Gearing Up for Adventure

Adventure, and not the holidays, are high on my mind these days, as I will be taking off on a United flight one week from today to meet my daughter Molly in Hawaii.

Molly is a second grade teacher on a tiny island in the South Pacific called Majuro. We will meet on Dec. 19 in Hawaii, half way between Majuro—the capital city of the Marshall Islands—and Easthampton, Massachusetts, and we’ll stay for three weeks in a friend’s house on Kona. We plan to snorkel, hike and explore.

So, instead of decking my halls and dreaming about a white Christmas, I’ve been packing my sun block, flip flops and my grandmother’s Hawaiian skirt. I’m also packing my laptop and some of my file folders. As I did last year, I will combine work and play on the trip.

I’ll be writing a manuscript for a client and managing other client projects as well. This year, I will have reliable WiFi and use of my telephone; last year, on Majuro, the capital island of the Marshall Islands, I was in a techno black-out zone, and that was cool in its own way—once I got over the shock and anxiety of unplugging.

You may remember that I visited Molly last winter in the Marshall Islands. I stayed for a month. I worked on several client’s manuscripts while away, and I also penned a series of blogs. We repeatedly visited an island called Eneko; we received an actual message in a bottle from a helicopter pilot; went on a helicopter ride; and met the former president of Majuro at an island barbeque.

This year, I hope we have even a fraction of the kinds of exploits and learnings that we had last year. I’m excited to learn about the culture of the island of Kona and some of its mystery and history. And I hear there is an active volcano, and we might see molten lava!

I am all about learning these days. Keeping my mind open and tuned in to what’s new and different is what allows me to do my best work for clients. Through listening, absorbing and understanding, I get to know a client and his or her preferences as well as the overall organization mission and goals.

Learning is not for the uneducated. No, it’s for people who understand that there is always a new way to grow, and that the more you grow and develop, the better you can be.

More on that topic in two weeks!