New Year, New Me!
Happy New Year, yachties! I'm writing to you from the sunny but also rainy islands of the Caribbean. Whilst covering the boat for the fourth time today, due to squally weather I started thinking about goals - unrelated, but I thought it would make for a great post. We have a fresh slate and an opportunity to start the year strong and create new positive habits. I will talk about goals from the perspective of a crew member.
I never used to be someone who set goals, I used to just wing it. To be honest, goals kind of scared me, it was a commitment, and if I couldn't achieve them I would be a failure, so I didn't even try.
Only in the past couple of years did I learn the value in setting goals. Only instead of calling them goals I call them intentions. It takes the pressure off. The idea for me is to set an intention for something, and it simply gives me a direction to head in. For ease, in this post I'll call them goals.
Goals give you something to aim at, it gives you something to do when you don't know what to do, and it gives you a sense of purpose.
When it comes to setting goals, I like to break them down as much as possible. I like to set a goal with a timeline in mind, I then like to write out what I need to do to achieve that goal. I can then set smaller daily, weekly or monthly goals, which will help me achieve the larger goal.
Given that I am a yachtie, I don't create large time commitments because you never know what a week onboard is going to look like. Something like 10 - 30 minutes a day is usually doable.
Goals are personal, and I encourage you to set your own goals instead of doing what the group says you should do. I will speak about three, of what I believe are fundamental life pillars. Balancing these three pillars is vital for a happy life, and therefore provide a great framework for thinking about goals.
Career Goals
Yachting provides a lot of opportunity for growth, and the path is quite clearly laid out. In short, you do courses, you work hard, you gain experience, and you move up. Unlike in shore based careers, on yachts you can move up quite quickly. Seeking a promotion is a common goal to have in yachting, and if that is your goal this year, think about what you need to do in order to be considered for promotion.
This may include doing courses, studying and working harder. Those are fairly straight forward, but nonetheless important now. Something that I think is a little less straightforward is the mindset shift that needs to happen for you to be considered for a promotion.
You need to be able to tackle your job lists while at the same time keeping the whole operation in mind. This means you know what pace to be working at, balancing efficiency and quality , it means you know which jobs to prioritise and it means you take initiative to do jobs you haven't been directly asked to do but you know need to be done.
Having this kind of mindset shows your HOD that you are ready to operate at a higher level because you are already thinking in a way that more senior crew have to think.
Health and Wellbeing
Evaluate your physical fitness, and review the past years exercise routine or lack thereof. Physical fitness is the foundation of pretty much everything we do, it contributes to our overall well being. Working on boats most of us are on our feet a lot, potentially lifting heavy objects, often working long shifts, so for us physical fitness is pretty much a necessity.
Be realistic about your exercise goals, it can be near impossible to get in a 60 minute gym session whilst on trip, but 15-30 minutes is more likely. Personally I tend to do more weight training when I don't have guests on, and when we do have guests on I try to do yoga everyday. Yoga has been incredibly beneficial for me. I do more restorative or Yin yoga when I'm on a trip because my muscles need that stretch and that relaxation. It helps my body stay loose and helps my muscles recover.
All forms of exercise have been shown to have positive effects on mental health, something which takes serious strain working on yachts. Because our industry is fast paced and demanding, we need to prioritise our mental health. This is a topic that here at Compass Rose Crew take very seriously and you will often find me mentioning it in my posts. It is something that we are all quite passionate about. Having had my own battles with stress and anxiety, I am always wanting to help those and offer advice on ways to manage it.
My top tools for maintaining and improving my own mental health have been: physical exercise, journalling, meditation, and Yoga Nidra . Journaling is a personal favourite and something I would recommend to everyone. Writing provides an opportunity for you to contemplate and really spend some time thinking about how you are feeling, and what is causing certain emotions in you. It helps bring awareness to the things that are causing you mental stress, that way you can find the triggers and hopefully alleviate the stress.
Meditation is also a great way to manage stress, however it might not be for everyone. Particularly when you first start meditating it can be quite frustrating, and therefore have the opposite effect. Meditation gives me perspective, it reminds me that life is bigger than just the daily stresses of yacht life.
Yoga nidra or Non-sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) is an incredible practice for relaxing the body and the mind. Guided sessions can be found easily on Youtube. Yoga Nidra or NSDR is a practice that uses different types of breathing as well as a shifting of awareness throughout the body (a body scan), to bring your mind and body into a deep state of rest. It sounds quite airy fairy, but don't knock it till you try it, the science is there. The scientists call it NSDR, and it's an extremely effective practice particularly if you are not getting enough sleep at night.
Relationships
Maintaining relationships whilst working on yachts is not the same as for landlubbers. It is very likely that you will go months without seeing your best friends, family or partners. This doesn't mean that you can still maintain and even enrich these relationships. I wont get into too much detail on how because I have discussed it in a previous post.
However I think relationships are often missed when people speak about their goals which is why I wanted to bring it up here. Having relationship goals is just as valid as career goals. Relationship goals could be to connect more with your family or friends, put more effort into communication and making plans when possible. It could also mean you spend some time learning about relationships, there is a wealth of valuable information on relationships out there.
Our relationships are extremely important and often form the backbone of who we are as individuals. Humans are social creatures, not lone wolves, we thrive together, not alone. So take your relationships just as seriously as you take career, finance, and your own health.
Conclusion
Goals can vary far and wide, for me: Relationships, Career and Health are three fundamental pillars to my life. Working on yachts requires a different approach to working on these three pillars. I find setting goals or intentions valuable because I always know where I want to be, and what I need to be doing to get there. Things don't just happen by themselves, if you want a good relationship with your partner or family and friends you need to put effort in, if you want a prosperous career you need to put effort in, and if you want to be healthy you need to put effort in, it's as simple as that.