Creating the High Points In Your Life

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Maura on summit of Mt. Katahdin My husband and I met in a basic mountaineering training course offered by the Sierra Club. He was one of the instructors, I was a student. Many of our dates involved hiking or backpacking, and hiking has remained an important part of our lives. In addition to a shared interest, it provides us time together to talk about our week, and, of course, exercise.

A number of years ago, I heard about the HighPointers Club. The members share a goal of attaining the high point of every state. This sounded great!  We started by trying to fit in hiking a state highpoint whenever we vacationed, and one year decided to attend the annual convention (proving the point that there is an organization for pretty much any interest). We were hooked, and our highpointing efforts stepped up considerably.

Some of the high points are ridiculously easy (Florida is basically a mound in a small roadside park); at the other end of the spectrum is Alaska’s highpoint, Denali. Regardless of the difficulty, one of the beauties of this goal is that you see every state, and some beautiful scenery. But the highpoints are typically not in the most easy to get to locations, and Maine is a good example. It’s a full day drive from anywhere, and closer to Canada than it is to most towns in Maine. Which means that you have to plan your trip carefully to allow sufficient travel time and hiking time, especially if you are traveling from southern California just to hike this peak.

We learned this the hard way eight years ago, when we planned our trip so tightly that we only allowed one day for our hike. That was the day the tail-end of Katrina hit the Northeast, and the park closed all access to the mountain. Four years ago, we tried again. It was raining heavily when we left the trailhead at 6 am, and my husband had had a bad night after eating something that did not agree with him. We turned around after a mile.

So you can imagine I was determined to get this peak on our third attempt. I planned 2 hiking days, so one could be a back-up in case of weather. Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and we attained the summit last Tuesday – state highpoint #42 for me, and #44 for my husband. We’re already planning our next highpoint adventure.

Make sure you create your own highpoints- It’s important to plan time in your week for those activities about which you are passionate. It’s too easy to allow other things to co-opt your time if you don’t. As a start, acknowledge what you love to do but aren’t. Then schedule time this week on that activity. Make it a commitment by commenting what you will do below.

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The Secret Powers of Time

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Did you know that most Americans agree they sacrifice friends, family, and sleep for their success?

In this fascinating video, psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo explains how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. It’s 10 minutes, but worth it for the insights.

Insight #1: Lots of conflicts we have with people are really a conflict of different time perspectives.
-How can you apply this to your interactions with your vendors and/or clients?

Insight #2: If given an extra day, 50% of Americans would not spend it with friends or family.
-Schedule time with friends and family – and treat those appointments with the same respect you do your work appointments.

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Always Agree and Say Yes: Tina Fey’s Rules For Improv

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My mother's music box: The Man in the Moon with cherubs

My mother’s music box: The Man in the Moon with cherubs

I’ve discovered that an improv class was great training for talking with my mother. Who better than Tina Fey to explain why:

The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you’re improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created. So if we’re improvising and I say, “Freeze, I have a gun,” and you say, “That’s not a gun. It’s your finger. You’re pointing your finger at me,” our improvised scene has ground to a halt. But if I say, “Freeze, I have a gun!” and you say, “The gun I gave you for Christmas! You bastard!” then we have started a scene because we have AGREED that my finger is in fact a Christmas gun.

– excerpt from ‘Bossy Pants’

My mother, an intelligent and sophisticated woman, has Lewy Body Disease. Among other things, that means her cognitive abilities fluctuate. Last week she was clear as a bell; Tuesday night, when we had dinner, not so much.

That does not mean a conversation is impossible, just that it helps to stay agile and respond thoughtfully when she asks what Bart will do in the afterlife (her word). Bart is my cat. According to my mother, he often stops by her nursing home for a visit.

Agility is an important skill to practice for other reasons, too. Ever have an unsatisfactory conversation with a customer service rep?  Which company was more likely to keep your business: the one with the customer service rep who has the knee jerk reaction  ‘That’s not a problem” or the one with the rep who says “Yes. That is a problem” and begins to explore alternative ways to handle the situation? Companies create raving fans when they ‘agree and say yes’ when a customer reports a problem. These companies see the complaint as a gift that allows them to create an even better product or service.

And my mother’s gift is that she still is teaching me lessons that help me live my life (and run my company) with more grace.

 

Are you a business owner who finds yourself thinking:

I’m only one person…I can’t do everything!

I want to make more money.

Business is growing, but I can’t afford more staff.

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