North Face of Mt. Everest (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sometimes seeing a goal comes naturally because it’s just something we know we want to do.
Sometimes giving ourselves permission to actually achieve that goal takes a bit of courage and commitment.
Eventually giving ourselves permission comes.
The pickle? The thing that I know I get stuck on the most: creating a map.
In other words: seeing where I want to go and knowing I can get there are two things.
Taking steps without a map?
Not so doable.
So one of the ways that I’m finding I am able to make the most of moments and feel accomplished is by
creating a map of steps that are doable today, even when the goal is as biggie huge as climbing Mt. Everest, which takes most teams a few years.
Creating the map.
English: Map to illustrate Col A. S. Waugh paper on Mt Everest and Deodanga (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s actually not just one map.
It may end up being several hundred mini maps.
But each mini map becomes invaluable because each step we take that is doable now is one more piece along the walk toward the goal we seek to achieve.
No step insignificant or small.
No step unnecessary.
All matter.
All give meaning to the right now moment and help us see how the pieces of the puzzle connect.
So for the right now, without going into a long drawn out explanation of how I create a map, ask yourself this question: what is one goal that keeps coming to mind of something I’d like to achieve.
Write that down, whatever it is.
Then pretend for a few moments there were no limits of time, resources or ability.
Write down what you see are the necessary steps to achieving your goal.
For example: I’ve got my eye on researching a collection that comprises 28,000 documents.
Given the fact the library where this collection is maintained is opened four days a week, six hours a day, that’s 24 hours a week I could access these documents.
Say I can read 10 pages an hour (some pages are very lengthy), that’s 60 pages a day max, 240 pages a week max.
And over the coarse of 48 weeks (given 4 weeks for holidays and vacation), that’s approximately 11,520 pages a year.
Or roughly 2.43 years at that pace and rate I will need to walk through all 28,000 documents.
Now, that’s a very modest simple and perhaps not completely practical map given all the other demands on my time.
But at least, minimally, it’s a sense of modest structure.
Scaling way back though, I’ve created maps for simpler things like when I needed to:
1. open up a checking account
2. find an apartment
3. set up a blogsite
And so on.
And with each ‘thing’ I needed or wanted to do, I had to create a map of doable steps that I felt safe taking.
Because no map of steps, no matter how accurate they are, will feel safe to you if the steps you create are not practical.
If I’m deeply honest with myself, I’m not sure I will be able to accomplish reading 240 pages a week
Could be more like 120 (going in 2x a day instead of 4x/week)
So I may be looking more at a 5 year goal than a 2.5 year.
But the point is: creating a map of steps is not only a vital way to ensure you will begin to proactively start walking toward your goal, but making sure the steps are ones you will actually do is essential.
So that said, what works for you?
How are you creating a map to give your moments meaning?
Would value hearing. Til soon,
Tre
“The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always beore her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it. When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress.” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 426:6)