Why Focus on the Steps

​Dear Why Team member,
Happy New Year!
I hope this week’s message finds you well and encouraged.

Audio: 🗣

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Did you set A New Year’s Resolution? Have you started taking steps toward its achievement?
 
Last week we considered the power of setting fewer resolutions over a shorter timeframe and focusing more on the process and less on the outcome.
 
Why process more-so than outcome?
 
Every desired outcome has a process for its eventual achievement.
Five years ago, I began climbing mountains - literally, not just metaphorically - and while I have learned so much on my adventures, one lesson stands out far more than any other; the power in a single step.
 
As it may seem obvious, before I actually start climbing a mountain, I start the process of training and conditioning for the climb. The most significant occasion I trained for during a year’s timeframe was the climb of Mount Kilimanjaro; hours and hours of process to help fortify me and get me to the desired outcome. Even so, while on Mount Kilimanjaro, and on other mountains as well, I have had the thought, when looking up at Summits that are so far away, how is it possible?
 
Zig Ziglar once said his doctor told him to lose 50 pounds. Zig realized he couldn’t quickly lose 50 pounds, but he could lose 2 pounds a week for 25 weeks. Jim Rohn once said, you can’t change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.
 
This week let’s consider shifts in direction and the power of individual steps.
 
Looking up the mountain, at the beginning of our 1:00am start for the Summit of Kilimanjaro on day 7 of the climb, in 5 degree windchill, I saw climber lights from headlamps that went straight up forever until they mingled with the stars; there was no end in sight. And after hours of climbing, the view remained the same, you could not sense any progress, other than to now look down the mountain and see lights that went on forever from below me. The freezing weather combined with no visual end in sight, froze my mind all the more on the process. All I focused on, was taking another step, and then another. On that amazing morning, after 6 1/2 hours of climbing, we reached the Summit at 19,341 feet; achieved literally one step at a time.
 
We humans so underestimate the power of consistent small actions to achieve large results. So many of us, either in our impatience, or our unwillingness, to keep on keeping on - miss out on how much more life has to offer.
 
So, let’s take a closer look at your process that will help you reach your desired outcomes; let’s consider your first steps at the beginning of each new day. Many know that the first horse out of the gate has an advantage on the track. Consider how you come out of your gate in the morning. If you haven’t already, establish or re-establish a disciplined routine you follow each morning. A routine that gets you up, moving and progressing. Consider the sequence of your morning activities - are they solid - could they be improved? Write them down, plot them out and notice all the more the power that comes from hitting your marks consistently every morning.
 
Each step is no small thing - as those steps make up the course of your life. Notice how empowered morning disciplines improve your attitude and propel you throughout your day.
 
To reach new heights in 2021, become all the more attentive to your daily steps. Are your current steps taking you in the direction you want to go? Choose your target, take aim and attend all the more to each step you take each and every morning.
And by year-end, you will look back and marvel at how far you have come.

Make it a great week -
One step at a time!
 

​Steve Luckenbach ​