I am going to start a series of blogs related to what you can do to invest in your overall knowledge and skill in various areas of your life by simply doing the hobbies you love. Since our site is primarily geared toward topics of the outdoors and survivalism; most of the areas I will cover will pertain to these things. These types of investments are vitally important if you consider that they can end up doing as much for you, if not more than a very expensive diploma. The best degrees I have received were from the school of hard knocks which basically means learning how to teach yourself knowledge and skills. (not to mention the countless times I have gotten myself out of a pickle like getting really lost in the woods).
Investing in yourself through self teaching can propel you through a lifelong pursuit of your calling/career, and will enable you to have more security for your future. For example…let’s say you go into an interview and you walk into the office of your potential employer and notice the boss has a picture of himself fly-fishing. You ask him about the picture and the next thing you know, he’s forgotten all about the interview and starts telling you fly-fishing stories. Well if you just so happen to know some things about fly-fishing; you may have got yourself a job on the merit of establishing good rapport. That’s just one way in which you can use your hobbies as an advantage in certain life situations.
The first thing you should do when exploring hobbies is make an assessment of what your interested in and write them down in a notebook. For each hobby you have, list all the knowledge skills that are associated with each thing. For example:
Backpacking:
1. Map Reading and orienteering (not getting lost and NOT 100% Relying on a GPS)
2. How to fend off an attack from an angry bear
3. How to select the best gear for the money (Mountain Hideaway can help you with this)
4. Interesting places to backpack and what time of year
5. How and what to cook
6. How to start a fire
7. How to survive in wilderness environments
Climbing:
1. Climbing techniques
2. Gear needed
3. Ropes, knots, and safety issues
4. How to belay
5. places to climb
6. Traditional climbing (Use of cams as anchors) or Sport Climbing (use of bolts as anchors)
7. Multi-pitch climbing
As you can see there are a very wide array of knowledge and skills associated with just one interest or hobby. In reality I could probably add over 50 different things to these listed examples. You can do research by utilizing the Internet, going to your local library, and getting plugged in to local communities of people with your interest. I will post my first topic soon so keep checking our site. I will also be putting together some gear reviews and if you have any suggestions of things you would like to see, as always contact me at kerry@themountainhideaway. And one last thing….The employees as Mountain Hideaway would sincerely like to thank all of our readers, customers, and shop bums for making this a place for not just another business transaction, but a place built on relationships. Thanks for reading!
