You may or may not know this, but at one time in my life, I was a professional caretaker.
I would work for people who had enough resources to pay someone, such as my young self, to do all the things normal homeowners hate to do, like mowing, painting, weeding, planting, etc.
But I was also asked to do things that a normal person would never think of doing on their own property (because who has the time for that). I was asked to do things like rake the forest down to the moss as far as the eye can see, or pick
Life is funny and comes full circle. As a homeowner looking out at my plot of land, my kingdom some might say, I had this one thought come fluttering into my head one chilly November afternoon. “It would look nice if there were not so many dead trees and sticks laying in the forest; I should pick them up one day.”
What!? What a stupid thought. Am I so well off that the best thing I can think of to do with my time is to clean the two acres of woods around my house?
Yup, and on January 1, 2019, at 3 pm I started picking up sticks in the woods, and by 4 pm that same day I stopped and said. “Holy shit there are a lot of sticks in this forest!”
Now, where am I going with all this picking up sticks and wasting time making a place animals regularly us as a bathroom look neat and clean?
Having an idea, a goal is easy. You enjoy the thought of accomplishing it, and when you turn that thought into action, you will soon find out that you severely underestimated the work and time that needs to go into achieving your desires.
Now that I know how much work it will take to have a clean woods, I am not motivated to go out and pick up a single stick. Because what the hell is one stick going to accomplish in a 2-acre woods?
But if I break up my woods into little sections instead of looking at the whole, I become more motivated to accomplish the goal of picking up sticks. It becomes more manageable, instead of looking at the whole you focus on one little 10×10 section.
When I look back in a year I bet you I will see a difference, and I will see that just picking up a few sticks will have a significant impact if I stick with it…sorry didn’t mean to do that.
The journey can look daunting when you look at the end from where you are standing, and it is easy to think “where do I even begin? There is no way I can do this.”
Start where you are and pick up one stick; and then a few more, and then a few more.
Focus on the process at hand, and the goal will come. It may take you longer than you once thought, but if you stick with it long enough, you will reach your goal.
One section, one stick at a time.
Your Fitness Sherpa,
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