My partner and I and the dog are going on the road for most of August. No, we will not be tying the dog to the roof a la the Romney Family Vacation nightmare. She gets a nice comfortable seat in the back. But the flow of info from here should reduce considerably. Many of you will not be disappointed but restrain from outward expressions of joy. At least til we’re gone!!
The “trip” will take us through Montreal and Quebec City which is not much to speak of unless you actually get off the highway. But once we get near Quebec City the outlook brightens considerably. We get to roll along the nothern St. Lawrence up near the Gaspe and then dip down through Northern New Brunswick.
On the way to Fredericton we get off the super-hiway and take the scenic River Drive along the mighty St. John River and just before we get to our stop for the night we meet an old friend. Mr Giant Potato Head, emblematic of all things potatoish and good about New Brunswick and agriculture on the East Coast.
A night in the historic but renovated Lord Beaverbrook ( a Ramada now I think) and half a day in Fredericton before we beetle across Nova Scotia to meet our destiny and our ferry at North Sydney, a speck on the tip of Cape Breton Island.
At least that is the plan. I’ll give a mini-report on our progress from Fredericton.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and the author of “The Walker on the Cape”, a mystery novel set in Grand Bank, NL. For more information please visit www.walkeronthecape.com
So here’s an idea. Take a year off from work. Before you say that’s impossible just ask yourself one question… Would you like to have a year to do anything that you wanted? If the answer is yes you are not alone. According to a Harris Decima survey in 2011 almost 75 percent of Canadians would like to do just that if nothing stood in their way. And half of those surveyed thought regularly about doing just that.
Taking a year off, a sabbatical or a gap year is not just for kids who want to take a break before starting college or their working career. Thousands of everyday Canadians are actually making their particular dream come true by planning and then taking a year off from their regular working lives. Some people are using this year to go back to school and finish a degree or take a new one in interior design or romance languages. Others are travelling around the globe and visiting exotic destinations. Still others are staying closer to home but learning and practicing a new skill like woodworking or carpentry.
But it’s impossible for me, right? Wrong. Many of the same people noted above are just ordinary workers who have come up with a plan to make this particular dream come true. So what are the barriers? For most they are time, money, commitments, and their careers.
The time and commitment questions may be the trickiest, mostly because we have other people in our lives completely or partially dependent on us. That makes it difficult but not impossible to accommodate but where there is a will to do it there is always a way. Small children still to be cared for but grandparents and other family members can be approached to help. Older children may not mind as much if their routine is interrupted so that they can go with you on a tour of Europe or Africa.
Money, first of all to pay your on-going bills and then to pay for your sabbatical pursuits is also a challenge but some employers offer a 4 over 5 program where they will bank 20 percent of your salary during a 4 year period and allow you to get 80 percent of your salary during the 5th. It will be a sacrifice but think about the benefit. Also a special savings program where you put aside an additional $50 or $100 a month will give you that extra cash you need for your time off activities. It’s not easy, but doable.
Finally you will need the active support of your employer to make this all happen. But more and more employers are realizing the benefits that they get when an employee goes away to recharge and re-invigorate themselves on a year off. They would much rather have you go away happy and come back happier than to stay and be miserable. Just make sure that your career will still be there when you get back.
So taking a year off is possible. If you want it enough to work to make it happen.
This post first appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and author of The Walker on the Cape, a mystery set in Grand Bank, NL. For more information please visit:
There are many things that bug me at work including whiners and constant complainers and critics. I also hate people who don’t know proper meeting etiquette. You know, the ones who arrive unfashionably late and leave early and then spend their few precious moments with us on their Crackberry. Or the others who suck the life out of meetings by dominating the discussion and debating every single issue on the table, just for spite, it seems. Hate is a strong word, but they are getting close.
I actually save my greatest disdain for those people at work who offend my senses, particularly my nose and my ears. I can react a little strongly to those who offend my sight as well, but since I am not particularly well-dressed myself I can let a lot of that go. I only draw the line at clothing that is too tight or provocative for daily office use. We are not trying to get picked up here, people. And as someone once said about spandex, which is never appropriate at work except for life guards, you can stuff it in but it is going to come out somewhere.
Fashion failures aside most of my pet peeves at work usually relate to people who try and spread their lifestyle over mine at work. Perfume and cologne are great but not in close quarters and I welcome the trend to scent free workplaces. I am not allergic, just easily offended. But what really irks me is what other people bring to work to eat in common areas or re-heat in the microwave. I won’t list everything but fish of any kind is the worst offender and while that first whiff of microwave popcorn smells divine, the fake butter makes the air rancid a few minutes later. Remember we are stuck in this place together for 8 hours a day!!
I also reserve special distaste for people who have not realized that we work in an open concept office environment. We have no walls any more to protect us from your screaming matches with your 12 year old who got picked up by the police, again. We also left the 70’s years ago and if we want to listen to classic rock we can take out our 8 track from the basement. Finally please stop eating those nuts and cruncheroos before I come over there and…. You get the picture.
I realize that everyone is not perfect, even me. But can we please make an effort? Please????
This post originally appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
Mike Martin is an Ottawa freelance writer and author of The Walker on the Cape. For more information please visit www.walkeronthecape.com
One of the best things about writing a book is to have others read it and talk about it. Some people who have read The Walker on the Cape have sent me their comments about the book. I am very grateful to all those who have written so far. Please continue to do so.
Here are some of the readers comments from www.walkeronthecape.com
Readers Comments
“The Walker on the Cape is a great read. I love the way that the ocean and the fog are almost characters in the story. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down until I finished. Congratulations on a great story.”
Andrew Redmond
Ottawa, Ontario
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From the first to the last page I was taken into the story of Winston Windflower. The case of the Walker on the Cape keeps you guessing until the last page. Along the way you get to meet the people in Windflower’s life and you get a glimpse of the community he has settled in. A really good read.
Marilyn Martin
Burin, NL
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I really enjoyed the book. I could not put it down until it was read. The development of the main character was well done as was the use of the weather to set the mood of the story. It could easily be turned into a play.
Doug Richardson
Grand Bank, NL
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This book is a great Canadian read, as comforting as beef stew on a cold winter night. There’s a sweetness and charm that makes the book very personal and I can’t wait for the next one. Fabulous work.
Lorraine Eggens
South Mountain, Ontario
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I just finished reading “The Walker on the Cape”. It was a pleasure to read. I sure hope we will hear more from Sgt Winston Windflower.
Deborah Ann Blum
Ottawa, Ontario
I guess I always knew that it really was better to give than to receive but recently I have been reminded yet again of the power of this simple action. When I published my second book, “The Walker on theCape”, my first full book of fiction I was a little fearful of what the reaction would be for this work in the great wide world. This was a stretch for me. I have been comfortably writing about work and workplaces for the last fifteen years and I had already published a self-help book on this topic which was generally well-received.
I had written a few short stories, mostly for myself that I shared with family and a couple of close friends but now I was out there in a genre, mystery and crime, that had many, many excellent writers, and just as many ardent critics. I feared that my work wouldn’t be seen as worthy to share the same bookshelves as these other authors, and that readers would see me as a fraud or a charlatan. With the active support of my life partner and children I finally took the plunge, got a publisher and set my little paper boat off on its voyage.
Having been through the publishing process once I at least knew the ropes and where to submit my work to try and get attention but something inside of me suggested a different approach that trying to cajole a handful of influential editors and reviewers to recommend my book. I would still do that but in addition it came to me that I should give my book away. Not all of the copies, obviously, my family and I still had to eat, but to give away copies of “The Walker on theCape” to a number of people without asking a lot in return.
So when my book came out I decided to purchase an extra 100 copies of my book at the discounted author’s price and to give them away. 25 copies to the usual suspects of book reviewers and editors as usual, but the other 75 I decided to give to friends, family and even to some strangers. To this second 75 I asked only that they read the book. If they liked it they could tell me. If they really liked it they could buy another copy and give it as a gift to a friend.
The most interesting thing that happened next was the reaction of the “non-business” people who received the book. My family were of course grateful to receive the book without a lot of conditions and pleadings to buy as many copies as possible. My friends, some of whom I had not seen in a long time were happy to receive the book and almost every single one contacted me to tell me that. Many of them immediately bought another copy and one person bought five so that he could repeat the magical experience with five others.
The hardest books to give away were the ones that I set aside to give people who I knew could not afford to buy them. Many did not want to admit this and I respect that. I was just trying to give a gift and perhaps they were not used to that in their day to day lives. I have decided to give the last few copies I have left to local libraries whom I’m hoping can make them available and free to more members of the public.
All in all this is and was a fabulous experience. Out of a small decision that I do not take credit for coming up with I have received smiles, thank you’s, encouragement and love. No amount of money could have bought this and it came about just because I decided to give something away. It truly is better to give than to receive.
Mike Martin is the author of “The Walker on the Cape” published by Baico Publishing. For more information please visit www.walkeronthecape.com
For the last ten years I have been working with a number of workplace experts (former managers and union leaders, current coaches and mentors) to try and build better workplace relationships. We have chosen to focus on unionized workplaces and the relationship between employers and their union representatives to see if we can improve their relationships and as a result lead to improved overall communication and increased overall trust and respect in the workplace.
The good news is that we have had some success. The bad news is that there is so much more work to do in this area. As a “posimist”, I try to be both optimistic and positive and I would much rather focus on our collective successes and what contributed to this success. So here are a couple of key elements that I have observed in these ten years of work.
No Bad Interventions
By the time that we get called into the workplace things are usually in pretty bad shape. But that’s okay because like the old story about “Ottawa”… we’re here to help. It would have been better to call us earlier but we start from the point of contact. Once we get involved, or even once management decides to act to get more help, things start to improve. There are no bad interventions in building workplace relationships and it’s never too late to start.
It Starts (and Ends) At the Top
A few years ago I was at a briefing session for the senior manager of an organization just before a special meeting with the union to start the discussions about building a better relationship. Some of the managers were grumbling that this was a waste of time and that the union didn’t really represent anybody and they were too difficult to deal with and so on. Finally the CEO stood up and asked would it better or worse for our bottom line to have a good working relationship with the union? Case closed. Senior managers have to lead the process, every process to build better relationships at work.
Start Small to Make Big Changes
Sometimes the problems seem so big and old and the people are so entrenched that it doesn’t seem like anything is possible. That’s the time to remember the answer to another question. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. If your department or workplace is not ready for major changes then start small with the ones they might be open to. If one section looks like it might want to change then why not let them go first. Give them some extra attention and resources and see where it goes. Maybe they will be successful and others will see their success and want that for themselves. Or try a small initiative system-wide and see how it goes. Start small and you just might find that maybe a year or two down the road that elephant has shrunk quite a bit.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and workplace wellness consultant. His latest book is a mystery set in Grand Bank, Newfoundland called The Walker on the Cape
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