Hiking Company Mill Trial, made me glad I have a map.

Living in Singapore, the hot humid weather does not make it very appealing to go on long hikes. Occasionally, when I am overseas, and the weather is good, I take the opportunity to venture out on a trail.

Over the weekend, while in Cary, North Carolina, the weather was a cool 10 degrees Celsius, it was complemented with a clear sunny sky, making it a perfect weather for a hike. Motivated, I went to Umstead Park and explored the Company Mill Trail. The trail is generally easy, with good variation of altitude; ample views of a slow stream; plenty of lush forest; cool in the shade; warm in the sun. A great way to spend three hours, hiking the 11.5km trail. The end.

If life is always so simple, there will be no dramas and no stories.

Let me layer in some background.

I have a bad ankle, a chronic sprain, that could be traced back to military service days. Over the years, it has gotten worse. During ‘bad days’, my ankle will ache with every step. Two years ago, I tore my ACL and MCL but have not repaired it. Combined, it means, I have difficulties walking over uneven terrain. My unstable ankle might cause me to trip over, and when I do, my ACL-less and MCL-less knee, will do very little to stabilize me, which could result in a more severe injury to my knee.

Don’t ask me why I still went for a hike, I really shouldn’t.

A couple of months ago, while in Taipei, some friends of mine, brought me to Yang Ming Shan over the weekend for a short 2.5km hike. That was my first hike since the knee injury, and I was very conscious about where I was stepping, how I was walking, and spent most of the time looking down on the ground, and just three to five feet in front of each step. Unfortunately, that means, I missed most of the beautiful nature and scenery around me.

Hiking the Company Mill Trail, started off easy, via the Reedy Creek Lake trail, which begins as a dirt road and becomes a mountain bike trail. This part of the walk was pleasant, and I wasn’t looking down at my feet all the time.

When I finally reached the Company Mill Trail, I found it to be a forest trail, with tree roots, loose rocks, uneven ground. That was when the going got tough for me. From that moment on, about 3km in the hike, it was pretty much heads down, looking cautiously where I was stepping. Loose rocks and roots are especially ‘troublesome’ for me as these could cause a sprain or twist an ankle.?

So, there I was, heads down focusing just two to five feet in front of me, cautiously looking at where I place my feet, and avoiding those knee threatening roots and rocks. I had less time to look around me, to enjoy the scenery, to experience the forest. Of course, occasionally, I did pause to soak in the serene ambience of the forrest.

Another consequence of hiking, with heads down most of the time, is what I call “sudden encounters”. I have had ‘sudden encounters’ with low tree branches, which swipe my head most unexpectedly, at times giving me a fright, and other times, a scratch.

The most heart stopping experience came when I looked up and suddenly found another hiker just three feet away from me. I was hiking alone, there wasn’t anyone behind me, and the last time I looked up, there weren’t any in front of me either. Being very focused on the path, I literally did not notice another hiker coming down from the other direction, until he was almost upon me. It is a bit of a shock to see someone pop up all of a sudden five feet in front of you, when just a moment ago, you thought you were the only one in the forest. It almost feels like one of those ‘horror movie’ shocks.

Lesson #1 from hiking: If you’re too intensely focus on your own feet, you might be in for a surprised ‘sudden encounter’

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There were several occasions, where I had to backtrack, trace and rejoin the Company Mill Trail. In my earnestness to avoid the tree roots, I must have deviated from the trail. That is also when I realized, a trail is best viewed and followed when we are looking forward and able to distinguish the path from the forest. When we are looking down at our feet all the time, the ground adjacent to the path is not very differentiated, and it is easy for us to unwittingly step off the path. Before too long, we’ve veered off the trail and need to backtrack. If you don’t believe me, give it a try, take a walk outside and just focus heads down without looking up, you too will veer off track too.

Lesson #2 from hiking: Don’t always look down at your feet when hiking, remember to look up, notice and distinguish the trail from the forest.

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The next lesson I had to learn, I have already paid my tuition fees many years earlier, so it wasn’t new. Despite all the advances of GPS and offline Google Maps, it is always good to learn how to read a map, use a compass, estimate direction with the sun, and count your paces. When you’re out on a hike, it gives one a certain level of calm confidence when you know you won’t get too far lost.

Lesson #3 from hiking: Have your own map and learn to read it.

Parts of the hike along the Company Mill Trail was easy and in those moments when I didn’t have to be looking down on where I place my feet, I had moments to reflect and mull about life.

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Lesson #1: If you’re too intensely focus on your feet, you might be in for a surprised ‘sudden encounter’

I believe this is very true in life and definitely in the workplace. Many people believe that if they just keep heads down and work hard, the bosses above will see all the effort and hard work they have put in, and acknowledge their enterprise with a good promotion; give them a good bonus; or during a cut back, they will be left unscared.?

Unfortunately it doesn’t work this way.

If you’re heads down all the time, for sure, you will be in for a surprised ‘sudden encounter.’ Sometimes it could be a simple brush of leaves against your shoulders, like a pleasant surprised reward gift card for completing a successful project. Other times, it could be low hanging branches that graze and almost cut your face, like a sudden reorganization that moved you to another team. Or worse yet, you might look up and suddenly face a wolf, a puma, or a snake three feet in front of you, like a workforce reduction that presents you with a pink slip on the table three feet in front of you.?

Whatever the case, if you’re too intensely focus doing your own thing, you will lose out in the end, you will be in for a surprised ‘sudden encounter.’

Lesson #2: Remember to look up, notice and distinguish the trail from the forest.

When we are heads down working, moving from projects to projects, from deals to deals, from meetings to meetings, one thing looks about the same as the another. We will stray and drift without knowing it. Then before too long, we have veered off course and have to backtrack or tack a new path forward.

Sometimes this is good as it gives new possibilities; at other times, it means backtracking. All of us falls into this. I was trained as an engineer, but veered off course into IT and then even further off course into management. I know of people who were trained as Arts students but now have career in AI. I know of others who are TV, Radio and Film graduates, but are now into advertising. Veering off course isn’t all bad, good things does happen too.

Look up often, but don’t look up all the time, if you do, you might sprain your ankle when you miss the tree root at your feet. At work, if you’re looking up all the time, you might become too much of a dreamer with limited practical value.

Look up frequently, a trail is best viewed and followed when we are looking forward and able to distinguish the path from the forest. Likewise, in life, in work, in career, look up frequently, see the path, view the forest landscape, notice where the trail is going and don’t veer off track. Look at where your company’s direction is heading, understand its vision, objectives, focus and directions, correlate it with the big map of the industry, of the sector, or of the country. Engage in work activities that are aligned with these, don’t devote 100% of your time on pet projects or ‘hobby projects’ of your own that are not aligned with the company’s path. Worse yet, don’t spend 100% of your time on your boss’ pet project, which could be cut by his boss above. Having said that, I must add that, at a senior level, you must have pet projects running, these are the necessary ‘innovations’ to spur the next growth, just need to make sure to keep it within 7% to 14%, and definitely not 100% of the time.

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Lesson #3: Have a map and learn to read the map.

A map can show us our destination, where we are now, where we are heading and how we can get to our destination. All of us must have a map and we must learn to read the map. By map, I mean, a personal map of our life, where we want to go, what we wish to achieve, where we are now, and what route to take to get to our destination.

The map is our own life map. It is not the map that our boss or our company paints for us. The company might have a wonderful plan for our live, but that is not our plan, that is the company’s plan. It might overlap for a period of time, but it does not encompass all that is important and of significance to us. We all need to have our own life map, so that when we veer off the trail, we know how to come back on again.

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Do you remember the name of the trail which I was hiking?

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times already, pause for a moment and try to recall before reading on.

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It’s called the “Company Mill Trail”.

It was literally at that moment of my hike that the epiphany struck.

We need to be walking our own life’s trail, not a trail that our company has set up for us. Not a Company Trail, but our own Life’s Trail. As if, it is not blatant enough, the company’s trail is a mill, a treadmill of the rat race we’re caught in. A mill goes round and round nonstop, spinning faster and faster, but never moves forward.

Lots of angular momentum, but no forward velocity.

So, don’t just live your life, chained to your company’s mill trail, you must journey on your own life’s trail.

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Don’t have a life map?

I suggest engaging a life coach, and/or pick up a couple of books on this subject. Put into practice what you read, there are enough resources out there to guide you forward. No need to find the ‘best methodology’ or ‘best guide’, most are ‘good enough’. Anything that is good enough, when diligently practices will get you where you want to be.

Final lesson for the day, ‘don’t text while you hike’, that is worse than just being heads down. It is heads down and distracted even from the reason to be heads down in the first place.. Not only will you get surprised ‘sudden encounters’ you will also sprain your ankle.

?What is ‘texting while hiking’, well to me, that is living life aimlessly without a map. Being there, but yet not there at all.

So, what is your purpose for your life?