Keep Your Eye On Today

A few years ago, my son and I decided we needed to have some father-and-son "bonding" time. Adam, my son, has a passion for hiking and backpacking, and so he convinced me to hike the 3165-foot Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. (Becky, my daughter, has a passion too. Her passion is dance. I don't, however, see any tutus in my future.)

A few days ago, Adam and I headed off on our journey to climb Mount Monadnock. From the ranger station at the bottom, the peak loomed more like Everest than Monadnock ... daunting, overwhelming. My son decided that the best way to bond was to take good old dad on the steepest trail.

As we started up the mountain, I decided to approach this task like I would any other goal. I broke down each of the elements of hiking into small parts (Kaizen). We had a map (plan), a trail to follow (direction), checkpoints (review), the correct supplies and equipment (support systems). With all this in place, I was able to focus on the path...and be mindful of the rocks, boulders, cliffs. Yes, cliffs. To Adam it was a trail.... (FYI, Adam was 22 years old at the time, had hiked the entire 2173 miles of the Appalachian Trail [solo, mind you], and was captain of the UMass Amherst Crew Team. His nickname was Mr. Cardio.) Nonetheless, I remained undeterred and vowed not to complain too much (or too loudly so that he could hear me), and I didn't focus on the pain I was confident I would be feeling the next day.

As we ascended, I kept reminding myself about the goal, and that any distance can be conquered by taking small steps. I didn't look too far ahead, I just kept moving... focusing on the next step, the next few feet.

Whenever we have a dream, a vision, a large goal, if we focus too much on the end result, the destination, we can become discouraged, frustrated, fearful. What we need to develop is the ability to focus on the goal and the steps we can take now, the steps we must take each day to arrive at our destination (goal). Sometimes we may stray from the trail; sometimes we may face obstacles. But, it is in pushing forward, one step at a time, that we Find A Way around the obstacle to find a better path.

Keep your eye on your goal for today and give it your best.

Find A Way

~ Dennis

P.S. Becky...that tutu should be XL.