Is “Because it’s there” a good enough reason to do something? Do you want to do it to become wealthier, to be more secure, to learn something or just to get to the top?

Prepare

You need to work out what you resources you need, you need to work out a rough schedule as well. You also need to make sure you’re up to the task and have the right team around you.

Plan Your Route

A map isn’t a requirement if the terrain is easy and recognisable. The more complicated it is, and the more unknown it is, the more you need  to think about where you’re going.

Take Notice Of Paths

Paths are only there because people have done it before. You can use known good paths to your goal, you can use them as rough guides to the direction you should be heading or you can ignore them altogether. The only thing to remember is the well-trodden path is well-trodden for a reason. Is it the right reason?

Stop And Enjoy The View

Enjoy the journey. If you plough on to your summit, you can miss out on what you’ve achieved so far, and there’s nothing better for your motivation than to take stock of how much you’ve done. Take the time to resurvey your surroundings. Is there a better path from your current position that you didn’t spot until now? Are you on schedule?

The Summit

Take time to enjoy it while you are there. If it doesn’t feel satisfying, was it challenging enough?

Other Peaks

Once you’ve reached the summit you wanted, or even before you get there, are there any other peaks worth going to? You’ve already done most the hard work, so sometimes it’s only a minor detour to acheive something in addition to your original plan.

Shortcuts

There are no real shortcuts. The shortest routes are steeper, more dangerous and more difficult. The easier routes are longer, but safer.  You just have to work out how to balance the two.

The Journey Down

Even once you’ve achieved your goal of the summit, there’s still a lot of work to do to finish the job off properly. It’ll be easier than getting to the top, but it won’t be plain sailing.

Thanks to Brian Drought who wrote the first draft of this, Image from Totem staff

Tea still plays an enormous part in everyday British life, and nowhere more so than at work. Nowadays, other beverages are catching up fast. Coffee is the frequently offered alternative but the range of hot drinks available stretches from the sublime to the ridiculous. It doesn’t matter what you, the boss, or that odd lady who does the payroll drinks, as long as you drink something.

Leaving aside the health benefits of drinking tea (green, herbal, camomile or otherwise), or even of just drinking fluids, a cup of tea is an important psychological tool.

Chinese philosopher T’ien Yiheng said “Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world” and he makes a good point. Stuck trying to solve an intractable puzzle? Give yourself space, go and make a cup of tea. You won’t stop thinking about the problem, but you will break out of the knot you’ve formed in your head. Stuck doing a boring, repetitive task? Reward yourself with cups of tea at appropriate intervals, motivate yourself by thinking “After another 200 rows of customer records analysed, I’ll have a chai latte”.

Tea is also a fine relationship builder. Need to speak to someone about a sensitive issue? Invite them to make a cup of tea and join you somewhere private. Upset someone a few desks away? Make them a “Ginger and Gunpowder Zinger” and take one over as a peace offering. Use it to establish rapport and break the ice at meetings, everyone feels better chatting over a cup of tea.

Establish a community within your company using tea. Offer to ‘make the tea’ occasionally and use it as an excuse to chat to others at their desk. Include everyone nearby in your rounds, leaving someone out of a tea run is akin to being stood up on prom night. Encourage everyone, including the boss, to do a tea run. It takes ten minutes and leaves everyone in the office a little happier.

A tea bag costs about a penny, less in bulk. Even adding in milk, sugar (to taste) and the cost of heating the water, a cup of tea costs less than 3p. In a company of average tea drinkers (3 cups a day), that’s 45p per employee per week.

Is 45p a week worth it for a more relaxed, more motivated, more tactful, friendlier employee?

Photo from Ben Haldenby’s flickrstream under Creative Commons