My name is Tom Smallwood and here you will find my posts and those of guests, on the positive effects of time spent outdoors.
All images copyright Kate Floyer
I am now at another crossroads. I’m in a relationship with someone I want to share my life with; someone who isn’t from an overlanding background. I’ve travelled to lots of countries, but hardly spent anytime in my own…
Read MoreIf you had told me 8 years ago that I would soon be exploring the wild outdoors, seeing places very few people ever get to experience, I would have scoffed. With no outdoor experience, having never wild camped or walked a trail, I was out of touch with the nature.
Read MoreIf nothing else you are going to have a massive problem selling it and nobody else will be able to explain it. "Ideas that spread, win" as Seth Godin says.
So when it comes to explaining a personal journey of life redesign, which has been an evolutionary thing at best and schizophrenic at times, should I be concerned if it is not clear to everyone?
I was recently invited onto the Join Up Dots podcast - the first time I have been on a podcast - and a good chance (I thought) to hone my message. Prior to this, the only person with whom I discuss in detail my decision to quit the rat race in search of a more entrepreneurial and adventurous lifestyle, is my wife. And she kind of knows me. She sees my mood swings, knows what makes me tick and interprets little hints. I am not saying clarity is not required in a marriage, but there is some leeway, because effectively things have been explained not just by words but also by actions.
This week, I have also been asked to succinctly write a few words for distribution to media describing what I am doing and what my plan is. Hmm. Anyone who read my post about Life Redesign from a couple of weeks ago will know that this has been changing and I have had trouble in the past describing what it is that I am doing. So much so, indeed, that by the time I had put the same post out on Medium it had altered a little and become more succinct.
The podcast experience sadly didn't give me the chance to talk around the areas I wanted or the chance to fully explain my journey. I would have liked to perhaps explain chronologically how I reached where I am and also what motivated me to make the changes. But you live, and most important of all, you learn!
What I didn't realise until this past couple of weeks is that in order to talk about myself in this way I need to consider myself as a product and it can't be one that changes every few days. So I have settled on a high level view and here it is.
"In late 2016 I quit the "rat race". It was long time coming and it was a difficult decision. When I decided to take this dramatic decision I had in mind the idea to “redesign my life” in a way that was more entrepreneurial, satisfying, interesting and adventurous both in my personal and professional life.
I wanted to work on different projects, to learn new skills and to live a more adventurous and fulfilling life, especially spending more time outdoors. In short I wanted to follow my passions, be happier and live better.
I decided 2017 would be the year of change."
And this is the short of it. I have sent this to the media outlets that requested it and I will stick to it.
When it comes to working from home people often talk about the distractions: Television, endless teas and coffees, biscuits - I'm sure there are biscuits somewhere, even the ironing, tidying up, mowing the lawn, the bills, the books, the music and games... and so on and so forth.
But these do not affect me. In any case I think there are more dangerous distractions available on any smartphone this day and age, so location is not an issue for me in this regard...
Read MoreOn April the 9th, the morning after a very late flight in from a week walking in the Azores, I met Dave Cornthwaite. I imagine to quite a few who read this blog it will be a familiar name. Dave is an energetic man in his thirties, with sunny hair and an equally sunny disposition.
He is responsible for Say Yes More. It is difficult to succinctly define Say Yes More, other than by saying it is a movement, a global community that has spawned the Yes Tribe and Yestival, and has inspired and continues to support people in redesigning their life...
Read MoreOne of the greatest things about quitting the rat race to redesign my life is the chance to work from different locations. Of course I am a father and a husband so I am at the mercy of my daughter’s education and the ability of my wife to have the same flexibility as me.
Now, as I type these words I am sitting in Amelie, a charmingly shabby little bar in Belgrade, drinking a coffee, half an eye on the world strolling by seen through a tatty net curtain.
Read MoreLast week I had a conference call with small group of successful business people. We are discussing cooperating on a project (side project for me) where each of us will bring our own experience, expertise and contribute the skills that we have picked up along our professional journeys.
This sort of project is exciting and interesting; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Whilst there are never any guarantees, the putting together of a team that - at least on paper - looks as if it covers all the areas required to make it successful does give a certain confidence and a freedom to the individual. It doesn’t mean you can take a free ride, but knowing you can also rely on others within a team to help make a venture successful is undoubtedly a comfort that often brings added energy to the individual, allowing him or her, in turn, to perform better.
Read MoreOn my run the other day I was listening to a recent Tim Ferriss podcast. This particular episode was a simple Q and A with Matt Mullenweg from Automatic (Wordpress et al). One thing he talks about (prompted by a listener question) is some of the reasons for success and specifically that there are no guarantees.
He mentions that one of the reasons he has been successful is resilience.
Read MoreAntequera and La Peña de los Enamorados, Andalusia, where I first contemplated making wholesale changes to my life, back in the summer of 2015.
When I started writing a blog a few months ago it was simply a way of finding a reason to write and to reconnect with my personal interests. It changed rapidly and grew into a website. The subject of it was always going to be based on my love of the outdoors and mountains in particular, but I did not envisage how it might evolve and grow into a project designed, one day, to make a living. Or perhaps I didn't dare to think this.
How will it make a living? Well I’m not entirely sure yet but I hope it will help others in Finding Inspiration in Mountains and Wilderness.
But, as of today I am working almost full time on The Armchair Mountaineer. I have shelved my other full-time employment. I have left the rat-race and whilst I continue to do consultancy work and other entrepreneurial projects, I am choosing carefully. This web site is now my main "employer" in terms of time, albeit one that doesn't pay! I am sure that in due course I will write more about the reasons for my decision to drastically change tack and about the crucial support from my wife in taking this decision.
I am looking at a future filled with new challenges, many of which I hope will not only be outside the office but actually in the great outdoors, from longer distance travel to weekend micro-adventures.
Yesterday the traffic to the site was 15. After nearly 20 years working with online businesses I understand that this is not quite enough to monetise. However what the site is doing successfully is reconnecting me with the things I love; the wilderness, the outdoors and mountains.
For too long I have neglected these passions and it took a mixture of occupational burn-out, a dissatisfaction with the often inflexible formats of working life and some inspiring people to push me back to focus on what brings me pleasure. I can’t help feeling it is a point I could have arrived at sooner and with a clearer head but such is life. The important thing I feel is that I reached a fork in the road and I chose the less-trodden path.
I would like to be clear that this does not mean I have lost my appetite for hard work. I have set up my own businesses in the past and been reasonably successful. The entrepreneurial spirit in me is still alive and well.
However, now I am looking at a future filled with new adventures and challenges for myself and my family, many of which I hope will not only be outside the office but actually in the great outdoors, from longer distance travel to weekend micro-adventures.
Right, time to get my trail running shoes on. For those interested below is a list and some notes on the people that inspired me to make a drastic life change.
Escape the City describe their mission as being “To help 1,000,000 people find work that they love”. Their communities (tribes) give like minded people the chance to exchange ideas and garner support and learnings from each other. They also have a programme helping people engineer a career change all aimed at Escaping the City and doing something out of the desire and passion to do it. This may mean teaching English in Africa or launching some tech start up. Escape the City provides not just coaching to help the kind of transformation I have been looking to do but also effectively supplies a "safety net” of like-minded individuals to spur you on.
Now, here’s the kicker; above is my understanding because in truth I never actually "used" Escape the City. I signed up. I thought long and hard about it and I decided it was worth the money, but in the end, unfortunately, the timing wasn't right. I apologise to the founders for not having supported them financially but, as daft as it may seem, the thought of such a thing as Escape the City existing fills me with confidence, as if a safety net were there. If I get something wrong in my new life I can go to them and give it another go with renewed encouragement to find that thing that I love. I am not alone.
When a friend (and business partner) of mine gave me a copy of The 4-Hour Work Week I was very cynical. Like many people self-help of any sort was something of a con, in my mind. Ironically it was at a time in my life when I really needed it. Anyway when I eventually got around to reading this book, it caused me to change a few of my working ways and inspired me to concentrate on aspects of my life that were important to me.
"Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan"
Whilst I still think a lot of the ideas are out of reach for many I found by taking the elements from the book that fit my life and my aims I was able to streamline certain aspects of my work, personal life and to focus better on what really matters to me. What is particularly poignant to me is the principle of finding a way to do the things you enjoy. I have employed this in many small ways to avoid the "deferred-life plan" which so many of us tend to follow.
For more details on what I took from it you can read a blog post here.
Sarah Williams is the host of the Tough Girl Podcast which is aimed at inspiring women to greater challenges through her interviews with… inspiring women of course. Now, it is not actually her interviews that have inspired me, although plenty have been interesting. Sarah used to work as banker in London but after eight years she left her job. like me she says she wasn’t either “happy or fulfilled”.
I think I came across her podcast more than a year ago and it is the occasional mention of her own story as well as similar tales from some of her guests that actually helped inspire me to think about changing my own life.
Sadly you don’t all know my friend Dan. He is a singular-minded individual who has had the strength of character to follow certain dreams and aspirations that have led him to live an interesting and admirably unconventional life. I have not asked him if he is fulfilled. I don’t know if he has any regrets about the path he has taken but I do know that he has done things that many would not have the courage to do - me included. From walking the length of the Pyrenees, the GR20 in Corsica, the Lycian Way in Turkey or travelling in India, living in the French Alps, sailing around Thailand or taking up open water swimming just because... the list of his adventures is long and, as he looks towards joining a sailing trip across the Atlantic later in the year, it doesn't look as if he has run out of ideas.
As you can see from this brief summary some years ago he embarked on a life driven by an appetite for discovery, of the world and of the individual. The safety net of the world one knows can also be stifling. By removing himself from it he has been on many an outdoor and travel adventure that has made him grow into an inspirational person to me. He has run, jumped and plunged into life and in doing so I am sure he has challenged himself in ways he never imagined he would. Or perhaps I do him a disservice, perhaps he knew exactly how he wanted to challenge himself. Whatever the truth is he has set an example to me of what is possible and helped rekindle the smouldering embers of my own passion for outdoor adventure.
Let the fire burn bright.
Sometimes it is the right moment to move onto new challenges. Often people find themselves bogged down in security. I don’t just mean financial security, but also secure in their knowledge and their professional field when perhaps they might find happiness elsewhere. Maybe there is potential still to be unlocked.
There is so much to be learnt in a new job and accompanying such learning is considerable degree of uncertainty. Everything is often foreign to the new employee, from the daily details of the work to be done, to the people and policies in the "new company". Whether we like to admit it or not the nearer we get to it the more daunting a proposition it can be. However it should be viewed as an extraordinary opportunity. After all, we all started somewhere.
Read MoreThis week I am posting about Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Work Week, simply because I have recently got into his podcast and it took me back to re-reading one or two chapters from the book. There is in fact not a lot I can say that has not already been said about this book but I can illustrate briefly my experience.
It was given to me by a friend who recommended it highly. I said thank you, flicked through it and put it on a shelf.
For 3 years.
Read MoreThe other day I read an astonishing letter from Clementine Churchill to Winston, in which his darling Clemie advised him on his management style. She ends the letter like this:
"...you won't get the best results by irascibility and rudeness. They will breed either dislike or a slave mentality - (Rebellion in War time being out of the question!)."
One would imagine instinctively that this style (if one can call it that) of management is destined to fail immediately but it can actually be very enduring. Those who rebel leave quickly but a large number of people get used to it - they become enslaved, they cease to question and they follow orders - underneath there is often dislike but you may see a kind of Stockholm Syndrome develop.
I am not talking about the pressures of war, or the oppression of a totalitarian country. I am talking about Western Europe, the developed world and multi-million pound businesses.
I remember years ago witnessing from a distance how destructive and limiting this kind of management can be and it amazes me how enslaved employees can become, by a senior manager who operates through fear and humiliation.
The typical Dictator - let’s call him or her Dictator - has an enormous amount of energy and spends a good deal of it in ensuring there is limited communication between employees. He plays one off against another by talking up the individual to whom he is speaking and denigrating others (he will do this to everyone - you are not special).
Dividing people kills communication and creates a dependency on the figure of the Dictator. He is immediately the employees only source of praise, knowledge and help.
He can now control everything, from strategy to operations and do everything the way he sees it. Given a decisive and brilliant Dictator this can work, for a time. But even with these abilities there is a ceiling to the success this Dictator can have. Growth is limited. Now this is not to say an organisation run like this cannot grow into a reasonably sized company but it will never get out of the SME bracket to join the big players.
And here is why. The simple truth is that there is a limited amount of work one person can do. The Dictator is incapable of giving responsibility to others, although a particular trait is that he never takes any blame - preferring instead to use blame as a tool to divide his staff. If such a company does not adapt for growth (and this involves much more than installing a middle level of management, but also fundamentally changing the culture within the organisation) its time is limited and it is destined to do one of two things.
a) It will die.
b) It will plateau and when the Dictator runs out of energy... it will die.
So, you get the picture. It will die. Who cares? says the Dictator, he doesn't see this and has done everything right in his mind. He has given people work, which incidentally he often sees almost as an act of benevolence on his part. He has in his mind been a success.
Whether or not Winston Churchill took his wife’s advice we may not know* but he was operating in a global war, under the threat of invasion, bombardment, tyranny and he held the lives of millions of people in his hands. I will excuse him some "rudeness". He was both decisive and brilliant but even his time was limited.
To create something of great and lasting value does require individual vision and brilliance, but most of all it requires other people. Continued growth requires a healthy organisation not just a healthy balance sheet.
*A Churchill scholar may indeed know this.
