What I learned about consulting from dirt biking

For nearly two decades, my family had a tradition. It began a number of years even before I was born. Each August, my parents would pack up our 70's style motorhome full of cream soda pop, sleeping bags and tarps loaded with firewood all tied together with yellow rope; my two older brothers and I would sit together in swivel chairs behind them as we drove for five hours to the exact same campsite, in the precise same campground where we would spend a week in the Rockies. Every half hour of the trip down, I would get the go-ahead from my mom to unbuckle from my seat on the couch and wobble to the back of the camper, amidst the sound of banging pots and pans in the cupboards, to climb over my parents queen-sized bed and peek out the back window. I was responsible for confirming the trailer with our five dirt bikes was still attached and steady in tow.

I grew up in a car seat strapped to the back of my mom's Suzuki dirt bike. With the comforting smell of exhaust and campfire smoke, our family would set out on adventures almost every day we were there. We drove over cattle gates and up mountain faces, with over 100 square miles of trails under our tires. I don't imagine many four year-old girls are lucky enough to have their own dirt bike - to have their dad hold the back fender as they learned how to weave around the birch trees and bounce around the pot holes. For exactly fourteen summers, we would ride into the unknown each with just a backpack full of allen keys, fruit roll-ups, spare spark plugs, baloney sandwiches and a water bottle or two.

These are some of my most cherished childhood memories. And maybe not for reasons you expect. What I have learned from my experience riding dirt bikes growing up has taught me a lot about how to navigate out of the tough corners of my career as a management consultant.

Lesson #1 - When you get into trouble, give it more gas

My dad always told me, "Haylee if you go too slow, it's easy to lose your balance. You will feel all the bumps in the trail. If you feel are going to fall over, look where you want to go and give it more gas."

In consulting, things tend to happen quickly. Invariably, something is 'due yesterday' or multiple items are coined as 'top priority.' I have never permitted myself to slow down, allow an opportunity go by out of laziness or let my goals evaporate without any attention. While my ambition has enabled me to accomplish a lot in only a short period of time, admittedly there are drawbacks to being 'always on.' I struggle to relax unless it is time-boxed as part of a yoga class. If I find myself alone without enough activities or commitments to fill my time, I feel almost unbearably anxious and lonely. I don't know many other people who have had a panic attack from being on vacation, which is truthfully why I avoid taking them all together.

The point here is that it is important to find the right balance of momentum, so the small setbacks don't knock you over or cause you to stall in your career. Equally important, you can't run at full capacity, consistently and for extended periods of time without taking conscious breaks to pause to cool off and refuel.

Lesson #2 - Visualize where you want to go and you will get there

One-by-one, we departed our campsite in a theatrical parade of riders. We didn't know our destination, but we had ideas. A breezy cliff face to hang our feet off of. A deep gorge cut by a river to skip stones across. About 4km out in the wilderness, I would come up against a familiar fear. My greatest bit of discomfort. It was a steep climb up the side of a slippery, rutted-out hill hugged by trees and sharp embankments. My mom would get off her bike and come kneel next to me with one hand on my shoulder, sharing her words of encouragement as everyone waited. My dad would clamour up the slope scouting the best route for my small tires and kicking away the large loose rocks in order to keep me on course. With a gasp of air, I envisioned myself at the top of the hill. Clenching my teeth and punching the gas I rocketed forward in the direction of my dad's hand signals until I made it safely to the top. Occasionally I would fall, but I always made it up to the top with some help.

As on my current engagement, it can become easy to get wrapped up in today's problems and obstacles. At times they feel unsurmountable and the target future state becomes shrouded by negative thoughts. By visualizing what success will look like and how I will feel at the end of a project, I can put my mind and body at peace even it it is just momentarily. This technique is so powerful. Will you try it?

Lesson #3 - Stick together and never "go it alone"

The rule was clear: "If you get lost and lose the group, go back to the last place you both saw each other and wait." Riding in the mountains was not a low risk activity. My brother James got an angry wasp up his helmet and was stung five times. My dad broke his leg and had to ride 12km back in the rain. I sat on a red ant hill while my parents carried my dirtbike across a bog. Countless times, one of our bikes would break down in a remote area of the park where we would be left relying on collective troubleshooting skills when a quick Google search or wiki-how article was out of reach.

Working at a Big4 firm, I will never under-rate the value and personal security that comes from working in a team setting. When I feel like I am drowning, I do my best to fight the tendency to pull away from my co-workers and instead, ask for help or even just moral support. This skill has definitely come with experience. I hope you are as lucky as I am and are able to draw on the strength that comes from a close co-worker and friend who will help you weather even the worst of projects.

Lesson #4 - Know when to turn back and when to take cover

When we would ride, it was often for 6-7 hours at a time and there were a number of times when we found ourselves riding from a storm coming over the valley. I remember the sound of the leaves chattering and the cool, humid breeze that would run across my neck. My dad, who was always out in front of us, would put his hand up to indicate we were stopping to evaluate if we would turn back or if we were too far out and therefore needed to find a safe place to hunker down until the thunderstorm passed over us.

In consulting, we take a project or deliverable in a certain direction based on information available at that time. Despite being referred to as 'the expert' - sometimes blindly believing it ourselves - we can forget that we too, are learning as we go and don't have all the information or answers. It's important to stop and ask, "Are we going in this direction because it's easier to stay on course and end with an okay result than it is to pivot all together despite that being the best for our client?" In the aviation industry, there is something called 'get-home-itis' where pilots see bad weather coming and should turn back or find a place to land, but they continue anyways because they ignore new information that challenges their initial choice of direction. This is a dangerous way of getting ourselves into trouble, so don't be afraid to stop and question if there is a better approach or course of action.

Lesson #5 - Remember to take time to enjoy the little things

Some aspects of my identity are very 'girly' some would say - I love dresses, flowers and I am afraid of bugs (maybe from being emotionally traumatized from the red ant emergency). I also happen to enjoy dirt biking, hiking and a wide variety of video games from Halo to Tales of Symphonia to Harvest Moon. Dirt biking taught me how much I love going fast. I vividly remember the logging road we would accelerate down for nearly ten minutes at top speeds in order to get to the trails. It was the best rush. One day we were all riding down this road going what felt like 60km an hour and I looked over to my left side to see my brother look at me with a puzzled expression. "Are you actually singing right now?!" he shouted over the roar of our bikes. I was shocked he was riding so close to me, but just giggled and kept singing as he shook his head and sped past me. I was happy enjoying the little things - watching the yellow and black butterflies drift between wildflowers in the fields next to the road. Sure, my brothers still tease me to this day, but it doesn't bother me because I was happy and making my own fun.

I take my work very seriously. Sometimes too seriously. I am not a surgeon and no one is going to die if the document I send to the client isn't formatted or even if they don't get the document at all. It's important to remember that there is more to life than work and if your primary source of stress is work, then find a moment here and there to really immerse yourself in something that brings you happiness. For me, maybe that means closing my eyes to sip my coffee and really enjoy it or to hold a kiss with my boyfriend just a moment or two longer in the morning when we say goodbye. The sum of all these small joys have the power to make a measurable positive difference in how you experience life.