#37 The word you sow

So you might be frustrated with your situations at work,and in the end I suggest the only thing you have to frustrated with is yourself. You cannot separate with what you have done with what occurs. If you are a poor leader in your workplace and you get a shitty perform evaluations etc. I am sorry to say look at yourself. How are you guiding people, how are you feed backing people, how are you leading.

The truth is that simply, look at yourself in the mirror.

Your Canadian brother

#23 the movement class lesson five – back pain

Hey, look behind you, no not behind you, behind-you. When you think of your back do you think of an impressive set of shoulders or maybe your latissimus muscles, your butt? Well, you’re all right but this surprisingly complicated area of the human body is interesting. He’s made it easy with this one and broken down the muscles in the back into three;

The superficial group, which holds the trapezius, latissimus dorsi, rhomboid minor and levator scapulae. The intermediate group known as the respiratory group is a combination of serratus muscles and the deep group which are all of the wildly useful muscles that control and balance the movement of your spine.

The multitude of systems that are present in the back provide support to the head and thorax, and the ribs which are attached to the back. So before you reach for your ibuprofen and decide that your back hurts too much to do x and y, keep reading.

  1. Pull it, In my experience there is no better cure for back pain than prevention. A strong and healthy back will get you through the hard times and will ensure that you remain healthy for a long time. The back responds to pulling thing, so pull yourself up, pull something up, or pull yourself through the water and develop the muscles that keep your spine safe.
  2. Twist, the spine is not necessarily meant to twist and I don’t advise you to watch one youtube video and become a yogi but putting your body through the paces with regular movement supporting your back in less than regular movements, will be best. A burpee is tremendous, next time try two.
  3. Get up, there isn’t a practice more regulating than walking, I understand you are probably reading this and you are either on the subway looking down, or on your computer looking down, you’ll never see that goose coming… Walking chest out and take up space, look up and balance your spine on your pelvis like you are holding an egg with a spoon, notice the torque in places it should not be and stretch.

You’ve got this, the pain of failure defeats never trying at all.

Your Canadian Brother

#22 Disobedient subordinates

I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of people at this point in my career, and all have relativelty been the same person. They each look at one another to establish the standards for themselves, they try their best not to stand out, and all secretly hate themselves. Meet three employees and how to deal with each one of them here.

1. Testing you. If your subordinates are trying to get under your skin by not doing what you ask from them, or managing to do the bare minimum to get by you are probably being tested. It is up to you to decide how you will treat the situation that is facing you in the form of disobedient subordinates. Your reaction or in-action will both be taken personally, be recieved negativley and will potentially benefit the institutuion, otherwise that employee might just quit. However, as a leader you must do something.

2. They are bored and can handle more responsibility. The second type of disobedience stems from boredom, and I think I fall into this category. However bored employees can be just as dangerous as the lazy. They will find discontent where there wasnt any and they will sow seeds that you will find later after they have passed your managment. Keep these employees fed and watered give them more work than they can handle, they will hate you for it, but they will appreciate you for the opportunity.

3. The outright no. There are people who I have worked with who simply do not give a shit about the company, or their peers, or their own selves they show up because they have an obligation that they cannot get out of and they have to pay for something because that is where they are in their lives. These employees are not dangerous, but they are not productive and if you can pay someone else to do their job better, faster, and be an active member of your team, take the plunge and find a role for them where they drive themselves up the wall until they are ready to play.

#17 the grass is always greener

A fantasy, of green grass or maybe a description of the American dream. A now cliche form of symbolism can be defined as comparing yourself to your neighbors. Commonplace to North America the comparison of your neighbors values has expanded to the ether, you can now compare your life to literally anyone with an internet connection. You can witness disparate abundant wealth and utter poverty at a few keystrokes. Now, what you do as a witness to the visual assault of people that are not you will mean the difference between a successful life and that not.

  1. Who are you. I mean what are your values, without a set of values that you live by, imagine a compass turning wildly as it is attracted to North. Except your compass does not land, and each action you make involves a revolution of the compass, you end up back at the first square.
  2. Precision. So you have discovered your true North, now what. With lethal precision pursue your goals, you cannot pop a balloon with another balloon, sharpen yourself into an arrowhead or at the very least a needle.
  3. Trudge. Now that you’ve popped your opposition with instinct sharpening your moves, pick up each muddy foot and put it down again, you will be better off after every step and before long your drudgery will be recognized, your ability to lead will improve. The “I have been in that situation before” is a powerful educational ability only you can give yourself.

Who are ya?

Your Canadian brother.

That’s your grass

#13 the movement class lesson one – walking

The movement class will be a series because movement is the most important thing you can do for yourself.

There are just as many ways to move as there are people there are on earth, one of these methods will suit you best, I have no doubt.

One, walking.

Walking is the act of locomotion generated by picking up one leg, putting it to one side of your body and allowing the momentum of your body to lead yourself in the direction of the displaced leg. Before toppling over like a table that has lost a leg, the other leg is put into action and a step is completed. There are countless ways in which the act of walking can improve your life. But classically, you will not remember more than three.

  1. Primordially, it is what makes you human.
  2. Circulation. Whether it be an improvement in blood circulation due to an elevated heart rate, or the physical effect of the tearing and subsequent healing of muscle tissues, walking is the catalyst of all of your biological processes, and can quickly indicate to you where you may have a deficiency.
  3. You can not do it wrong. Walking is non strenuous and low impact the act alone can not take you farther from your goals, being built into your code you are supposed to walk.

Do it, for half hour or more each day, you can do it, I have no doubt.

Your Canadian brother.

#10 three steps to learn anything

It is that easy. You will learn here how to understand your human limitations before making a demonstration of knowledge.

I am grateful for coffee. Boring I know.

  1. Get help. As much as we’d like to think we are unique butterflies, we are not, everything you want to learn has been studied at length in the past. Your success depends on finding the people who have been in your position in the past and learn everything you can from them. (in general as much as you can export your mundane tasks, see tomorrows).
  2. Start at the beginning. So much of what you see is designed to make it look easy. Whatever it is, it is not easy. Whatever you are learning or want to learn is probably simple, linear and logical, however it is not easy. You didn’t spend the first decade of your life learning calculus, no, first you learned what set of symbols represent numbers and grew your knowledge from there. As is the case for anything else, especially if your background in the subject is several decades old.
  3. Definite, persistent effort. You might discover along your learning that you are relatively really good at something. Do not fool yourself, your knack for a thing does not reflect your abilities, the dedicated pursuit of the thing, for hours, months and years will ensure your success.

You can learn anything,

Your CDN Bro.

#08 personal ownership at the time of a global pandemic

I am grateful for my health.

So much of our brainspace is being consumed by illness. We continue to be inundated with illness and everyone is looking outwards for a solution, they are looking at what the leaders are doing about it, what are you doing about it? It is our responsibility to keep ourselves healthy and safe as well as our wives and children and loved ones. They say never waste a crisis, so here are three things to do to take charge of it and own the crisis.

1. Enterprise. I remember that at the onset of this global illness there was a massive shortage in pretty much everything and it hasn’t gone to “normal” maybe it never will. Take the opportunity and step into the supply chain, do you see a demand gap? Figure out a way to make yourself part of the chain.

2. Improve. The world continues to turn as much as some aspects have ensured some factors are more difficult it is time to work on yourself. Whether that be getting as fit as fuck or learning a new skill or getting that degree you’ve been putting off, there has never been a better time to improve for alls sake, read a book.

3. Rest. We haven’t seen the impact of a pandemic on a mental health scale yet, we have surely experienced itself in ourselves by staring at other blank masked faces staring back at us, blankly. Take time and rest, develop the habits and routines that make you wake up daily ready to tackle 1. And 2.

A winter sunrise

Your Canadian brother.

#03 make the most out of your new year

I am grateful for my education.

Part of leadership is knowledge, knowing what you are, what you are good at, need improvement in and where you absolutely need a partner. In my career I have had situations where that teammate or fire team partner has saved my ass even without me asking. These people, your followers, will catch you when you fall, but also hold you to the highest esteem. They will turn their head to you to see what your reaction to a situation is, or follow your lead with the actions you routinely take. The saying lead follow or get out of the way is also applicable to leaders, at those moments when you are in freefall and your subordinates take up the slack, you are relying on them to lead, and you must be stubborn with yourself to allow them to lead in this moment. Your greatest effect as a leader is to generate leadership within your subordinates, it will be challenging to see them step into roles you previously filled, however this grants you the space to operate at the next level, or “level up” that is so commonly said.

Your Cdn bro.

30.39km bike 146bpm, 4.85km run 144bpm.

Some crow feet.