Next Steps
Been wandering in the woods lately? You have to be careful where to step and how to manage not getting tripped up in the process. Fallen trees. Jagged rocks. Briar bushes. Narrow paths. All require carefulness in watching where and how to make a path forward. The immediate requirement is looking – even searching – for the next step. Safely. Cautiously. Consciously. Our default mode, while making forward progress, is planning for the terrane ahead and planting one foot at a time.
Your overall goal in the walk may simply be reaching a chosen destination – or it may be the aerobic challenge of an exercise workout – or it may be climbing a steep ascent to view a special lookout. Your walk in the woods is the task. Your purpose is the Thematic Goal – what you hope to accomplish. Along the way of the winding path, you face key decisions – reminiscent of Robert Frost’s poem, ‘The Road Less Travelled.’ You have to make a conscious decision which path in the woods will help you best reach the goal – and you think through decisions by asking yourself questions.
When discerning the next steps in life, we must think beyond just one step at a time. For instance, we may ask ourselves a series of ‘If – then’ questions to qualify our decisions – such as:
- If we accomplish one thing during the next 3 months, what will it be?
- If we do not accomplish this ____________, we will have failed.
- What is unique to this season and unlike others?
These questions prompt us to consider short-term goals and mid-course corrections to help us meet the ultimate objective.
Recently, I shared that our Thematic Goal – our ‘rallying cry’ – currently is Clarify the Purpose. Simplify the Process. I confess that I can be ‘scatter prone’. Marching in different directions at the same time. Honing in on our Mission/Vision requires me to consider the short-term steps and the mid-course corrections needed along the path to the summit. Therefore, considering carefully my next steps will help me create strategies to reach to ultimate goal.
In my personal life, I recognize the need to set some key priorities now to reach personal and financial goals. Then those priorities will dictate how I allocate my time and energy – and where I focus my attention. When the surprising changes or transitions appear, I can acclimate better when I am clear on the Ultimate Goal – and then re-calibrate the Next Steps.
John Sculley, CEO of Pepsi-Cola, recounted a meeting in New York with a young upstart of a new technology company – whose name was Steve Jobs. Jobs had tried repeatedly to recruit Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to come and run Apple. No amount of money seemed to be enough to persuade Sculley. In desperation, Jobs finally asked a straight-forward, probing question to Sculley, “Do you want to spend your life making sugared water, or do you want to help us change the world?”
It was as if he had been given a stiff gut-punch, recalled Sculley. An impulsive question of immense significance had bored its way into the interior of his being. It penetrated his heart- and changed his life. He soon moved his family to California to work for Jobs at Apple Computer.
Next steps are provoked by penetrating questions – as Jesus demonstrated often. He was an agitator of the soul, provoking people to think and make mid-course corrections. His words had capacity to zing their way to the heart and change a life.
What are your next steps? What words of Jesus are prompting a response to adjust your hike through life?
Think about it!