Subscribe and get weekly resources for greater joy, fulfilment and connection =>
We live in an age of disconnection. That disconnection is at the root of so many of the issues and crises of our time. Restoring our connection - to ourselves, to each other, to the natural world, and to a sense of something greater - is the most vital work of our time.
Read MoreUkraine, COVID, climate change, polarization... over the coming decade(s) we will start to see more, and more intense, crises around the globe. These interrelated crises are a direct result of our collective disconnection: from the natural world, from each other, and from ourselves.
Read MoreI've decided to take a slightly different approach to the newsletter.
I'm still going to send it out weekly on Tuesdays, but instead of just pointing you to the latest of my articles on the [Aligned] blog I'm going to be taking more of a curation approach by sharing some of the interesting recent stuff I'm discovering to help me on my own journey toward greater alignment in life:
Read MoreFocus is a common problem for most entrepreneurs; we all struggle with maximizing our work time on productive activities. This problem is only exacerbated in the midst of all of the disruption happening in the world these days.
How does one prioritize one’s activities when it’s hard to even predict what the world - or our industry - will look like in a month, let alone a year?
Read MoreConsistency is a wonderful hallmark of simplicity: if you have inconsistency in processes, or how products are handled or services are operated, or in any aspect of your business, that inconsistency will undoubtedly lead to complexity, which will probably lead to frustration. As you examine your business, look for inconsistencies and ask if consistency can be introduced into the system.
Read MoreWe’d had these in place for years, since outlining them in 2014 with my previous sales director, but they hadn’t made a meaningful contribution to the company. Like many company’s core values, they made for nice wall decoration and little else.
I wanted our core values to form the essence of the company, to dictate how the company and its staff acted; to be the foundation on which the company grew and operated.
Read MoreI thought back to spring of 1996, when I’d started the company in a little ski town in the British Columbia Rockies called Fernie.
Read MoreIn this detailed post from the [ALIGNED] series for entrepreneurs, I describe the process I followed to realign our business model around profit instead of revenue, and the steps I took to make the company profitable again. Includes the ProfitMaker tool to help you figure out your numbers.
Read MoreI’ve written extensively about Alignment in this series so far. ‘Alignment’, to me, means living in a state where your work and life are aligned with your values, ideals and dreams; your decisions are made in alignment with what you value, and they’re made in alignment with the ideals and dreams you’re striving for.
Crucial to that process is understanding yourself, especially what it is that you value. We all have values that are imprinted on us through formative experiences, yet very few of us take the time to make them explicit.
Read MoreI’ve always been pretty good at managing stress.
Perhaps it’s my international disposition, or perhaps it’s something I’ve earned after over 20 years on the rollercoaster of entrepreneurial life.
By the spring of 2017, however, the strain of the previous year was pushing me over the brink.
Read MoreLike most entrepreneurs, I feel into the trap of busyness: unless I was going flat-out, pedal to the metal, and getting s@#$ done with my business, I didn’t feel productive. I raised money, hired lots of staff, expanded all over the world, and just kept going and going.
Back then, stillness to me would have equated directly with laziness. ‘Who has time for sitting still,’ I thought, ‘there’s important shit to be done!’
Read MoreThe reckoning came in the spring of 2017.
I’d just spent the previous 9 months giving just about everything I had - energy, time, sanity, and more - to launch a massive new project in my adventure travel company, Sacred Rides. The project - called our Getaways program - had required, and was still demanding of me, many late nights and early mornings, and large amounts of stamina and resilience.
Impatient with our growth, the previous year I’d set the audacious goal of seeing the company operate in 150 countries within 5 years (by 2021). Our growth had averaged a healthy 45% over the past 4 years and we’d been ranked “World’s #1 Mountain Bike Tour Company” by both National Geographic Adventure and Outside magazines.
Despite the successes and accolades, I felt a profound lack of fulfilment from these achievements.
Read MoreI raised money (3x); I took on lots of debt; I hired staff; I expanded all over the world. I got on the hamster wheel of growth and I kept running and running, until it almost sank me (I’ll write more about this, and how I got off that wheel, in future posts).
When I started Wayfinders, I resolved not to repeat the same mistakes.
Read MoreThe Alignment Scorecard is a tool to help entrepreneurs discover aspects of their company and/or life that need more attention, in order to help you live a life of alignment: a feeling of a life well-lived, in harmony with one’s values and ideals.
Read More
