Wilderness Deficit Disorder

Life is slowly returning to normal after the death of my father.

I have a blogging rule to not blog when I am not "up".  Thinking now I may be able to get back to it.  Not that I am not still sad - just that I do not feel I can do anything but let grief take its course.

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For some reason, I am thinking I need to escape to the wilderness for a few days.   Perhaps too much hectic life/travel lately.  I am setting up a new business - DDE Media Company (more on that later) and that always takes a lot of time and energy.

There has been a lot written about Nature Deficit Disorder but little written on Wilderness Deficit Disorder (although I do not think I made up the syndrome).

I suspect many people have never really experienced wilderness so there is less research.

I have done quite a bit of canoe tripping - just not enough lately.  Not sure why I would think of it in the dead of winter.

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I know it is snow season - not garden season.  I wonder if snow shoveling is the equivalent of gardening from a health view.  I have seen few articles on that but lots on the benefits of gardening.

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I find myself stressed.  As I look at it though, I figure out that all of it is stress I am causing myself.  Part of this is by "standards" I hold myself to (EG - up to date on reading, clean den, even maintaining a social media footprint etc.).

In my opinion this stress occurs when the reward to too disconnected from the activity.  Sometimes this can be a time disconnect.   Sometimes it can be because the outcome is not assured.  EG - write an article but it may not get read and even then will it result in opportunities.

I know we choose our reaction to outside happenings so no one or nothing can cause stress if we do not choose to let it.

The same needs to be true of these internal stresses.  Being stressed detracts from enjoyment and does not add to performance.  Now to be zen...

Continued Inspiration from my father - Don Estill

My father died exactly one week ago.  He was 87.

Up to then and this week have been a blur.  Although I have grieved often since his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in October 2014, I still grieve and actually look for "time" to grieve.

I knew he was dying and asked him if I could do anything for him.  His answer was "no".  And he did not have needs so I thought of only one thing I could do.  I named my new company after him - DDE Media Company.  He alway initialed things DDE and my brothers and I would call him DDE sometimes when we spoke about him.  And he always took a keen interest in business so I thought he would appreciate it.

Dad was a picture of health until his diagnosis and actually enjoyed a good life for almost a year after the diagnosis.  His wonderful health was not an accident.  He worked hard on it.  He worked out daily and tracked his progress.  I asked my brother Glen (the executor) if I could have his workout record which span decades.

He ate almost perfectly.  Everything was home made from scratch.  The bread being the most memorable for me.  When I was young I was jealous of school friends who got "white" bread.  Ours was heavy whole wheat/multigrain.  Now I hardly ever eat white bread and appreciate "healthy" bread.

One lesson I learned from Dad was self discipline (although he was way more self disciplined than I am).

He was the picture of moderation.  I tried to get him to run a 5K when he was in his early 80's but he thought it was "too extreme".  I knew from his workout routine that he could have done it easily.  He was walking 2 miles per day and going on the elliptical trainer in the common gym where he lives for 30 minutes a few times each week in addition to doing some weight training.

I am not sure I learned moderation yet.

The elliptical trainer had been a gift from my brothers and I when my parents moved into Arboretum Village.

He was a life long tee totaller and of course never smoked.

One of Dad's characteristics which I always admired was his humility.  Nothing and no body was beneath him.  He exhibited that in spades when he came to work for EMJ after he retired.  He would do anything from picking up the mail to helping build an office to doing mundane accounting (I have yet to learn his fastidious accounting record ways)

He was highly organized.  On Meyers Briggs he would be off the scale J.  He did it naturally - I do not ,which is why I think I had to write a book on Time Management.  It was my way of learning it.  He did not need to learn it.

His service was well done.  As I listened to the stories by my brother, son and niece, I thought "What will my legacy be".  Dad certainly left a huge legacy and impact on the people who knew him.

To live a life thinking of the legacy left is powerful and inspirational to me.

My son, David, spoke of the "what would Don do" question that could be used to determine action in any ethical dilemma.

My niece spoke about how each of us carry a bit of Dad in all of us.  I was later sent a video that reinforced this thought.   It is comforting.

I was moved that a young friend, Tara Jamieson, wrote a song about Dad.

It is before 7 on a Sunday as I write this so it brought another thought.  I learned getting up early.  Dad always was up early.  Even into his 80's he would never sleep in.  He valued work ethic and this was one of his ways of showing that.

Dad, we will miss you.  

Seven Disciplines of a Leader

I am once again back to posting book reviews.  The way the holidays fell, there was lots of "reading" time.

I read Seven Disciplines of a Leader - How to Help Your People, Team, and Organization Achieve Maximum Effectiveness by Jeff Wolf.

It starts with a few chapters on "What is the job of a leader" including that it is not that easy.

Then it gets into the Disciplines.  The first one is "Initiative and Influence".  The subtitle was the way I like to lead.  It said "Set an Example for Others".

Then it moves to "Vision, Strategy and Alignment" which I thought might be a bit theoretical but it jumps right into the progression from plans to accomplishments.

Throughout the book are examples to drive home the points.  The example given for this one was Mollie Katzen who was starting a new venture.  Her first critical rule was "Capitalize on your past and reputation".  It certainly resonates with what I am doing now.

Discipline 4 was Social, Emotional and Political Capital.  (yes I did skip Discipline 3 - I am not doing a book summary, I am commenting on the book).  I would add Adversity Capital.  I am a big believer in the importance of the Q's - EQ, PQ, AQ and to a lesser extent - IQ.

Discipline 6 - Love and leverage.  There is no substitute for passion about work.

After the 7 Disciplines, it had 11 Practices of Highly Effective Leaders.

Practice 5 was "master communication".  And a Jeff Wolf quote "Listen more - talk less"

Good book - I learned from it and got some ideas.

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I almost did not blog today because one of my blogging rules is to only blog when I am "up".

My father is sick and that is overriding much of my thought.

The end of life brings sadness.  The beginning brings hope.  So some grandkid pictures to brighten the day:

Moving The Needle

I like the lull of Christmas week.  Less email.  Good family time.  And time for me to start reading again.  So I am way behind in posting book reviews.  So here goes the first one:

I read Moving the Needle by Joe Sweeney.  It is a particularly appropriate book to read at this time of year because much of it is about goal setting.

Sweeney makes the point that moving the needle happens when you "get clear, get free and get going".  "When it comes to getting clear - first get quiet".  So true - perhaps that is why I like this time of year.  Less email, meetings and interruptions so it is easier to slow down a bit.

And the "get going" is also my favourite - Just do it. (Still waiting for Nike to sue me or send me a free pair of running shoes (note to Nike - that is size 9 1/2))

One of my easiest tricks to get going is to "get started".  I tend to make headway if I just start.

I always believe in being grateful.  One of the chapters is "your perspective determines your freedom".  And there he lists some world facts:

33% of the population will die from lack of food
33% of the population will die from some obesity related illness
68% of the people cannot read
30% live on less than $2.50/day
15% lack clean drinking water
We are the fortunate few!

As with all goal setting - he reminded to "start with the end in mind" and "break big goals down into smaller pieces".

I loved Chapter 10 on Habits (I have often blogged about Success Habits).   Of course the author believes that habits are hugely important to success.  One interesting angle he took was how to change bad habits into good ones.  And it is much easier to change a bad one into a good one that just break a bad habit.  Unfortunately, Sweeney does point out that good habits can be tough to form and bad ones can be easy to pick up.

Being a health guy, I liked his 7 health habits (most easy to follow - some tough)

1 - Drink lots of water
2 - get 7 hours sleep
3 - Limit alcohol
4 - no diet soda
5 - exercise or work out daily (and today of all days my beloved Fitbit decided not to work)
6 - spend time in nature
7 - Turn off the TV and pick up a good book (and I would add turn off the computer to that)

Anyways - good and inspirational book.  Especially good if you take the time to do all the exercises at the end of each chapter (which I admit, I did not do all of)

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My Texas grandson - Xavier.  About 5 weeks old:

More Xavier Austen Pictures

Xavier and I did Google hangouts yesterday.  He is a person of few words.  It means anything he does say has a lot of weight.


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I like the long time (like 20+year) bike law in Idaho that allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs.  Lets get that through in Guelph/Ontario.  Good video on it here.

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On Procrastination:

“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”  Jerome K. Jerome

Xavier Charles Estill Austen

I am once again a proud grandfather.  

Mother Laura and baby are both doing well and healthy.

Xavier Austen. 5 lbs 15 oz, 19.5 inches, born 19 November 2014 at 1:46 pm.  He arrived about a month early.  He already is trying to be punctual - a skill that will serve him well in life.

I am not sure what is with the toque - he lives in Texas and they have no snow.  Perhaps he is just trying to make a fashion statement.

Statistical Success Yes - But Long Term Measurements are Tougher

The advent of the internet and internet advertising seemed to push a move towards measuring direct results.  Spend $1000 on ads and see if it yields $1000 in results.    Statistically experiment with small tests to see if it pays more to advertise with this catch phrase or that, with green or blue, in the morning or night etc.

I am a big believer in split run testing.  Try multiple experiments to see what works best.  Test on small samples before spending money on larger ones.

Measure everything to figure out the repeatable system that yields success.

This same measurement and documentation is what Michael Gerber pushes in his classic book series E-Myth.  He proposes that all businesses should McDonaldcize themselves.  Have detailed process manuals so anyone can do the job.  And work continually on figuring out how to make the process better.  He advocates that the entrepreneur should work ON the business - not IN the business.

I have been doing some Growth Coaching with some medium sized companies.  I have been promoting that for those who are about to hire a sales force.  Figure out a model and repeat it.  Most of them already use that for their internet marketing so it is surprising that they would find it new to do this in growing a sales team.

Formulas work.

And that could be the end of the story but it is not.  The problem with many long-term challenges are the outcomes do not happen fast enough to know exactly what works and what does not.  This is where entrepreneurial intuition comes in.  We never really know what will work but we have to choose intuitively to do them.



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I read there may be a chocolate shortage.  Apparently we may be hitting peak chocolate - the point where demand outstrips supply.  For some, I am sure that crisis is more important than peak oil even.

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People have a very narrow "comfort range".  We artificially extend that with heat, air conditioners and various clothing.   We also seem to "complain" about it which solves nothing.

I actually think the current touch of snow is gorgeous.