As I have written about several times, I have recently changed jobs. I had to. I felt trapped but now I feel like there is something out there that I'm going to thrive at. The problem is, I have no idea what that may be.
There are good and bad points to any job or career. We all know that. There are some parts of the new job I really like and there are parts I would gladly do without. So not surprisingly, with this new found feeling of freedom I wonder what else is out there.
A couple of days ago I thought to myself, hmmmm, maybe I should be a truck driver. It's different and it would have an element of adventure but it also would keep me from talking to people all day. As such, it is probably not the best choice in the end.
The truck driver thought made me realize that I don't know what I want my life to look like for the next twenty years, which brought on the mid-life crisis thought.
If you don't know what you want, it's hard to get there. I have been feeling like a bit of a scalar lately. I have lots of energy and drive but I don't know where I should be directing it. I don't know if I want a large or small organization. I don't know if I want to start something new. I really don't know.
Now the one huge upside to not knowing where you want to be is a many courses of action are open to consideration.
I'll figure it all out. I'll get headed to where I should be. In the meantime, I'm learning and growing, which in the end, is probably the most important thing in life, at least to a guy like me.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
You May Be Judged
I really believe in free speech. You can say whatever you want. It doesn't bother me. However, I will judge you for what you say.
I was witness to a conversation today that made me take note. It was about Christmas. One of the parties to the conversation was arguing that we shouldn't be having things like NBA basketball games on Christmas Day because it will prevent a lot of people from being with their families on that special day.
I see his point.
However, this person is also a member of the senior management of a for profit organization that was open the minute the law allowed for on Remembrance Day.
I'm a firm believer that we should take one whole day each year to remember and thank those who gave up so much so we could have choice in our life. How does it often fall to the wayside for people to show respect for ordinary people who committed to a cause and faced evil forces to ensure the future would be bright.
I didn't speak up this time. I wanted to see where the whole argument would go. This is definitely a case of actions speaking a lot louder than words. Preventing people from being able to show their thanks and support for the few that did so much is very unfortunate. What is even unfortunate is people don't have the depth to realize that they do not approach each situation with the same moral compass.
He was right, it is important to have families together for Christmas and if at all possible employers should facilitate this. Most families do get at least a couple of days a year that they can spend together, I only ask for one whole day to remember and say thanks for our precious freedom.
I was witness to a conversation today that made me take note. It was about Christmas. One of the parties to the conversation was arguing that we shouldn't be having things like NBA basketball games on Christmas Day because it will prevent a lot of people from being with their families on that special day.
I see his point.
However, this person is also a member of the senior management of a for profit organization that was open the minute the law allowed for on Remembrance Day.
I'm a firm believer that we should take one whole day each year to remember and thank those who gave up so much so we could have choice in our life. How does it often fall to the wayside for people to show respect for ordinary people who committed to a cause and faced evil forces to ensure the future would be bright.
I didn't speak up this time. I wanted to see where the whole argument would go. This is definitely a case of actions speaking a lot louder than words. Preventing people from being able to show their thanks and support for the few that did so much is very unfortunate. What is even unfortunate is people don't have the depth to realize that they do not approach each situation with the same moral compass.
He was right, it is important to have families together for Christmas and if at all possible employers should facilitate this. Most families do get at least a couple of days a year that they can spend together, I only ask for one whole day to remember and say thanks for our precious freedom.
Monday, November 18, 2013
I Knew It Would Happen
A month ago I changed jobs. I feel a lot freer but there is one thing I knew I would miss. When I moved to Ottawa, I found a place to live within walking distance of work. Everyday I would walk a little over two and a half kilometres to get to work in the morning and another two and a half kilometres to get home. Once I got used to it, it really helped with other parts of life.
I miss walking to work.
I'm starting to notice the effects of not walking to work. I think I've lost a bit of my cardiovascular strength and endurance. I am a bit slower when I run and the last couple of reps of the last set at the gym are more difficult. Going into winter, I'm not too fond of this.
One of the main reasons I switched jobs was I wasn't enjoying my job. I felt trapped. I can't imagine how bad it would have been if I had not been walking to work each day.
Walking does a lot to help reduce stress. It forces you to be outside. It makes you feel more connected with the city in which you live. It gives you some exercise.
I may never live walking distance to work again and that's a shame. If you have the opportunity to live close enough to your job that you can walk, I suggest you take advantage of it. You will not be sorry. It will improve your life.
If, in the future, I have another opportunity to walk to work, I will put it back in my lifestyle. My life improved significantly when I moved to Ottawa three years ago and one of the best enhancements was walking to work, even if I don't currently do it.
I miss walking to work.
I'm starting to notice the effects of not walking to work. I think I've lost a bit of my cardiovascular strength and endurance. I am a bit slower when I run and the last couple of reps of the last set at the gym are more difficult. Going into winter, I'm not too fond of this.
One of the main reasons I switched jobs was I wasn't enjoying my job. I felt trapped. I can't imagine how bad it would have been if I had not been walking to work each day.
Walking does a lot to help reduce stress. It forces you to be outside. It makes you feel more connected with the city in which you live. It gives you some exercise.
I may never live walking distance to work again and that's a shame. If you have the opportunity to live close enough to your job that you can walk, I suggest you take advantage of it. You will not be sorry. It will improve your life.
If, in the future, I have another opportunity to walk to work, I will put it back in my lifestyle. My life improved significantly when I moved to Ottawa three years ago and one of the best enhancements was walking to work, even if I don't currently do it.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
It's a Rush
I have now been selling cars for a bit over three weeks. At this point I'm not the best car salesman that walked on this life supporting sphere that flies through a vacuum around a gaseous ball of fire but, I'm doing ok. With each deal I make, I learn a bit more. However, I must admit, I get a rush when I'm doing a deal.
I like the feeling I get when I close a deal.
I'm not going to lie, sales is a tough racket. You get what you put into it and not everyone has the intestinal fortitude to deal with all the rejection but if you are willing to slug it out, you can can get a really good feeling from selling cars.
There are a lot of unscrupulous people in the car business. Some of the people I've met are not worth my time. However, if you do this for any amount of time, you can sell cars. It may be the only thing you are good at, but you can get really good at it.
Most of my friends thought I was crazy to sell cars for a living. As I write this I don't know if I will do this for a long time but I know that when I'm doing a deal, I get a rush. I get excited. I get caught up in the moment and I like that feeling. I can see how people end up doing this for a long time. You have a lot of control over your performance. You have direct control over what you take home and, if you are like me, you get a big rush from selling cars.
If I do a deal in the evening, I will have trouble sleeping at night. I'll be buzzing for hours from a rush. Living life hopped up on adrenaline is a good way to be and I'm doing it.
If the rush starts to disappear, I will have to move on because I'm not going to live a mediocre life, but as it goes for now, I will live a life full of rushes from selling.
I like the feeling I get when I close a deal.
I'm not going to lie, sales is a tough racket. You get what you put into it and not everyone has the intestinal fortitude to deal with all the rejection but if you are willing to slug it out, you can can get a really good feeling from selling cars.
There are a lot of unscrupulous people in the car business. Some of the people I've met are not worth my time. However, if you do this for any amount of time, you can sell cars. It may be the only thing you are good at, but you can get really good at it.
Most of my friends thought I was crazy to sell cars for a living. As I write this I don't know if I will do this for a long time but I know that when I'm doing a deal, I get a rush. I get excited. I get caught up in the moment and I like that feeling. I can see how people end up doing this for a long time. You have a lot of control over your performance. You have direct control over what you take home and, if you are like me, you get a big rush from selling cars.
If I do a deal in the evening, I will have trouble sleeping at night. I'll be buzzing for hours from a rush. Living life hopped up on adrenaline is a good way to be and I'm doing it.
If the rush starts to disappear, I will have to move on because I'm not going to live a mediocre life, but as it goes for now, I will live a life full of rushes from selling.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Scandal!
Canada does not have a huge population and we are generally seen by the rest of the world as very polite. We say please and thank-you. We hold the door for you. We try are best to not rock the boat.
However, all of a sudden we seem to be up to our eyeballs in scandals.
The headline that is most prominent is Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto admitted to smoking crack cocaine. He isn't the first North American mayor to smoke crack and I doubt he will be the last.
On the same day, the Canadian Senate has suspended three, yes the number that lies between two and four, of its own members without pay because of improperly filed expense claims. If you are reading this and you are not familiar with Canadian Parliamentary rules, Senators are appointed and may serve continuously until the age of seventy-five. It used to be for life but they changed it a while back. The Senate generally stays out of the spotlight and you can quietly go about your daily life without scrutiny. Before this the Senate had never suspended anyone without pay. This is a big leap.
In Montreal, the mayor stepped down amongst corruption allegations and soon after his appointed replacement was arrested.
In Winnipeg, there are projects that were not tendered according to the rules, a shady looking land swap deal and even a City Hall Christmas party grabbing headlines. Everyone is pointing to the mayor on that one as well.
What happened?
In my mind there are two possibilities. Either Canadian forgot how to keep their secrets or we have have developed an edge we never had.
With the absolute ease to record and share information it is a lot easier to track what people say and do. It is very hard to deny a statement or limit it's exposure. Once something is on the internet and interesting it can go viral and it becomes part of the collective consciousness, at least for a while. Secrets are not as prevalent as they used to be.
However, I think Canadians are becoming bolder. I think we are willing to take more chances for the big payoff, leaving us exposed to big failure. Our politicians may not have the public's interest at the heart of everything they do. Everyone, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, want to be seen as an outsider who is fighting the establishment. If the Prime Minister doesn't se himself as the establishment, who is?
We need to shake the establishment from time to time. We need to hold people accountable for the responsibilities bestowed upon them. We don't need this much scandal. Too much time and effort is being put into fixing the problems and not improving the lives of Canadians.
So, to all the people in charge of anything established by the people for the people, get your house in order, right now. We don't need this. There are real problems that need to be solved and let's be honest, Canadians are better than this.
However, all of a sudden we seem to be up to our eyeballs in scandals.
The headline that is most prominent is Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto admitted to smoking crack cocaine. He isn't the first North American mayor to smoke crack and I doubt he will be the last.
On the same day, the Canadian Senate has suspended three, yes the number that lies between two and four, of its own members without pay because of improperly filed expense claims. If you are reading this and you are not familiar with Canadian Parliamentary rules, Senators are appointed and may serve continuously until the age of seventy-five. It used to be for life but they changed it a while back. The Senate generally stays out of the spotlight and you can quietly go about your daily life without scrutiny. Before this the Senate had never suspended anyone without pay. This is a big leap.
In Montreal, the mayor stepped down amongst corruption allegations and soon after his appointed replacement was arrested.
In Winnipeg, there are projects that were not tendered according to the rules, a shady looking land swap deal and even a City Hall Christmas party grabbing headlines. Everyone is pointing to the mayor on that one as well.
What happened?
In my mind there are two possibilities. Either Canadian forgot how to keep their secrets or we have have developed an edge we never had.
With the absolute ease to record and share information it is a lot easier to track what people say and do. It is very hard to deny a statement or limit it's exposure. Once something is on the internet and interesting it can go viral and it becomes part of the collective consciousness, at least for a while. Secrets are not as prevalent as they used to be.
However, I think Canadians are becoming bolder. I think we are willing to take more chances for the big payoff, leaving us exposed to big failure. Our politicians may not have the public's interest at the heart of everything they do. Everyone, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, want to be seen as an outsider who is fighting the establishment. If the Prime Minister doesn't se himself as the establishment, who is?
We need to shake the establishment from time to time. We need to hold people accountable for the responsibilities bestowed upon them. We don't need this much scandal. Too much time and effort is being put into fixing the problems and not improving the lives of Canadians.
So, to all the people in charge of anything established by the people for the people, get your house in order, right now. We don't need this. There are real problems that need to be solved and let's be honest, Canadians are better than this.
Monday, November 4, 2013
No Coke for 150 Days
Yesterday was my one-hundred fiftieth day without drinking any Coca-Cola. I am so happy I have made this change in my life. There is no other way to describe that stuff other than pure evil. I don't think there is a beverage on this planet that tastes that good but is so unbelievably bad for you.
Here are the facts.
With no other significant change in my life I have lost twenty-four pounds. I will admit I have been running a bit but it averages less than 5 kilometres per week so I truly doubt it has any real impact on my weight. Since changing jobs I don't walk over five kilometres each workday to get to work and back but, I am on my feet a lot more at my new job than I was at the old one. So, I have to postulate that my change from two-hundred twenty-one pounds to one-hundred ninety-seven pounds is directly related to cutting Coke out of my life.
When I was drinking Coke, pants with a 36 waist fit properly. Since then I needed to buy smaller pants so I went down to 34 waist pants. Now those are starting to be a bit loose. I don't think I'm there yet but I may even have to step down to 32 waist pants. There are two factors at play here. First, if you lose twenty-four pounds, your waist will inevitably get smaller. The weight has to come from somewhere and if we have extra weight, it tends to collect around your waist. Secondly, I don't feel bloated from the carbonation anymore and I think my waist is smaller because of it.
As we get deeper in the fall in Eastern Ontario, I am feeling the cool days more than I used to. I'm sure this is because I'm a lot leaner than I've been for most of my adult life.
A lot of people, and I mean a lot, have commented. I look noticeably different. It's a good feeling to receive so much positive feedback. It usually takes a significant change for most people to say something so there must be a big difference.
I have a lot more energy. My body is no longer relying on the sugar and caffeine to run so I don't get crashes like I used to. I don't get a headache if my routine is upset and I can adapt a lot better to change. I also sleep a lot better as my system isn't full of garbage that is trying to keep me awake.
Overall, I am very happy that I quit drinking Coke. I'm not going to lie, there are days I miss the taste but that feeling always passes and when I step on the scale, look in the mirror, or wake up from a good sleep I always think it's worth not tasting it for that momentary enjoyment.
Here are the facts.
With no other significant change in my life I have lost twenty-four pounds. I will admit I have been running a bit but it averages less than 5 kilometres per week so I truly doubt it has any real impact on my weight. Since changing jobs I don't walk over five kilometres each workday to get to work and back but, I am on my feet a lot more at my new job than I was at the old one. So, I have to postulate that my change from two-hundred twenty-one pounds to one-hundred ninety-seven pounds is directly related to cutting Coke out of my life.
When I was drinking Coke, pants with a 36 waist fit properly. Since then I needed to buy smaller pants so I went down to 34 waist pants. Now those are starting to be a bit loose. I don't think I'm there yet but I may even have to step down to 32 waist pants. There are two factors at play here. First, if you lose twenty-four pounds, your waist will inevitably get smaller. The weight has to come from somewhere and if we have extra weight, it tends to collect around your waist. Secondly, I don't feel bloated from the carbonation anymore and I think my waist is smaller because of it.
As we get deeper in the fall in Eastern Ontario, I am feeling the cool days more than I used to. I'm sure this is because I'm a lot leaner than I've been for most of my adult life.
A lot of people, and I mean a lot, have commented. I look noticeably different. It's a good feeling to receive so much positive feedback. It usually takes a significant change for most people to say something so there must be a big difference.
I have a lot more energy. My body is no longer relying on the sugar and caffeine to run so I don't get crashes like I used to. I don't get a headache if my routine is upset and I can adapt a lot better to change. I also sleep a lot better as my system isn't full of garbage that is trying to keep me awake.
Overall, I am very happy that I quit drinking Coke. I'm not going to lie, there are days I miss the taste but that feeling always passes and when I step on the scale, look in the mirror, or wake up from a good sleep I always think it's worth not tasting it for that momentary enjoyment.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Feeling Free
I've been selling cars for a couple of weeks now. Some of the job I really like, some of it I'm really not a fan of. The job is pretty much as I expected it to be. This post isn't about selling cars, it's about what the world feels like now.
I worked in the same program for the same organization for a long time. I'll be honest, some of it was very comfortable. I knew what to do, and who to talk to. However, I also felt really trapped. Based on sheer numbers promotion was unlikely for a long time. A lateral transfer was also not in the cards for the foreseeable future, not because I couldn't do another job but because everyone else I could switch with didn't have the technical skills and knowledge to do my job. It's not their fault, what I was doing was very specialized.
Since switching jobs, I feel free.
When talking to various people about how it's going, I have come to realize the world is once again open to me. In the long term, I may not like selling cars, it's too early to judge. However, I feel like if I don't I will find something I do like. I have a lot of skills and knowledge. I am adding some new experience and I believe it will be compliment my current skills. All of this gives me a feeling of freedom.
I feel like I can live wherever I want. Right now I want to live in Ottawa. So, I can work at something I like in this city. If an opportunity elsewhere interests me, I can make a switch. I feel I can have a balance between my work and my my out of work life.
I feel like I can do whatever I want. If I choose to change occupations it may take some time but I can find what I want to do. I can find an organization that closely aligns with how I feel business is to be conducted. I feel I can find an organization that values my inputs and bring value to them. I was bogging down in the churn in my old job. That is gone and I hope to never experience it again.
There was a time in my life when I used to seek out adventure. That diminished in recent years and I am getting it back. It's invigorating. I feel a lot more alive and I'm viewing the world with excitement and optimism. I feel more creative and I'm learning everyday. I'm returning to the person I like and want to be.
I have no regrets with my old job. I thoroughly enjoyed it most of the time. I grew as a person and I had some amazing experiences but it was time for the next chapter in my life and since I've done what some people think is crazy, I feel I have put my life on a great course to something big in the future. That's what I'm most excited about.
I worked in the same program for the same organization for a long time. I'll be honest, some of it was very comfortable. I knew what to do, and who to talk to. However, I also felt really trapped. Based on sheer numbers promotion was unlikely for a long time. A lateral transfer was also not in the cards for the foreseeable future, not because I couldn't do another job but because everyone else I could switch with didn't have the technical skills and knowledge to do my job. It's not their fault, what I was doing was very specialized.
Since switching jobs, I feel free.
When talking to various people about how it's going, I have come to realize the world is once again open to me. In the long term, I may not like selling cars, it's too early to judge. However, I feel like if I don't I will find something I do like. I have a lot of skills and knowledge. I am adding some new experience and I believe it will be compliment my current skills. All of this gives me a feeling of freedom.
I feel like I can live wherever I want. Right now I want to live in Ottawa. So, I can work at something I like in this city. If an opportunity elsewhere interests me, I can make a switch. I feel I can have a balance between my work and my my out of work life.
I feel like I can do whatever I want. If I choose to change occupations it may take some time but I can find what I want to do. I can find an organization that closely aligns with how I feel business is to be conducted. I feel I can find an organization that values my inputs and bring value to them. I was bogging down in the churn in my old job. That is gone and I hope to never experience it again.
There was a time in my life when I used to seek out adventure. That diminished in recent years and I am getting it back. It's invigorating. I feel a lot more alive and I'm viewing the world with excitement and optimism. I feel more creative and I'm learning everyday. I'm returning to the person I like and want to be.
I have no regrets with my old job. I thoroughly enjoyed it most of the time. I grew as a person and I had some amazing experiences but it was time for the next chapter in my life and since I've done what some people think is crazy, I feel I have put my life on a great course to something big in the future. That's what I'm most excited about.
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