Canadian Youth Mobility Agreements - Did You Know?

Canadian Youth Mobility Agreements - Did You Know?

Traveling around the world as a visitor, student, worker, or whatever other circumstance. It's a dream for many of us, isn't it? However, due to national borders, we are often faced with all sorts of challenges imposed by the systems in place for traveling. Similarly, my partner and I have been considering different places where we could do long-term traveling / short-term working, but come up against the wall of visa issues and poorly laid-out information on public resources.

Thankfully, in Canada, we are very fortunate to be a part of a group of countries who have set up an agreement that simplifies this all. 

Shitty First Drafts

Shitty First Drafts

I (somewhat) recently attended Traction Conf 2016. The second day of this event opened with a fireside chat between Justin Kan of Y Combinator and Kristina Shen of Bessemer Ventures. The conversation was generally interesting and useful, but there was one specific idea that stood out to me the most: 

The Shitty First Draft

The idea that one should put something out when it's reached a basically useful state (a.k.a. MVP), become motivated that it's in the public (ish) sphere, and continue to iterate upon this first draft to make progressive improvements. 

Characteristics of People Admired

Characteristics of People Admired

In an effort to develop a playbook of effective patterns, my fiancee and I came up with a list of people that we admire and respect at our current point in life. We wanted to see what they had in common as baseline characteristics and how this manifested in their behaviours. These are mostly people we've worked or volunteered with to have been witness to them “in action. We did a general assessment of each of their qualities to determine which they had in common and we could strive to develop in ourselves.

Deciding to take a sabbatical

Deciding to take a sabbatical

I decided to make some major life changes at the start of 2016. This was due to a number of factors, including health troubles, and something else that I couldn't explain. 

A question many posed to me is whether I chose to take a sabbatical because my career wasn't going anywhere. To be honest, this couldn't be further from the truth. At the time, I was with Avanade and on a very solid career track within the company as well the area of industry where I was focused. Life was going great no matter how you looked at it, but something didn't feel right - it was this inexplicable feeling that led me to decide to pursue something else that was not in a career-oriented direction.

After carefully considering what I wanted to do, I chose to term my break as a "sabbatical" because it best aligned with what I was seeking…

On Sabbatical - Month 3

On Sabbatical - Month 3

Continuing along... what happens towards the halfway mark of time invested in personal development?

Month 3 (June 2016)

  • Wedding planning trip to Pemberton, BC to work meet with our photographer, chef.

  • Attend the Annual Ceremonial Review for 888 Avenger Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron, representing the Kiwanis Club of Vancouver in the review party and presenting the award for Top Instructor. 

  • Ongoing things: quality family time, wedding planning activities, dedicated time for the Kiwanis Club of Vancouver, ultimate frisbee league, Weekly Coffee Hour, volunteering with Working Gear, and an unhealthy amount of time on Quora through it all…

Community Highlight - Dress for Success Vancouver

Community Highlight - Dress for Success Vancouver

The Kiwanis Club of Vancouver received its charter in 1919 to function primarily in service and goodwill. Since its inception, the Kiwanis Club of Vancouver has raised funds for the handicapped, aged, and needy, and sponsored other civic, cultural and social activities.

Earlier this month, one of our members spoke with Jennifer Halinda, Executive Director of Dress for Success Vancouver, to better understand how they are leading the way to empower women into the workforce in our city.

On Sabbatical - Month 2

On Sabbatical - Month 2

Rounding out into the second month of time focused on personal growth and discovery... these are the notes I jot down as I went along:

Month 2 (May 2016)

  • Draft a lot of content, but not end up publishing it for various reasons (mostly perfectionism)

  • Continue taking the stairs

  • Update LinkedIn profile and clean up connections

  • Take a two week trip to San Francisco where I. I made a map of places I went and things I did. Visit C100, see public spaces (apparently called POPOS)…

Collaborate Better in 9 Easy Steps

Collaborate Better in 9 Easy Steps

Hints for Team Projects

  1. Build trust first. Do NOT leap into tasks and roles and assigned duties.
    • Spend some time together getting to know one another or (in some cases) getting to know each other better. Share personal information about your family or background, or hometown, or hobbies – or all of these things. Disclosing – and showing vulnerability – builds trust, and you’re going to need trust.
    • Have fun during this time. Eat (you should always bring food to meetings).
    • You might think, “We don’t have time; we have to get stuff done.” You will SAVE time later by putting in effort here now, even if later is tomorrow or this afternoon.
  2. Create a common goal together. This might be a grade you wish to achieve, or a level of professionalism, or a mission to move people to action. If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. A common objective brings a team’s focus into alignment. Create short-term objectives as well.

On Sabbatical - Month 1

On Sabbatical - Month 1

So what happened during the first month I took for my sabbatical?

These are the notes I jot down as I ventured into this time off and commented on afterward. 

Month 1 (April 2016)

  • Finish work, watch Tesla Model 3 unveiling, then disconnect

  • To kick things off, the first thing I did was digitally disconnect for 30 hours. Followed up by first ever visit to Float House

  • Put together a personal website, something that's been (a low priority) on my to-do list for a couple of years..