Navigating the Terrain of the Moment

Hello all,

This week’s post is about the fluidity of effort and the value of clear goals.

I’ve been taking some short hikes this past week. Each time the effort has seemed different; alternatively hard, challenging, frustrating, easy, or glorious. Our Adirondack mountain hikes are buggy, muddy, rocky, steep and occasionally gentle with glorious views and lovely little running streams. So the terrain of the moment certainly influences how I am feeling, and whether I can breathe or need to stop and recover.

I’m doing this because I have a goal. Later in July I want to redo one of the 46 official High Peaks, this time along with my youngest grandson who will turn eight at the end of this month. I haven’t hiked an Adirondack High Peak in probably 20 years, so I’m trying to get stronger in preparation for that.

I'll be 20 years older and certainly slower when I do that hike in July, but I'll also be smarter and better equipped (looking at you waterproof hiking boots!). I'll be using hiking poles on the downhills to protect my knees, and I've learned the value of taking snack and drink breaks instead of pushing through till the top of the mountain like I used to do. I'll be a different person really, so it will be a different hike.

My goal, to be able to share that experience with my grandson, and hopefully set him on a lifetime path of loving the mountains, is one that means a lot to me. So I'll keep training.

Why am I telling all of you this?
Because our work lives and careers often take the same meandering paths as my hikes. And one day at work can be very different from the next day. Things that seemed easy two years ago might seem hard right now. Learning something new might seem more effortful this Wednesday than it did last Friday. A project that you could finish in a month years ago might take three months now because there are so many more customer considerations or integrations or approvals or procurement reviews. Things don't stay the same. Your relationships with your coworkers could seem more challenging or more glorious from week to week, and that is our lives, my friends. That is our lives.

It helps to keep focused on the goals. When we don't understand the goals, or don't believe in the goals every effort feels hard. When we know and are aligned with the goals most of us can push through those challenging times and really appreciate the easier times when we are making visible progress. When you are able to set your own goals, or collaboratively help shape the goals, well that's even more powerful.

So when you're the leader, make sure your team really gets the vision and goals. And when you're the team member, make sure you can get behind the goals.
Work can still be hard, but it might not feel as hard.

All the best,
Holly