Going Backward to Go Forward

Mt. Whitney, CA

Watercolor sketch

A flood of memories engulfed my thoughts during lunch today as I was reading in On The Edge:  The Art of High Impact Leadership by Alison Levine.  Alison has climbed the highest peak on each continent, including Mt. Everest, taught at West Point, and had a career on Wall Street.  Her life isn't boring!  

As she was relaying some thoughts regarding her climb of Everest, my mind slipped back to 1979 when I was invited to climb Mt. Whitney in California's Sierra Nevada Range.  Mt. Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states at an elevation of 14, 505 ft.  There are so many lessons to gain from climbing mountains and my climb of Mt. Whitney was was full of instruction, mainly about life.  I'll never forget the tedious 1,000 ft. near- vertical snow field that I inched my way upward using my pick ax to gain ground.  

In reading Alison's book, a paragraph jumped out at me today that is so true about life. Here it is:  A great fallacy regarding progress is that it is defined by constant forward motion in the same direction.  We assume that any steps in the opposite direction take us further from our goal.  Not true...Getting to the top of Mount Everest, for example, generally requires a great deal of time climbing backward----away from the summit.

The reason for the backward element to climbing is that there is no straight path to the top.  You go up and down and around and back and forth.  And the metaphor for life is found here.   We set our goals, but the route to achieving them often is anything but straight ahead and to the floor.  The route seems so often full of descents and circuitous paths.  You wonder if you will ever get there.  Discouragement and loss of vision can be snags to catch you along the climb.  By taking it moment by moment, working on the task at hand, and being patient with the process you gain ground.  It is all about process and adaptability, being flexible and learning lessons as you go.  It is about trusting in the faithfulness and sovereignty of God.  It is about acknowledging that you don't go it alone. Others provide invaluable support and teamwork.  And it is about keeping in view how worthwhile attaining the goal/the summit will be.  Finish lines are awesome!  Here's one finish line that beats them all....

          I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for 

          which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

                                                                                                             Philippians 3:14

                                                                                                             NLT

Slow and Steady Wins!

Take a moment to remember this famous story from Aesop's Fables....the one about the tortoise and the hare.  For those who are younger than baby boomers, that is turtle and rabbit.  It is one of my favorite stories.  Why?  Because it has such an awesome truth to anything you do in life!  This story challenges and inspires me to live by the axiom "slow and steady wins the race".  

As an artist, I am challenged to show up and do the work.... to create something of value every day at my easel.  In reading Austen Kleon's newest book "Show Your Work"  he underscores the significance of focusing on what can be done in this day, not on what needs to be accomplished in this month or year (emphasis mine).  He reasons that we can wrap our heads around the time frame of a day, but get lost in a year's length.  

Kenneth Goldsmith made a statement that fires me up to think in this "one day" dimension:  "If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive".  What you do in a day adds up to days, weeks, months, and then years....a legacy of your work.  In doing all this, you have to let go of perfection and just create.  The problems and rough parts will amend over time.  Don't wait until that "perfect" moment or that "perfect" piece of work.  Just do it and do it and keep up doing it.  Your volume will create value. 

The following cartoon is one that my youngest son Jacob created to encourage me to keep at a steady pace.  I cherish this reminder.                             S  L  O  W  and   STEADY!

(click on photo for a closer look)