The Breck Adventure

 ”Maverick, adventure seeker and passionate about the idea that it’s possible to live life to the max both in and out of the office.”

Over the next several days I will be documenting my latest adventure...Breck Epic. Breck Epic is a six-day, staged mountain bike race through a beautiful (assuming you have the energy to look up and enjoy it ??) backcountry single-track, with each day starting and ending in Breckenridge, Colorado. Each of the six stages are an average of 38 miles and 6,217 feet of climbing per day, for a combined total of roughly 230 miles and just under 40,000 feet of vertical gain. If that wasn’t bad enough, each day starts in Breckenridge at 9,600′ above sea level and takes you over 12,000′ ??.

As I sit in in Breckenridge trying to acclimatize, I’m already out of breath typing. But the interest of my friends, family and colleagues have inspired me to try and articulate the race experience and how it’s possible to have a killer career, active and healthy lifestyle, awesome family life, and friends to share it all with.

Advice abounds online about how you can have it all, achieve perfect harmony and work-life balance. But I think it’s a little more complicated than the internet makes it seem.

I believe in being firmly grounded and committing everything to your current priorities and values. That means always striving for perfection (a never-ending, but fulfilling process), never “unplugging,” living for the moment, adapting to chaos, and, most of all, surrounding yourself with positive and amazing people, so that whatever you’re doing, you are having fun! Priorities and values can change with time, circumstance and present state of mind, so it is important that you genuinely reflect on them and know exactly what they are.

Today, my values have been 1) family, 2) adventure, and 3) achieving meaningful work results that have positive social impacts (this includes over delivering for clients, creating careers that push, engage and motivate the team, generating revenue and margins for shareholders, and most of all, establishing positive outcomes for our communities). While these are my current values, they haven’t always been. They may not stay in that order, or they might change altogether. You and your inner circle need to understand the driving values and priorities, and acknowledge that there are times for compromise and adaptation.

Case in point: Our family (myself, Mel and E, our 5 year-old little ripper son) have travelled around the world for work and pleasure and seeking adventure. In the last 18 months, Mel qualified and competed in the Xterra world championships in Hawaii, completed Ironman Canada, and has made the podium of many mountain bike races. She did this while being an amazing mum and having her own career as a hydrogeologist. I competed in the California Enduro series with my biking buddies (WEBP crew) and travelled and camped at each race with the family. E also raced and met loads of sporting idols.

On the work front, in the same timeframe, the Advisian Power Networks and Systems team, which I have the pleasure of leading, has hired amazing people, doubled its revenue, and delivered incredible outcomes (to name a few):

• Delivered 100% renewables strategies for one of the largest utilities in the US
• Advanced the distributed energy industry with our partner Xendee, providing more reliable, lower emissions, and cost-effective solutions by designing and deploying systems around the world
• Supported the industry with wildfire mitigation planning

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Work saw me travel up to 50-70% of my time, seriously cutting down valuable time with friends and family (the worst moments being when you’re away and your son tells you how much he’s missing you). Adding to that, single parenting for Mel, a list of chores that we don’t really get to and our parallel training schedules means lots of compromises.

The bottom line is that there’s no such thing as perfect balance. Achieving any semblance of equilibrium takes passion, compromise and unwavering commitment. Focus on your priority(ies). Don’t do things (consistently) that you don’t enjoy. Push the boundaries. Apply the “no jerk” rule (foster a community where jerks simply aren’t allowed). And… have fun!

Here are my basic rules for relative success:

• Establish understanding of your goals and values. Build a team (at work, at home, and with friends) around you that believes in or at least understands your values and mission.
• Leverage flexibility. Don’t get stuck working the conventional 8-5 shift. I’m lucky to work for a business that supports remote work and flexible hours, so long as the results are being delivered. If I work 60 hours on the road, I don’t feel badly about getting home and going for a bike ride with Mel on a Friday afternoon.  Often I’ll work after E has gone to bed due to the global nature of our business. Take advantage of technology to work flexibly and achieve both work and life goals.
• Maximize productivity. If you must work away from home, try and take advantage of it. If I’m on a work trip and the family can come along for a self-covered cost of a flight, then we do it. If they can’t, I take my bike or running shoes with me and use the opportunity to explore a new destination. And I also make sure I smash work productivity so that when I’m back home I can focus on family.
• Utilize compromise. Agree on goals for yourself and those closest to you. If Mel has a very specific training goal or work commitment, I will modify my travel/work schedule and vice versa.
• Recognize that change CAN be good. Try to embrace chaos and be willing to adapt or change on the fly. If you don’t have the ability to troubleshoot, then you’ll likely be in a constant state of stress.
• Kill two birds with one stone. (Even better is following it with a beer!) Try to combine as many of your values into one fun package. As much as I can, I train with family or friends so that we experience the adventure and benefit from time together. For example, Mel and I are both racing in Breck Epic. We maximized training together. We’ve acclimatized to the altitude together. We drove out to Breckenridge over a few days (I worked as we drove, and then we hung out, camped, biked and adventured together). Enabling this journey was Grammy (the loving moniker E uses for Mel’s mum), who came from Calgary to look after E and hang out with family. Many birds, one stone!

What are your rules for success?

That’s enough for now. Breck Epic starts on Sunday. Over the last six months, work, friends, family and attending weddings have been priorities, so training has suffered (I’m chubbier and less fit than I’d like to be, but that’s okay since it was a choice I prioritized at the time.) It’s going to be brutal, but we’re going to have fun. Perfection for me will be us pushing through the pain with smiles and finishing another true adventure… together.

Each evening I will post a race recap for those interested. Enjoy!

Gareth 

#Maverick #Adventure #Family #Advisian #Worley #Xendee #nopiannogain #socialgood #BreckEpic #Success #Together #Fun