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“New Year” Resolutions and Reflections; a new and evolving normal

Living in a northern city traditional New Year resolutions, at January 1st, have never made sense to me.  Post New Year maneuvering through ice and slush, while travel companies advertise escapes to warmth on every billboard requires enough physical and mental energy. To add the burden of enforced positive changes, or the quilt of failure is unhealthy. 

Post Labour Day, or September 1st, seems far more workable and practicable. A change in season can be felt but the warmth of the Sun is still there along with the energy of a new school year for families and the afterglow of summer vacations. I have always been secretly jealous of my Jewish friends with a tradition and community that supports a September/October New Year. Having my birthday in the later part of August adds to a life long internal drive to think of September as the point for new starts.

How can we upcycle ourselves going forward this new season and “New Year”? Is it a resolve to work with renewed vigor? Is a renewed effort to find rewarding work in the new economy? Is it a program for manageable health gains; an effort to be more community evolved? How can you, and I, upcycle starting this September?

 

Hi, it has been awhile. My journey as an “Upcycled Self” took me down a period of reflection and change following the death of a family member and a personal health challenge. I needed to step back, reflect, regroup, and find a path forward; I apologize.

That does not mean I have been idle; in 2016 I took a course in Digital Design, completed a 3-month contract with the Canadian Government, applied long lost accounting skills as a part time book keeper, plus helped build a cottage wharf and remove, then replace, a concrete driveway. Ongoing volunteer work with a national health advocacy rounded out my days and allowed me to “Upcycle” corporate facilitation and communication skills into new areas.

In my first blog post, I stated I liked the idea of recycling or “Upcycling” useful objects. In much the same way; I have continually adapted skills and expertise to the employment/labour market while augmenting with new skills through training. Writing this blog was in anticipation of communicating, sharing, interacting and learning with others who are enjoying a similar path of change and adaption in their professional and personal lives.

January is an appealing, and traditional, time to focus on those areas that are ripe for Upcycling. I avoid use of the word resolution; resolutions seem to rarely work and just depress when unobtainable. Upcycling yourself is more of an ongoing process with ups and downs in effort and action but following an upward trajectory towards goals or applications. As a new start, in 2017, what are your biggest challenges and opportunities that can be best managed by Upcycling your skills and aptitudes?

Very happy to report my main “Upcycling” project of 2015, a Digital Media Marketing Post Graduate Program, successfully ended when I wrote a final exam and submitted a last project on December 18th. Last week I received confirmation of my success in the form of an Ontario College Graduate Certificate, with Honours. The program updated my digital knowledge to current levels, supplementing prior experience and business degrees. The knowledge gained, plus related COOP experience, positions me for new roles in digital and social media while, hopefully, extending my working life! Taking the program was a challenge that has opened new income, learning and networking vistas, established new friendships and gave me direction for further “Upcycling” opportunities.

 Best wishes to you for meeting your own goals and dreams in the New Year. I celebrated my Upcycling Project success with friends while sharing current plans for a new career plus Photoshop and Coding Seminars.

What personal “Upcycling” project(s) have you completed that you can celebrate and build on in 2016?

The dark damp days of late autumn are quickly transitioning into winter; as 2015 draws to an end are you looking at how to Upcycle yourself in 2016? There are so many options it can be over whelming, while you make your plans may I make a suggestion; please avoid the trap of just doing activities to be able to say you are busy.  Pause to really consider what you want to accomplish.

Saying you’re busy has become a tiresome mandatory response in our lives. For some, I know, it can be a legitimate answer to how you are, but for many it is either an automatic response, a way of “bragging while complaining” or an acceptable excuse to be dismissive of someone else’s request. In many social groups it is almost “sinful” not to be busy (or say you are) and a sign of heavy moral decay. If you say you are not busy the response is usually “it must be nice” followed by a litany of self imposed time constraints the other person uses as badges of honour and moral high-ground. For the accidentally retired, semi retired, or under employed they may consider it a nail in the coffin of their social connections with certain members of society if they admit to not being busy. Forget it!

As you look into 2016 really take an educated view of what your priorities are and what you want to accomplish. If your list includes a bit of a breather- a late middle aged gap year or break- that is a perfectly legitimate activity especially if you intend to use the time reflecting and making plans for the future.

For some of us our upcycling may include training, new employment, volunteer work or a combination of all three. If you do follow a path that has you pursuing activities and some one asks how you are, look for an alternative to the tired busy reply. How about using engaged, growing, involved or even flourishing as responses. Using these words will give others something to think about and maybe start a conversation, as opposed to the conversation dead end of BUSY! Think of using alternatives to busy as another tool in an Upcycled Selves arsenal for moving forward towards new and interesting rewards in 2016.

 

 

I enjoy a monthly commercial Blog site from Lisa Taylor, Founder and President of Challenge Factory http://www.challengefactory.ca/blog a Toronto based consulting firm to organizations and individuals optimizing changing work lives and contributions. Focused on how experienced, primarily successful corporate executive level, workers can thrive; Challenge Factory’s individual services appear geared to the “C-Suite” set. I found the blog just recently and read insights that apply for even a non-Gold Medal Winner of the 1970 -2015 corporate version of “Survivor”.

If I was invited to post on the blog I would write …

Alumni readership of the blog may want to reach out to others who are working to find a path in the same economy and realities of second decade Twenty First Century as Challenge Factory clients.  Most of the Upcycled Self readers do it mostly alone without the aid of paid consultants and only limited, dated, lowest common denominator based public information or training programs in an effort to move forward. Public programs are well meaning but, like health care, seem to follow a triage model with the most desperate getting attention.  For most, following a process of personal Upcycling, our goals are not “legacy” career roles, but normally financially and intellectually driven desires to remain viable and engaged in a world that says we need to move aside. We read the same “boomer targeted” business and career material (digital version usually for the truly Upcycled) but smile at the comment, ad and life style content that seem to pander to the upper middle class in so called “National” media. I wonder if those who have been fortunate to access the type of individual services offered by firms, like the Challenge Factory, could pass on their repositioning learning by mentoring fellow Upcyclers? All would benefit including the sponsoring firm, directly or indirectly, through great PR or developing a new revenue source out of the process over time.  Peer mentoring is a wonderful benefit now offered on most University and College campuses; could we not adopt the model to a mutual postgraduate and post-corporate, course in employment? Upcycled Selves look for ways to learn, adapt and thrive, this may be one way you could help them.

This week ,on an amazingly beautiful autumn day, we saw our new Prime Minister and his Cabinet sworn into office. The cabinet makeup is receiving broad national and international approval; like today’s work place it holds a representative mix of generations, cultures and genders.

When the Prime Minister made his  famous comment “Because it’s 2015” I think it may have come as a revelation to many that the world has changed and you need to change with it. Luckily Boomers are impressively represented in the Cabinet by men and women who have continued to remain effective and relevant by adapting to, and embracing, change. They are ready to work with their Gen X Leader and Millennial Colleagues; great examples of being Upcycled Selves!

You have been very kind in your comments and reception of the Upcycled Self Blog; I have appreciated your observations and comments. In response to questions I would like to share my very first video blog posting, or vlog. Please be kind in your viewing and review; even Stephen Spielberg had to start someplace!

New Skills, like video blogging, are all part of being an Upcycled Self; now I wonder if they need me for the next Star Wars sequel?

Had a Colonoscopy or other screening for Colorectal Cancer yet; if you are 50 or older, or younger with a family history, why not?

An Upcycled Self needs to maintain optimum health, to be ready for opportunity, as best they can by taking the necessary steps to correct preventable problems. The media stereotype of a sick 50+ worker pushing up healthcare costs does not help anyone. For example: about 6 years ago I was surprised to learn I am a Type II Diabetic; it was caught early through standard testing and I make adjustments in my life to avoid complications.

Do you know people with high end performance cars who have the owner’s manual and maintenance schedule memorized? Do they follow the same course of action for themselves? We do not come with an owner’s manual but science has designed effective testing and screening that catches a lot of problems early. Similar to upgrading your skills, you need to upgrade your personal care and maintenance to meet the realities of the second half of the second decade of the 21st century.

Colonoscopies, or similar colorectal Cancer screening tests, are the subject of jokes between friends, especially guys. Yes there is a huge “Ick Factor”, you will not be posting as an event on Facebook , but these easy tests can catch small problems before they become big, life changing or life ending ones.

According to the Colorectal Cancer association of Canada regular screening leads to better outcomes and prevents death from colorectal cancer, with patients having an estimated 90% chance of being cured if the cancer is detected early, compared with only 10% if it is detected at an advanced stage.

In 2015, the association predicts 1 in 14 men and 1 in 16 women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer. My brother died on Thanksgiving Day of complications related to Colorectal Cancer at the youngest age of anyone in our family in two generations.

In the last decade Ontario has had one of the highest rates of colorectal cancer in the world. Colorectal Cancer remains one of the four most common cancers diagnosed in the province, and is the second highest cause of cancer deaths in Ontario. For more information please check out www.colorectal-cancer.ca

At funerals it is normal to hear “but they were never sick, never saw a doctor than suddenly…” disease does not happen suddenly but over time. Please talk to your Family doctor and get necessary tests on a regular basis with Colorectal Cancer screening a priority. Think of it as Upcycling; a new skill to help you thrive and survive!

Much like sex; every generation thinks they are the first to discover some work place personalities or situations that defy reason. An Upcycled Self has many characters and situations from work experiences to learn from or turn into anecdotal answers for employer and client questions or that first novel we keep meaning to write!

One standard, tired and unimaginative, interviewer question is “Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult colleague or situation”. Interview preparation lists suggest following a model of Situation, Task, Action and Response answering to show how wonderful you are and able to cope with any and all eventualities like Donald Trump as an immediate supervisor, Rob Ford as an employee or Kanye and Justin Bieber as colleagues. When hearing the question again and again I have been tempted to use the following for an answer!

Thank you; Oh…yes a difficult colleague…

YIKES, the Situation: A “Developing Economy” Capital City in the 1980’s pitching new transportation equipment to the Military; I was responsible for researching and answering financing questions about any lease or direct purchase options along with “The General”, our local representative who was certifiably NUTS! A retired Senior Military Officer, as many were, right out of Hollywood casting for a Quentin Tarantino film villain.  Larger than life, extremely aggressive personality; he drove a high-powered “engine enhanced” car at break neck speeds ignoring all other road users, stop lights, signs, or one way entry indicators. After our first day I carefully asked what precautions he took spending so much time in a busy city on the road, he showed me the Nickel-Plated Magnum 44 he kept under the driver’s seat as his insurance, negotiation and accident strategy! To make things more interesting he refreshed himself with a mix of Cognac and Coca Cola throughout most of the day between meetings.

Tasks in priority order:

• Stay alive and out of hospital.
• Visiting and presenting information to various government and military officials.

Action to Survive Alive: Being very well prepared for each meeting and running an ongoing briefing in the car to keep us on task, him focused and not thirsty. Prayer helped along with closing my eyes in the car, having the Canadian embassy number with me (pre-cell phone days) and being extremely polite so the Magnum 44 stayed out of sight!

Result(s):

• I lived!
• The sale negotiations continued.
• He told my boss I was great to work with.
• I always packed lots of extra underwear for future trips.

Now, should I also talk about the “Flying Pirate”?

Thanksgiving is celebrated here, on the North Shore of the inland Sea named Lake Ontario, this coming Monday. For my non Canadian friends; our Thanksgiving is a harvest based festival that follows the practical, and First Nations’ traditional, timing for harvest in this geography.

It is also a long autumn weekend where yard work and outdoor household upcycling projects are done prior to busy indoor winter living.

To push a metaphor it is useful, as the leaves fall and we rake them, to consider 6 hints to aid in harvesting our prior experience. These are suggestions on some issues that may need to be cleaned up, disposed of, or reconditioned as you go forward on new or repurposed paths.

1. Are you realistic about what you bring to the table because of your history and experience? Consider the stereotypes you may encounter and think how you will counter ageism, embrace your experience and adapt to the future at the same time.
2. Can you ask a reliable and honest person how your personal brand is viewed these days compared to the competition? You need to know how to make a great impression in person and online; it may be time for a little image makeover in how you present in person and digitally. Take a good look at all your Social Media profiles with a critical eye; what do they say about you, your history and future?
3. Know what you want next? Have you decided if you want to pursue another traditional work situation, or embrace the emerging, or emerged, gig work economy.
4. Have you managed and removed negative emotions related to your prior job/career; is there a need to eliminate any negative feelings or bitterness to your work life? Similar to when you remove the rust or flacking paint from an item you are going to upcycle in your home you need to rid yourself of any negative or bitter feelings about change. If you do not it will come through in targeted or casual work discussions with others.
5. Have you taken the steps to identify core, key skills that are in demand, and know what you need to upcycle with training? If not please take a look at my Blog “Take Your Skills Out Of Storage“ on this site as a starting point. Knowing this will make a focused future more effective.
6. Nobody gets anywhere alone. As you rake those leaves, harvest those tomatoes or clean up the balcony have you thought about who you need to speak with about what the market wants and needs now?  .

Have a great weekend wherever you are; have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day if you are celebrating the Canadian Holiday, and take a few moments to start thinking about these items as a way to kick start your next work experience and become an Upcycled Self!