Al Andersen

Who is setting the pace… A trail tip

Conventional wisdom tells us the strongest, smartest, most experienced person should always be setting the pace. In hiking it’s the person who knows the trail and is the fastest. In our personal life, it’s the most experienced, showing us how to do something. At work, we get training by having others show us how to do things; with them clicking through the various screens on product training. And especially with our personal and work life situations; it gets done faster when someone else is “doing the work” and we watch them -praying that we remember at least 17% of what they just “trained” us on. But I think it’s time to challenge this conventional wisdom.

In hiking, it’s the fastest person who knows the trail, setting the pace. Often 30 to 60 feet ahead of us, they hike faster, hoping we will be motivated to try to keep up with them and when they do stop for a break; it’s just long enough for us to catch up with them and then they take off again. Or as they show us a new trail, we are so focused on just trying to keep their “butt” in our eye sight, we don’t take any notice of the landmarks. Having been both the leader and follower in these cases, I’m now realizing the that SLOWEST person should always go first, setting the pace for hiking and the breaks. The LEADER should be last, giving instructions on where to turn on the trail. This does two things. 1) It makes for an overall faster hike as the slowest person can determine when to take a break and for how long. 2) The group stays closer together as the leader is giving verbal directions, that everyone needs to be able to hear.

In our personal life, we often want training in different things, but because of time constraints or being lazy, we really just want the other person to do the work, while we “learn” just watching them. An example in my life included learning how to replace brakes by having my neighbor repack the bearings. Which fortunately didn’t happen, as he instructed me while I was doing the work. Yes, it took longer, but I actually learned something as I had to get the feel of when the old grease was worked out. As I teach my kids (and now grandkids), how to do things, I’m so tempted to do it for them; ether because of lack of patience or wanting it “perfect”.

At work, I see this a lot in being taught or teaching other about new functionality in our products. Yes, we do need to let the instructor lead in large groups, but in smaller groups of 4 or less, it’s so much more of a learning experience when the “student”; can go through the steps as directed by the instructor. Yet, because we are often in a hurry as work, we don’t want to take the extra time to teach people something that they will actually remember.

The proverb says “Give a person a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a person how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime”. What are you doing as a leader on your hikes, in your personal life and at work? Are feeding them for the day by being out front, or are you feeding them for a life time by letting them learn hands on?

Writing Your Story Part 2 of 2… A trail tip

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In my last trail tip “Your Story Part 1 of 2”, I wrote about how our life is a story we write every day and that some foundational pillars apply to all forms of stories and they include: the author, wanting to be liked, and the next chapter. Now we will look at how we can begin to understand and unpack the story of other people’s life along with story of our own lives.

We start by asking what are the 5 words that would describe the story of your live? This is a great exercise to do one on one or in a small group with other. It can work with a new friend you are getting to know as well as with friends you have known for years. When asked by Arlene (my wife), what are my 5 words, I said: Adventure, Family, Faithfulness, Relationships, and Growth. Note that these are words that need to come from your gut and heart. If you think about them too long, you are not giving your truest answer.

Now that you know the 5 words, you can start unpacking them. And of course, I would unpack them in context of hiking, personal, and work life. It’s taking one of the 5 words and putting it to examples in your own life. For me, let’s take the word Adventure.

In hiking, I like to make every hike a new adventure. It’s showing friends a now trail for the first time or taking time to explore an off-shoot trail. It can also be stopping to explore a different overlook. We get so busy needing to get our miles in with limited time, I fail to think about why I’m hiking in the first place. Acknowledging “adventure” is one of the words in my story reminding me to take time for adventure on my hikes.

In my personal life, adventure is played out on trips I’ve taken. Riding my 10-speed bicycle 1,800 miles from Kansas City to Boston in 1980, running marathons in the early 1990s, family road trips to California (twice), St. John’s Newfoundland, and several trips to Florida, hiking across the Grand Canyon in one day. Again, knowing adventure is one of my story words, is like the cairns we see on a trail. A heap of stones piled up as a memorial or as a landmark (Merriam-Webster). They are markers to help keep me on a trail.

At work, am I just doing my day to day work or am I seeking out new adventures? Do I take time to explore new aspects of my work to learn new things? Adventure goes with excitement. How do we build excitement into our daily work lives?

This is just one example of how we can be challenged in our lives to live out our story words. It’s asking ourselves are we on the path living out our story words. And it’s allowing others to read our life stories; challenging us to keep on our path.

Writing Your Story Part 1 of 2… A trail tip

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Recently I finished reading the John Grisham book, “The Guardian”. My wife -Arlene- asked me why I liked his books and I said it was because he is a good story teller. And everything around us is a story in a sense: books, art, movies, TV shows, news; and even our lives are a story being told on a daily basis. The stories of our life are a complicated web and I started thinking about how do we unpack our stories and peel back the layers. High level reviews of books, movies, or TV show; consist of words that describe the story. And the same applies to our lives. There are; what I like to call them, the 5 words that describe the story of our lives. But before we get to 5 words – see the Trail Tip “Your Story Part 2 of 2”, we need to look at some foundational pillars that apply to all forms of stories and they include: the author, wanting to be liked, and the next chapter.

THE AUTHOR – Every story has an author and we would thus assume that we are the authors of the stories of our lives; but are we? Do we make our story based on how we respond to events in our lives or do we let others write that part of the story of our life? How often have we said: “you make me so angry”, “I don’t have money because I had to buy that”, “I don’t have time to exercise because I have to do BLANK for someone”, “My boss treats me bad, so I had to quit and now don’t have a job”. Notice it’s all about us allowing other people to write these stories in lives. For me it’s often getting the phone call, text, or email while on a trip, saying something bad has happened at home. And my response would be “Great, thank you very much, you have now completely messed up my trip.” But has it? I can choose to not react and still enjoy my trip. I can write my response and still enjoy my time; not letting others write that part of my story.

BE LIKED BY EVERYONE- I’m a people person and I like people to like me in my hiking, personal and work life. I think that’s why I don’t like to give bad news, because they will not like me after what I have to tell them. But not everyone likes every book, movie, or TV show; they may not like what I like to read or watch and I may not be what they like to read or watch. So why do I think everyone has to like the story of my life? And thus, it may be time to let go of wanting everyone to like me. Timothy Ferris, in his book, the 4-Hour work week, has said “20% of your friends, give you 80% of your encouragement and growth, and 80% of your friends give you 20% or your encouragement and growth”. Is it time for us to start cutting off the bottom part of that 80% or just quit trying to think they need to like us all the time?

WHAT IS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER – Every day we add a page to the story of our life. And over time, these pages become chapters. Like movies in the theaters start with previews, we all have plans for the next chapters in our lives. And while we need to guard against others writing these next chapters, we often do need help from others in creating these new stories. It could be for example a hiking goal (climb a specific 14er), personal (a house project), or work (get a certification). They are our stories, but like a book, it starts with; “I would like thank ____ for their input in writing this story….

Going Further… A trail tip

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My pastor Brady Boyd has said that “You may go faster by yourself, but you will go further with others.” I always applied that to hiking, thinking I can hike faster by myself, but I will hike greater distances with others. Then I hiked with my son, Austin today. And we didn’t go further; we even stopped shorter than my primary goal. Which got me thinking what does really mean to “go further”; as I’ve always thought of it in the context of going a greater distance. But it much more than that. It can be something different on a parallel plane.

On my hike with Austin, we didn’t go a further distance, but we did take our relationship to a new level We built new memories with humor, discussing goals, plans for next hikes, building new trust with each other. He promised to keep hiking with me and I promised I would not sing to him on any hikes until after we hike the Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim in October. We both realized that him hiking the GC R2R, is going to be a lot easier than me not singing to him for three months.

In my personal life, I think I can go faster by myself on projects. “It’s hard to schedule with others, we are too busy, we don’t want to ask for help, I can do this by myself.” As I thought today about “going further”, it’s not in making it a bigger project, or giving it more detail. It’s again about building memories with others, getting to know a part of someone that was unknown before, making that special moment that can trigger emotions with just a few words. I can mention “garden rocks” to my cousin Joyce and she will know exacting what I mean, “barn roofing” to Mike M. and he will remember helping me with his sons, “kitchen” to Roi or “wedding anniversary” to Mike H. All events that have built a history that is taking our relationships to new levels.

In work, there is the ever-increasing pressure to get things done faster. Make the best use of conference calls, avoid the chit-chat. Get to the point and get it done faster. And now with the Covid virus, face to face meetings have become a thing of the past. Yet when we take the time pause to get to know each other better during one-on-one conference calls, we can see projects going further than initially planned. Dr. Phil in his book “Life Strategies” has said “People like people (and want to do business with), people who like them.” Take time to get to know who you interface interact with at work.

In the midst of our Covid isolation and pressure to get things done faster; I would challenge you to slow down and have intentional engagements with others. Look for ways to get others on hikes with you, ask for help with projects around the house, and take time to build community at work. You will be surprised about how your relationships will go further than you ever thought possible.

Be Contagious…. A Trail Tip

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The Coronavirus outbreak which started in Wuhan, China is now affecting people in pretty much every country in the world. It is passed by close contact with others and demonstrates that what we pass onto others -both bad and good- can impact countless others who we will never meet. It’s a Trail Tip to remind us of the “good” impact we can pass onto others by close contact. Knowing that my actions will not only affect those I come in contact with, but these actions will be copied and pass on…

In Hiking, what are the positive things I pass onto others I hike with and see on the trails? Do I take the time to wait for others that are slower than me? Do I take time to greet others on the trail and look for body language that might reflect they are lost or don’t know where they are going? Am I flexible to adjust a route hike when others want to explore a trail that may just be new to them? Do I offer to lead and invite others to go on hikes with me? And do I set an example by picking up discarded items on a trail and make sure I pack out everything I take on a hike?

In my personal life, I pass on things to family members, neighbors, and others in my community. Which, like the case in Wuhan, starts local but has a world wide impact. Do I notice the small things that family members do around the house and call them out to praise them? Do I take time to get off the couch to greet family and other people when they come to our home? My dog, Auggie runs to greet EVERYONE!!! Do I pass on common curtsies when I’m out and about? Pay it forwards come to mind here.

At work, what am I passing onto others? Here my attitude and body language speak LOUD and CLEAR. Or as my wife, Arlene has told me. “Look in a mirror and watch how your facial expressions come across.” At work, we tend to formalize our Scorecard/performance reviews; having them on a structured schedule. The spread of the coronavirus isn’t structured and neither should be our responses to others. When someone does a good/great job with an internal or external interaction/deliverable (small or large), take a minute in the moment to let them know how well they performed. When someone is having a bad day or a bad meeting, take time to offer them some comfort with their favorite food or beverage (within work policy limits of course). But to do this, like the coronavirus, you have to be “close to them”, to know what they like.

Both good and bad, we touch others with our lives every day. Some things are spread without us thinking about them and other require deliberate action to spread them. And it not just spreading it to one person. Our actions and attitudes are copied and spread to several others down the human chain of life. What are you going to spread to others today, this week, this month, this year?

One thing…. A Trail Tip

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Last week I was having a reflective moment on projects I’ve done outside on the different homes we have lived in and I began to think about the tools I’ve rented and wish I would have bought that would have been the most beneficial over the years. The one that always comes up; is that I wish I would have bought a “Dingo bobcat”. Which then triggered thoughts on what is the one -well maybe two or three- things that I should buy or being doing in my hiking, personal, and work life that are/will make the most impact in these different areas of my life. And these could be things or actions that I’m all ready doing or need to do.

In Hiking, it’s been the Pocket Pal trail maps of the front range, which show the all the trails in a given area with details of directions to the trail head, directions on the trail, elevation, and difficulty. I like the paper copy version because it makes it easier to show to others that are with you and the digital copy shows you, your location in real-time. The other item that has been the most helpful is having good traction to wear. Micro spikes are great for giving solid traction on ice and snow. Hiking in the elevations of 7,000 to 9,000 plus feet on a regular basis, I find myself using them from October to May.

What are the one or two items you have or things that do that make the most impact for your regular hiking?

In my personal life, this trail tip is making me think about things I should be doing on a more regular consistent basis. The first one is getting enough sleep at night. We think “let’s do just one more thing before we go to bed”. Then we suffer through the next day because of it. The amount of sleep we need varies by person and I believe that whatever that number is, we are not hitting it. The other one is taking the time to connect and pray with my wife each night before the day ends. I get so focus on making sure “I have everything planned out to start the next day”, and yet skip the most important thing of praying with my wife.

What are the few things you can be doing differently that will have the most impact on your life? Or maybe it’s even getting that “Dingo”.

At work, I’ve been able to make new connections and existing ones stronger by getting outside of my defined work space group. Here it’s been providing presentations on the Cultural Significance of Memorial Day/Veteran Day and organizing hiking outings; both local and to the Grand Canyon for a Rim2Rim one day hike. We talk a lot about building trust at work, but nothing lives it out like giving your car keys to a co-worker at 5:30 am on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and knowing they will drive 210 miles to the South Rim to pick you up in 12 hours while you hike 27 miles across the Canyon. The area I know I need to focus on this year; is taking time each month to learn technical details on the projects I’m Project Managing. I let the busyness of the days blend into each other and don’t stop to do product learning. It’s something I need to block on my calendar on a regular basis.

What things have you done this year at work to improve your environment? Are there one or two things you should be doing, but haven’t started yet?

When it comes to making improvements in our hiking, personal, and work life, we often create a laundry list of all these items. Then we set back, take a look at everything and then give up before we even start. We fail to realize that even doing one or two things can have a huge impact. I’d like to hear the one or two things that you are doing or plan to do this year to improve your hiking, personal, and work life.

This and other “Trail Tips” can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfredandersen and www.alandersen.co

How did we get here…? A Trail Tip

out of control train

“The Man in the High Castle” on Amazon Prime tells the story of an alternative reality where Germany and Japan win World War 2 and occupy the United States of America. In the last episode the main male character, who was a US Army soldier had become the U.S. leader of the Reich and his wife has now joined the resistance (unknown to her husband). Both are now on a high-speed train heading to a destination, that goes on a bridge, where the resistance has placed explosives to kill them. In this scenario the wife starts asking her husband these questions: How did we get here? When did we cross the line to go from being Americans fighting the Nazi to becoming them? How did we become such evil people that that we are killing our friends who are Jewish or Black? Where and how does this end for us? As I start the New Year, my reflection of the past year, makes me ask these same types of questions in my hiking, personal, and work life.

In hiking, Have I strayed off course in any ways? Has my hiking become obsessive to the point that it affects my family time? Have I become over confident and am starting to take risks that I would have never taken before? Examples of this include: Doing new trails for the first time by myself, Going on trails by myself that and not telling anyone, Not taking my backpack or taking it without having the 10 Essentials, Not getting the proper rest between hikes.

In my personal life, have I strayed off course? What is my relationship with my spouse, children, and friends? Are there wrongs and hurts from the past year that need to be addressed? Are there financial issues that need to be corrected? Am I staying within my budget? How is my rest: Am I getting enough sleep? Do I do intentional rest?

At work, have I picked up any habits that are not healthy for me? Am I taking too long of lunch hours? Have I started coming in later and leaving earlier? Am I spending time on my phone when I should be working? How much time do I spend multitasking at work? Do I use company resources to surf the internet? Am I glossing over areas that need more detail?

Timothy Ferris in his book: The 4-Hour work week, says: “I believe success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations we are willing to have”. This Trail Tip can lead to a lot of those uncomfortable conversations. The question is: Are you and me willing to have them? And what will be the cost to us if we don’t have them?

Carrying what you don’t want to have to use… A trail tip

gear ties walmart

As part of becoming a more prepared hiker, I’ve talked to several more seasoned hikers; aka Randy Phillips among others, about what gear I should always carry with me. One of the things Randy specifically mentioned a year ago was to get a set of Gear Ties. Getting them as a Christmas gift a year ago, my family wondered why I would ever need them, and after carrying them for 11 months, without using them once; I started to wonder that has well. Now in the course of four days, I have needed them twice to fix traction gear for people I was hiking with. And without having them, we would have had to cancel the hikes. We are encouraged to be prepared for the unexpected events in life, but so often we don’t want to make the investment to prepare or to have to carry things for a long time without using them.

In hiking, there are several “10 Essentials” lists that are out there, telling us what we need to carry with us all the time: water, food, first aid kit, navigation, clothing; main ones we use all the time. But then there are the gear ties and other more obscure items that most of us never think we will need in an emergency on a hike. And these are some of the things we will need most. Having now used the Gear Ties, I’m rethinking my “10 Essentials”, and will have them with me on all my hikes. Note to self, just because I have the 10 essentials, it doesn’t do me any good, if I forget to bring my pack or leave it in the car on a hike.

In my personal life, I can also come up with the essentials I need to work on to have all the time. The big one for me is have that 3 to 6 months of savings in the bank; for those times of unemployment and financial emergencies. It takes time and effort to be disciplined to create this savings and I hope I never have to use it, but it’s so important to have. Having a regular exercise routine and being at the right weight, is also very important. I think our recovery time from physical accidents is largely determined by our health before the accident. A strong body and proper weight gives our injuries a boost in our recovery time. Then there are the friendships. People we invest in over the course of a lifetime. Great friends take time and intentionally to cultivate and make strong. We have to make sacrifices to build those relationships. And in doing that, we allow ourselves to be available to each other in times of crisis.

At work, a large part of our essentials are the new skills we are learning, our resume, and LinkedIn profile. Things that consistently need to be worked on and updated. We can become very comfortable with the skills we have, since we have “made it” into our current position. Our resumes need to be updated on a quarterly basis, and we should be hitting LinkedIn at least once a week. How much time do we spend on Face Book verses LinkedIn? And which one is going to provide more professional value to me? Like the essentials we need for hiking and our personal life, we don’t pay much attention to the essentials we need for our work life. But if we ever find ourselves having to find a new job, we can be starting in the hole, because our professional presence isn’t where it should be.

What are the essentials you need to carry with you to be successful in your hiking, personal, and work life? As you evaluate them, keep a long-term view. Some of them you may not need for one or even five years. But there will come a time when you do need them. And having them may make a significance on your ability to response to the events in your life.

Ford verses Ferrari, 7000, and pitstops… A trail tip

Red line 7000 RPM

I recently saw the movie, “Ford verses Ferrari”, which tells the story of Carroll Shelby building race cars for Ford in the 1960s to compete and win against Ferrari at the 24 Hours of La Mans race. As the movie unfolds a few items kept repeating that caught my attention. The first one was “7000 RPM. That’s where you want to meet at”. It’s the place where you want to race at, so you can be pushing the limit and being able to stay there for a long time (24 hours in the case of the La Mans race); verses total red lining and maxing out in the red. The flip side of this in the movie is the pit stops -coming in to refuel, refresh, recharge and get back on the track- while making the pit stop as efficient as possible; which in this case included learning from Nascar pit crews and combining brakes parts to allow the faster replacement of parts. Both running at 7000 RPM and pit stops are realities that provide tips that can be applied to our hiking, personal, and work lives.

In hiking, are you doing any hikes that get you to “7000 RPM”; your max and target heart rate for exercise? Do you have hiking partners that are going to push you to your red line limit and keep you there? What trails will quickly take you to your limit (duh, the incline)? And on the flip side, how are you using your pit stops to refresh after your hard hikes. Do you take enough rest and adjust the number of rest days based on your hikes? While training for my Grand Canyon R2R hike (27 miles, 6000 vert drop/5000 vert climb) last September, my weekly long hikes increased by 2 miles each week, to where I was doing 26 to 28 miles on my longest hikes. With those distances, my “pit stops” increased to where I was resting 5 days during the week with only one 5 to 6-mile hike during the week. Thus, giving my body the needed recovery time.

In my personal life, am I pushing myself in areas of relationships, growth with others, learning new skills, or other areas? Am I spending more time just cruising along watching TV, or am I reading books, or getting my latest trail tip put to paper? Who are my friends that will challenge me to perform at the red line and help me take corrective actions during a pit stop?

At work, how can I maintain working at the red line? I think it’s the distractions that cause us to lose our focus and have to down shift. It’s responding to every email when it comes in, web surfing to check the weather or the commute time home, multitasking during conference calls (could you repeat that question one more time, I didn’t hear you). We take care of the distraction, but then it takes time to get back to performing at the edge of the red line. Then there is the pit stops. Do I know how to take a healthy pit stop? My first response is to want to grab that Diet Dr. Pepper or raid a co-worker’s candy jar. Instead, I should be thinking about a 10-minute power walk around the block or a big glass of water. Or even doing some stretching.

As you start looking to the next year, take some time to evaluate what does it take to operate at the 7000 RPM red line on your hikes, in your personal life, and at work. What are the distractions that cause you to lose focus and have to down shift? And what about your pit stops? How well do you use them? Do you go from the screen at your desk to the screen on your phone and call that a break? At home, do you go from the noise of an activity to the noise of the TV? Here I’ve found that my best pit stops can be just laying on the floor, closing my eyes and being still for 10 minutes. It’s one thing to have a pit stop, it’s another to have a pit stop that will truly refuel, refresh, and recharge you.

Redefining Your____… A trail tip

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Yesterday I went birthday card shopping for my friend Randy who is turning 70 today. It was one of the hardest cards I ever had to choose as the contradiction of the words on the card were so different from the life of Randy. The contrasts were glaring:

Card said “Over the hill” verses Randy climbing over 400,000 vertical feet last year.

Card said “you have traveled some good trails” verses Randy just getting started on the 486 miles of the Colorado Trail.

Card said “Let’s take it easy” verses Randy saying “Have we set a date in 2020 for hiking the Grand Canyon Rim 2 Rim in one day?”

And then there is Bob from Friday night church, who at 92 last year did a driving Road Trip by himself to visit kids/grandkids/great grandkids in Kansas City, Tulsa, and Dallas.

Both guys still working on raising the bar at their age and setting new goals; redefining the what it means to be 70 or 92. Which leads to this trail tip of how we need to guard against limiting ourselves based on the norms of our age, labels, and stage in life.

In hiking, we define so much by our age or the physical shape we are in. We shut down dreams because of our current health and the comparison of ourselves to others and their exploits. It’s called a PR – Personal Best for a reason. Because it is personal and what we can achieve. I’m not ever going to be the fastest person on the Manitou incline, but I will set my own records. I may not be able to climb all the 14ers, but I could start with all the Class 1 14ers or start knocking out segments of the Colorado Trail.

In our personal life, we let society define us by our age or status in life. Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, etc. All labels we let others put on us to define us. Just like the Birthday cards. We let retirement ideas tell us what we should do. And I’ve even bought into it. Ask me what I want to do when I retire in five years and I’d say, buy a travel trailer and travel around the country for a year. It’s part of what I’m thinking, but it’s also letting other define what I should be doing “in retirement.”

In work, we think we are done advancing once we get past 60. And as I write this, I’m coming to realize I’ve fallen in that trap. “Just let me work here another 5 years, as a Senior Project Manager. I’ll do the best I can do, but it’s all I want to do.” What kind of defined trap is that for me? Where is the growth, the stretching, the redefining of what I can become? I think of where I want to be at in retirement in 10 years at 70; then I think of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump; all 70+ and running for President or being President. If I compare myself to them, I’m 10 years away from hitting my prime.

Who are we letting define us, what silos are we allowing ourselves to be put into, and what could we be doing if we saw more of the opportunities than the defined roadblocks/labels??? It’s time to strip away the “Hallmark Card”, birthday labels and live a life bigger than ourselves – as I mentioned in an earlier Trail Tip. Let’s redefine ourselves using the passions and strengths that we have been given. Let’s shatter the Personal Records and move onto the next new definitions for our lives. Take some time today to start redefining what you want to and share those thoughts with me at http://www.alandersen.co