One day when I was walking…

A journey never seems as long as when you only look at what is left to tackle in front of you.

I was talking to a very good friend of mine a few days ago, who is busy and has a lot on all the time and he was frustrated that he just wasn’t making progress.

As I listened to him, I was thinking about the sheer amount of things he has already achieved and wondering why he felt he wasn’t making progress, and then it suddenly hit me. He was only looking at the piece of land he was standing on, and the unknown path ahead looked long and daunting.

Whereas, my perspective was one of looking at where he had come from, I could see the whole of the journey he had already completed and therefore was gauging the journey to come as a much smaller proportion of the overall.

I shared this insight with him and the visual nature of what I was saying really hit home. I encouraged him to view the next stage as the continuation of a long road of completed things, rather than the first step to bridging a big gap.

Just reminding yourself that you have the bagging of previous battles won in your armoury, that you are capable, that you can do this, puts you in a much better frame of mind for the next skirmish.

Does this happen to you too, please comment below and share learnings that you might have picked up from things like this – I’d love to hear them.

More Resources

If you’d like to see a work-in-progress of insights around this subject, why not head over to my friend Shona’s blog documenting her 6 month solo journey walking the Pacific Crest Trail at Shona Macpherson Coaching or her website at Shona Fitness. I’m finding her posts really inspiring and hope you do too.