Baby Steps, When You Want Leaps and Bounds - November 9, 2011

Oh my word, how frustrating it can be when you have a need, an immediate need and want immediate results but have to wait.  Kind of like experiencing baby steps when you are hoping for leaps and bounds!

Patience is a virtue; but often times baby steps just don’t seem good enough, productive enough, or acceptable enough to deserve our patience.  But, then I remember how profound and amazing a baby’s first steps truly are!  As a parent you wait, watch, coach and encourage.  You patiently wait to celebrate those first steps.  Baby steps are not to be taken lightly. 

Watching Jen adapt to her Macedonian opportunity and surroundings reminds be again how powerful and monumental baby steps truly are, even in the adult world.  One step at a time, one piece at a time, one relationship at a time builds our reality.  Jen spent the past week in Croatia, and when she arrived back in Tetovo she used the phrase  “I am back home”.   Adapting one step at a time she has built her nest across the pond. YEAH! 

Too often I find myself discouraged when I look around at things I want to be better or different and I feel like I am standing still, moving at a snail’s pace, or simply taking baby steps!

While I am living in this finite period of time associated with Jen’s stay in Macedonia; I have thought about this as a “time capsule opportunity”, make a measurement or evaluation at the beginning of this finite time period and then measuring or evaluating again at the end of the time period and then comparing the two. Hopefully seeing a contrast, an improvement, something better!  Sometimes, improvement or change can be hard to measure when you look at the same situation day after day; a fresh measurement compared to a measurement made a while ago can help you see the progress.  I have earnestly pinpointed a few “know betters” that I want to address and show improvement on as I travel through this time capsule period.  I already know how to be better;  but I want to attack some of those issues.  Then when June arrives, I can look back and measure my improvements.  And maybe this period of comparison will help stop the baby steps evaluation as a negative.  Maybe the baby steps will feel like momentum in the right direction.

I have a couple of goals, dreams, and  hopes that I am tackling, starting to move forward with and I am not going to give into the frustration of not seeing fast progress.  I am not going to allow that frustration to deter me or cause me to be tempted to quit.  I will dig in and persevere through Jen’s Macedonian time.  She is using her time, talents, and experiences to intentionally grow in her self and in the world.  How am I using my time?

How can I set up to become more efficient and organized?  How can I make a 30 minute workout an easier daily accomplishment?  What can I through away at home?  What can I through away at work?   Am I ready to publish a book?  What about that new product development?

So, I  am also going to issue you this challenge: I challenge you to take a step forward with something you already know, something you may know better than reflected in your behaviors, and stick to it through out this time capsule period.  I challenge you to weather the baby steps, find their greatness, and then keep moving forward.