Tacking toward your goals

I picked up a great book that I took with me on vacation called The Way of Adventure: Transforming Your Work with Spirit and Vision. I ended up buying a highlighter in Mexico City so I could start highlighting choice snippets.

One of the bits I liked was a quote from deep sea explorer Bob Ballard, talking about the importance of having a goal and the fact that there is usually no direct route there.

Even after you have found a star on the horizon, you realize there is no direct path. There are always options. Each day you weigh opportunities; you can pick A, B, C, or D. None of these may be pointing at your goal, but you pick the one that's closest to it. You go down that path until it's necessary to tack back the other way. That's because if you continue on the first path, eventually you are going to be moving away from your goal. Each tack provides you with a new perspective, a new reality. The important thing is to be alert, stay flexible, and keep on sailing.

You have that marker buoy out there and you are tacking on it. It is helping you make decisions. And what's amazing is that you get there! The great realization is that you can get there. And that reinforces you to say, "Hell, anything is possible!"

That's so true. There's this myth that the path to our passions should be clear and direct. The reality is, it takes constant tacking. We take action, it carries us forward, and then at some point we realize we need to adjust our direction. Sometimes it's only slight. Sometimes it's big. The beauty of the sailing analogy is that as long as we have the goal in sight, it's still taking us in that direction. We don't have to have it "exactly right."

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

Comments

[Chris Bailey]

Absolutely, Curt. It's along the same lines of my latest post on the act of professional wandering. I've always tried to adhere to the Tolkien quote "Not all those who wander are lost." It's an act of faith, knowing that if you stick with your core principles and an appreciation of the greater powers that exist in this universe, you'll find your way to where you are meant to be.