Musings at Altitude

Some are really good at meticulously taking the steps that lead to a designed destination.

Others are anxious beyond belief, and every step that’s required is one additional step that prevents you from being at the destination.

I’m an origination and destination guy that is best suited for one giant leap that gets you from where you are today to where you need to be tomorrow.

I do realize that one giant leap to the destination rarely happens, but it’s enough to keep me wanting more of them.

Instead, most journeys require lots of methodical steps, many of which are critical but offer no real redeeming support to the “need to feel good about each step” challenge.

In many cases, its multiple steps before any positive feedback is received or any meaningful success data can be derived.

So, if you’re (like me) desperately and anxiously trying and wanting to go from here to there in the minimum number of steps possible (1 being optimum of course), what can you (meaning me) do to fight off those feelings of frustration and find joy in every single step along the way?

Some suggestions:

1. have multiple journeys going at one time; when one is working through the tedious steps along the way, another may be taking that initial leap or final step that brings the smiles
2. celebrate multiple milestones along the way; don’t wait to celebrate only at the end, but create joy and keep momentum by rewarding all those on the journey with you at multiple stops along the way
3. always have one journey that is so out there and so impossible (or so folks believe) to achieve that when things get methodical and relatively non-exciting on the most important journeys, folks can be distracted for a time with that impossible journey with an unbelievable destination
4. make sure you’re on the journey with fun people; there is nothing worse than being on a mundane path to a much-less-than-exciting destination with a bunch of people that decelerate rather than accelerate life; of course it’s not much better to be on an exciting journey to a nirvanic destination with a bunch of people that drag you down and create much longer pit stops than needed along the way; fun people spend as little time as possible at the stops along the way and spend as much time as possible celebrating in route to that party at the end
5. find ways to change things up along the way to keep it exciting and interesting; do some “white water rafting” of sorts to challenge those on the journey
6. look for alternative routes that may accelerate your path to the destination; use pathfinders, those overly intuitive folks that find faster ways to the distant end, and let them play a key role of optimizing and minimizing the cost and time on the journey
7. keep your eyes on the horizon…spend as little time as possible looking down, watching those individual steps

Even with all this, it’s still frustrating that it takes so long to get to an important destination.

But at least it can be fun, challenging, rewarding, motivating, and stimulating along the way!