A client recently told me how valuable my story of “getting fit along the way” has been to their efforts. The client wasn’t the first to remind me of the story, so I called my dad, the source of the story, and told him that his advice was being taken (not something I tell my dad a lot) and thought I’d share it here.
As my father tells it, he was driving in Maine and stopped at a scenic overlook to overlook the scenic, and saw a bicyclist who had clearly come quite a distance – his bike was equipped with bags and gear and looked like it had been ridden quite a bit. My dad struck up a conversation, as he does, and asked the rider where he’d come from. “California” was the reply, “I biked cross country.” After expressing amazement, my dad asked the reasonable question, “how did you prepare for such a long trek?” The reply was simple, “I got fit along the way.”
The rider prepared for the ride by riding. The first day he didn’t get too far, was sore and made some mistakes. The second day he made fewer mistakes, went a little further and hurt a little less. By the time he was ready for the endeavor he’d completed it.
A lot of organizations (and a lot of people) are afraid to act until they are fully and completely ready for the action. Out of concern for going off half-cocked, they don’t go off at all. The choice gets seen as one between plowing ahead blindly and not plowing ahead until every detail is ready and secure. This is a false choice.
While there is clearly wisdom in looking before one leaps, getting one’s ducks in a row and measuring twice so one only cuts once, there is also peril in paralysis. A concern about knowing every step and every action and having everything ready can lead to not doing anything at all. A more prudent approach is to set a destination, map a route, form a plan, and start.
The first steps of the action will be rough, they may not succeed and mistakes will be made. Look at those mistakes, make the needed adjustments, and do the next thing. And then do it again. And again. By the time you figure out precisely what to do and how to do it, you will have reached your goal.
