Walking and Talking with Mike

I’ve always been a busy guy, enjoying the challenges of a life filled with tasks and chores, commitments and goals, careers and relationships, hobbies and autodidactic journeys, as well as mixing in a little fun and games, whenever possible. But these past several months have pushed even my hectic (by choice, for the most part) lifestyle to a new level. And this is both a good and bad thing, depending on what priorities and things-to-do lists get done or shuffled off to the black void, otherwise known as my email backlog, my reading list, my website obligations, and just about anything else that I WANT to do, but am unable to get to.

So, what is this, huh, Mike? One of those whine fests of a blog post?

Umm, kind of, sort of, maybe…I’ll get back to you on that. While you’re waiting, watch this:

Walking and Talking with Mike: Living in the Moment



The biggest challenge for me these days is trying to find more time in the day to do more things than ever—a major chore for most of us, I imagine. I have so many projects brewing right now with my music, websites, writing, and videos that if I quit my day job and worked on nothing but them I still wouldn’t be able to do all that I want. And speaking of that day job, therein lies some of the time/balance conundrum.

For a dozen years I was a work-at-home-dude, a telecommuter , a guy who was lucky and talented (ahem, thank you) enough to be able to earn a very good living without having to commute, share office space, dress up, interact with “some” people…you get the picture. And I can honestly say that for just about all of those dozen or so years, it was a very sweet deal.

But a funny thing happened a while back, and that guy who loved being at home suddenly wanted to spread his wings (again, for I used to work in offices for years before my WAH venture) and rejoin the “real” working world. The availability of a tremendous opportunity for career growth added to this desire, so I went for it.

And here I am, back in an office, interacting with “those” people, sharing space, dressing up (even showering), and joining the queue of proletarians commuting to work. Do I regret this change? No, not at all…except for the time spent on all of the above. Precious time lost to necessity that I used to have to spend on other things…like that laundry list of tasks and chores I lamented about at the start of this…well, ah, lament.

That’s one of the reasons I produced this video:

How to...Find the Time and Balance



And one of the reason I have started walking and talking with a video camera in my hand again. Firstly, I enjoy walking (do it everyday!), and as most of you know, I kind of like to talk too. Also, with my time restraints, multitasking may be my only option left, save for voluntary retirement…but I’m not ready for that yet.

As a matter of fact, I love what I am doing—managing people, helping them grow, mentoring and developing them. Leading and shaping minds as an exemplar—an extension of Mike Foster and this blog and my video site, only without all the green tea and missing hair videos.

Besides having to get used to commuting back into the office world again, I have had to embrace and understand a new generation of workers—call them the X, Y, Z-er’s…with a few Boomers tossed in for good measure. And while the more things change the more they stay the same, I understand that if you do not try to adapt to this multi-faceted new workforce you have a good chance of being passed right by.

That was on my mind during a recent walk:

Walking and Talking with Mike: Managing the Generations



That wasn’t too much of a whine fest, was it?

Actually…oops, hold on, cell phone…and instant message, oh, and my email just froze up.

Yes? Be right there! Wait, hello? No, hold please….

I gotta go…


Until next time…

peace,

Mike