“We do not fail to achieve our goals due to obstacles, but from a clear path to lesser goals.”
When I heard this, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It explains a lot.
When a kid grows up in this neighborhood or that, with these parents or those (or none), what clear path do they see?
When you were growing up – what path did you see clearly?
When I was 11 my older brother went to Boy Scouts. So I did. I saw a path up the ranks – how to get to the next badge, and the next – and I followed that path to Eagle Scout.
When I was in middle school, my older brother got into a trade school for a high school. I saw a clear path to that trade school because he went there. How did he get in? I don’t know but I was going to copy him. I got in.
I settled in the carpentry class. I saw a clear path to being a carpenter and building additions and new homes because it was shown to me in that school. That’s the path I took.
There are myriads of paths a kid could take – but those were the ones I could see. I couldn’t the path to college, to being a doctor, or anything else.
There is so much that can be said about this idea. What paths are we making clear to our kids? What paths are we making clear to our employees? What path is clear to us now for the rest of our lives? How can we make a better path clear? Do we even need to see the whole path to begin to take it? Can we see the first step and imagine and design the next steps as we go?
Wow. What an idea.
What clear path do you see for you?
Done!
None of this is really new or difficult, but having it framed and reworded gives me more pause to understand. I am grateful for the people and events that brought me here to read this today.