his phone battery drained.

Price $130.00

Mophie Juicepack for charging your devices

Starbucks Via Italian Roast instant coffee packets

I admit I am a coffee snob. Most hotel coffee tastes like dirty water to me. Starbucks Via packets give me the delight of being at home.  I use them for everything from backpacking to business travel.  More uses for Via packets read this.

Price $10 for a pack of twelve. 

Portable caffeine buzz

Garmin Vivofit

You’ve heard my commercial on this device before, but I find especially for business travel that it’s important to me to track my movement.  A sedentary life leads to a slow death or maybe better said a life I don’t want to live. The Vivofit helps me make sure I am moving enough including walking in airports or during conference calls.

Costs $130.00

Vivofit tracking your daily movement

Advil

I probably don’t need to give you many examples as to how you might use this wonder drug.  I use them for everything from backaches from sitting on the airplane to not being able to sleep.

The cure for any ailment

Express Rocco Slim Fit jeans

My more rugged buddies will make fun of me for adding these to the list. However my wife brought this home for me to try and they have turned out to be perfect.  They are a great combination of casual and dressy.  The important point here is to find a versatile pair of jeans that fit multiple environments.

Price around $80.00

Casual but nice enough for the office

Bluff Works pants

I love these pants.  My friend Stefan Loble started this company from a Kickstarter campaign and now almost two years later, they are killing it. Hear his story on my podcast interview just as he was launching the company. The best part about these pants for me is that the inside pockets are lined with two words: Work & Play.  Although I am wearing them at work with clients I am always aware that both of these realities are available.  I guess it serves as another way I feel I can Stick It to The Man.

Price $93.00

I can easily wear with no iron and throw on a sport coat if needed

GoLite Black Button up

Black is versatile for both nice and chill. You can dress it up or down. This universal GoLite shirt, like Bluffworks, provides the perfect combination of no iron required and I can go out to a business dinner or throw it on with a pair of shorts and flip-flops.

From GoLite’s website, So versatile you won’t know whether you should wear it while doing yard work, or hiking through the rainforests of Costa Rica. 

Price $50.00

Who doesn’t love a man in black?

The North Face Thermoball Remix Vest

A quick zip up vest can cut the wind, shed a few raindrops, used as a pillow or a back support.  I love the versatility of always having this in my backpack. It’s easy to throw on and stuffs down to the size of your fist.  It weighs nothing and eliminates needing to bring a full-sleeved jacket or coat. I still bring it along in the winter as it provides a quick added insulation layer if my outerwear isn’t cutting it alone.

Price $135.00

Easy to stuff and always useful

Bose Noise Canceling headset

I resisted buying these for about ten years.  My wife pushed me over the edge and I wish I had listened to her sooner. Here is what I notice with these.  Yes, they are a bit heavy and even expensive. The benefit is the time spent on an airplane drains your body and mind.  Air travel is noisy.  The frequency and volume of announcements combined with the constant drone of jet engines.  These noise-canceling headphones don’t eliminate the noise all together, but the noise is reduced by upwards of 70%.  Over the course of a full day of air travel, I find that my general mood is significantly improved.  Most importantly that travel fatigue that I thought was just part of the deal is also reduced by 70%.  Feel better, sleep better and be ready to go to work or play once you arrive on the ground.

Price $300.00

Although a bit bulky you’ll sleep like a baby

Other staples in my bag:

  • Running shoes and shorts
  • Garmin 910 GPS watch
  • Spare collar stays
  • Earplugs

I hope you find this list of road warrior gear helpful. I’m sure you have a few in your bag that we need to know about.

Hook us up!  Tell us what we need to add to our list.

Bagger Vance and finding your one true authentic swing

Junuh finding his one true authentic swing

“Yep… Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing… Somethin’ we was born with… Somethin’ that’s ours and ours alone… Somethin’ that can’t be taught to ya or learned… Somethin’ that got to be remembered… Over time the world can rob us of that swing… It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas… Some folk even forget what their swing was like…”

The Legend of Bagger Vance
Steven Pressfield

Finding Your Swing Again

Do you know where it went?

How long has it been gone?

What took its place?

Do you even believe that you have it anymore?

In the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance, Will Smith’s character Bagger Vance, counsels Rannulph Junuh, played by Matt Damon, that all that is standing in his way of winning history’s greatest golf match is finding his swing.

Author Steven Pressfield must have read our mail when he wrote this scene. Junuh was lost. He was lost beneath a heap of personal debris. Life had crushed him by its relentless and violent persistence. He used to play golf. He used to love the game. He used to smile. He used to be the town hero. Now, after a decade of disappointments, hardships, and consequences from character defects, he lost his swing.

Bagger Vance was right

Inside every one of us there is our one true authentic swing, the swing that only we can make. The swing that was installed into our DNA upon inception. Some might call it our sweet spot. Some might say it’s our gifting.

I think Stephen Pressfield was naming something deeper than gifting.

Our one true authentic swing is that thing we do that only we can do the way we do it.

I’ve watched surfers, singers, pianists, speakers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, carpenters, artists, writers, athletes, and chefs, each swing in a way that can only be explained as authentic – somethin’ we was born with.

I’ve tried to explain this phenomenon before. I called it The Illusion of Ease. Pressfield’s explanation through Bagger Vance is better.

Read it again

Somethin’ that’s ours and ours alone… Somethin’ that can’t be taught to ya or learned… Somethin’ that got to be remembered…

Don’t the chill bumps on your arm provide you all the proof you need?  Something that is ours alone, that can’t be taught or learned, but has to be remembered.

What would it take for you to remember your swing?

How long would you have to search through the archives of your soul’s memory to find it again?

Do you realize how the world needs your swing?

No one else has what you have. No one else swings like you swing. No one else can replicate it.  You couldn’t teach someone to swing like you if you tried.  You have to remember.

You have to pull it out of the bag, the closet, down off the shelf and try and find it again. We are waiting for you.  How long must we wait?  How long will you deny the world your swing?  Please reconsider.

I know that your second grade teacher, your mother, your father, your Boy Scout leader, your coach, your boss, or your ex-wife made you believe that your swing was not special.

They were wrong-dead wrong.

As Bagger Vance instructs us of the pending tragedy,

Over time the world can, rob us of that swing.  

Tragic the idea remains if:

  • Michelangelo had not painted the Sistine Chapel
  • Steven Pressfield never penned a book
  • Wes Anderson never stared through the lens of a camera
  • Kelly Slater never got in the ocean
  • Bill Gates never wrote a line of code

I’d love for you to reconsider.

Stop denying it.

Stop burying it.

Stop pretending it isn’t that great.

Find your swing.

Offer it to the world.

Gift us with your one true authentic swing.

What You Should Know Before You Sell Out

I loved Pixar when John Lasseter was directing every film.

I loved Jack Johnson’s music when he was a poor surfer.

The First is often the best

The first version, the first album, the first move, the first season is usually the best.  The quality and soul of version one is often unmatched by the “post success” subsequent versions.

After companies, bands, athletes, writer, entrepreneurs and artist score big they seem to regularly loose their original identity that underpinned their break-out success.

It reminds me of Rocky Balboa from the original 1976 movie. Do you remember when he lived in a cellar, owned two greasy wife beater t-shirts, drank raw eggs in a plastic cup and slept on a cot?  He didn’t have fame, but he had heart.  

Heart drove his training.  

Contrast that image of Rocky to the Lamborghini driving, mega-wealthy, soft champion distracted by what he would be wearing in his next television commercial.

Rocky after he made it big

Count the costs before you cash the check

Before we sell out we should really give some strong consideration to the fact that we might loose The Eye of the Tiger.

A few questions to ponder:

  • Are you ok with that trade?
  • Has the money and the prestige been the goal all along?
  • How much of your present success is because you’ve been the hungry, idealist, dead-set on doing it better than the other guys?
  • How much of your shoe-string budget has forced you to be more innovative?

I have a few friends who are on the verge of this status change.  They have pursued their dream to the point of earning a well-deserved chance to stop punching meat in the freezer.

Will they keep doing version one work even after they make it big?

Real world examples

Were they better before they made it big? 

  • Bon Iver From a Log Cabin to the Grammy’s
    Can he still infuse his music with the melancholy angst that he found in his secluded Wisconsin cabin?  Now he has Grammy albums, fame, distraction and likely not a lot of solitude.  Now that he records in a fancy studio, how will it sound?
  • M. Night Shyamalan Film Maker
“I see dead people”.
    Do you remember his 1999 breakout film The Sixth Sense?  This Indian-American screenwriter’s early work is studied by film students as great works of art.  Today, he is producing mega-blockbusters for Walt Disney Studios.  Which movie would you rather go see?
  • Mossimo Beachwear Designer
    
In 1986, he started making shorts for beach volleyball and schlepping them up and down the California coast.  As his website states, They gained notoriety for their humble, grassroots start.  Now you can find his clothing line in every Target superstore across America.  Is the original aloha vibe still alive?

Walking Conference Calls: Optimal Performance Hack

147.11 Miles While on Conf Calls (Vivofit)

Get Paid to Walk & Talk on Conference Calls

Why sit at your desk for every hour of daily conference calls? Why not walk while you talk? Nobody said you had to sit and stare at your monitor.I walked 147.11 miles last month while on work conference calls. I guess you could call this a Life Hack.  After I told a few friends about this newly discovered Stick It to The Man technique their response was

“You have to write a blog about that”.

Before I divulge my secrets to getting paid to walk and talk on conference calls, let me offer you some comedic relief.  If you spend hours each day on conference calls then you need to read this article but first you need to watch this video from Tripp & Tyler.

Motivated to move

Now that you are motivated to find a better way to participate or even lead conference calls, let me help you.  Back in January while sitting in a meeting in frigid New Jersey, I caught a glimpse of a guy outside walking the parking lot.  I asked my co-workers if they knew what he was doing.

Over the course of the last year they watched him faithfully get outside and walk up and down every row of the parking lot.  As a result he lost over 100 lbs.  While they sat back and ate their fried chicken and stuffed risotto pasta, he walked and walked and walked himself to better health.

Removing the perceived obstacles

Walking a parking lot might sound awful to you.  You wish you could walk on a nice sunny trail in the woods.  Maybe you are a treadmill person who would rather walk and watch TV on the monitor?

I get it.

The idea of going out and walking a parking lot at lunchtime means you have to:

  • Have a pair of running shoes to change into
  • Put on deodorant after and before
  • Bundle up because the weather isn’t ideal today
  • (Insert other excuses here)

You could look at it this way or you could simply stand up from your desk, walk outside in your work clothes, with your work shoes, with your work dress coat and get your butt walking.  If you must have those items above, then leave them at your office with a spare set in your car.

If you know what your excuses will be, then you can eliminate them in advance of the resistance.

Unspoken rules are a myth

We often live under a set of rules that no one actually ever spoke or wrote down.  We sit during every conference call because we work in an office. We sit in the conference room or our office because that is what the social norm is.

Everyone else is sitting.
I guess I am supposed to be sitting.

Employee handbook

Try and find the section in your employee handbook titled Conference Call Requirements.  What you can’t find that section?  It’s because there isn’t one.

For the first eighteen years of my working career, I was convinced that my employee handbook mandated the following:

  1. You must be sitting while on a conference call.  You must sit at your desk, in the conference room, at the airport, or in your car.
  2. If you are not sitting, then you must be distracted and not providing value to the discussion.
  3. Every employee will take notes while attending the conference call and therefore each employee needs to be sitting.

Conclusion: There is not a rule that says you have to sit

Professionalism remains important

If you are going to attempt to break the rules of the herd, then there is a way to do this well.  There are also a few ways to really screw this up.

1) Is it ok with you if I walk while we talk?

Start with asking this question and ask for the other people’s support before you begin walking during the call. By gaining their agreement, then you are honoring the importance of the conference call and their time.  You do not want your co-workers to feel that you are not paying attention or are out goofing off picking up your dry cleaning while talking with them.

Key phrases: If you don’t mind or is it ok with you

2) You may hear some background noise while we are talking

It is critical that you communicate to the other people on the call that they may hear background noise and inform them exactly what they may hear during the call.  I live in a neighborhood that is constantly building new homes.  In the background there are dogs barking, dump trucks passing by and other sounds that can be distracting at times.

I have found that if you communicate what these sounds are in advance, people are much more comfortable knowing than guessing.

I’ve found this to be helpful when in an airport as well.

“Sam I am in an airport, you may hear some background noise as I am boarding a flight to xxx.
I hope this won’t be too distracting for you? “

3) Use an earpiece or wired earbuds

It is much more difficult to talk while holding your phone against your ear.  Secondly the outdoor environment reduces the noise quality significantly.  I have found that if I plug in my earbuds or an earpiece then I can maximize my listening and talking volume and therefore not reduce my level of participation.

My new friend Matthew Kruchko recommends the ERA by Jawbone.  He too is a home office, business traveling family guy who is on the move a lot and swears by this Bluetooth earpiece.

4) Use the Mute button

You must learn to use the mute button.  Most people would improve the conference call experience for others if they would learn to use the mute function.  Even if you are sitting at your desk or in a conference room you should be using the mute feature a lot anyway.

I have been on hundred’s of conference calls (like the video portrays) where people’s dogs are barking, kids are asking for a snack and they hammer on their keyboard.

5) Not every call is a Walk & Talk candidate

Here is a list of call types that I do not apply this Life Hack to:

  • My boss for our weekly call
  • Prospective clients
  • First time interviews
  • All company meetings
  • Any call that I am leading that requires me to share my screen or present information

Consequences of doing this wrong

If you use your best professional judgment then you can make this work for you every single week for the rest of your career.  Misjudge the time, place and approach to this and immediately people will think you are not paying attention, not working hard, not professional, disinterested and not committed to your work.

Do this well and you can Stick-It to the Man with every mile.

Garmin Vivofit

I measured every mile and steps walked with my new fitness band from Garmin-Vivofit.  As they say, you can only improve what you measure.

The Vivofit measures every step you take each day, monitors your sleep, and scolds you with a flashing red bar when you’ve sat too long.  I would highly recommend investigating a few of these fitness bands to both help motivate as well as measure your miles.

Still not convinced?

Here are a few more resources to help convince you that sitting is killing us one conference call at a time.

Nilofer Merchant’s TedTalk 2013 –Got a meeting? Take a walk

Podcast interview with Nilofer Merchant-Sitting is killing us

Harvard Business Review: Sitting is the Smoking of Our Generation

How Sitting All Day is Damaging Your Body-LifeHacker