Last weekend I was cycling around a little country in Europe, Luxembourg. The tour starts in the north of the country in the Ardennes region, location of the Battle of the Bulge, in 1944. There are many memorials, bunkers and military ordnance remaining in this part of the country. I then followed the German border south for 120km until reaching Schengen, the location where members of the European Economic Community signed an agreement in 1985 to remove border controls in Europe. I came across many interesting things on the tour, including the location of a pre-historic mammoth found by workers constructing the railway line that runs along the southern border of Luxembourg. It was while on stage two of my tour that I came across an object that stopped me in my tracks.

In the middle of nowhere, far from any large town, I found these old steps beginning near the path and ascending the hillside. I could see that they appear to go nowhere. When designed, the objective would have been very clear, the construction well organized and deliberate however, over time the destination or reason for these steps has been obscured by trees and undergrowth. The designer and creator of these steps would have been very clear about the objective for their construction however, the original reason is no longer relevant today and totally obscured.
It is the simplest of questions and when asked it can stop us in our tracks – Why?
Why are we stretching for that goal? Why do we want to reach that objective? Why do we want to achieve that lifelong ambition? These are very sobering questions because sometimes we do not know the reason.

Why did the person build those steps up the hillside? If I asked them today maybe, the clutter of time has changed their outlook and now they are unsure.
Searching for a ‘why’ sometimes is not easy. We may think that we are doing something for one reason however; deep down it is actually for another. We sometimes create false truths; maybe we do not like to admit to ourselves the real reason for wanting to achieve something. It is important to know our ‘why’ for our goals.

Do not let the busyness of daily life allow your steps to crumble or allow your destination to become obscured. Get serious again about your goals and state repeatedly your ‘why’.
If your ‘why’ is big enough you will overcome almost any ‘how’. Any challenge that you are faced will be easier to overcome if your ‘why’ is firmly fixed in your mind. If you are not sure then read books and articles about how to achieve your goals, whether it is building a business or losing weight. Read someone else’s story and maybe your ‘why’ could be the same as theirs, or you find your own reason. One thing for sure – you need to find a reason or the first bump in the road you will give up!
Refer to your goals and for each one ask yourself the question – Why is this goal important to me?

Stuart

Making Steps and Leaving Footprints…
(The thoughts expressed in this blog are my own and do not represent the views of my employer.)