Walking in the fog
Tuesday was a very foggy, gloomy day here in the south of England and the lack of visibility combined with the sight of people rushing around blindly in their cars got me thinking about purpose and goals in life.
A number of years ago while working as a consultant, I came across Eddie Obeng’s definition of project types, which really struck a cord with me as something that can be applied to the “project” of life.
If you’re not familiar with these, they areª:
- Walking in the fog — you don’t know what you want nor how to achieve it
- Making a movie — you know how but not what you want or need to do
- Going on a quest — you are very sure of what you want or need, however you are unsure how you will achieve it
- Painting by numbers — you are sure of what you want and how you will achieve it
I like to take regular time out and reflect on what I am doing and where I am going with my goals and dreams in life, am I making progress in the right direction, or do I need to change (or adjust) my tactics to be able to move forward?
One of my passions in later life is sailing and this also serves as a great analogy for me — in a sailing boat you have to actively work to get to your destination — the wind isn’t always blowing in the right direction and you have to make adjustments to your plan to get to where you want to be! Sometimes you also have to hunker down and ride out a storm before you can continue on your journey towards your goal.
Back to Eddie Obeng, I think I’m somewhere between going on a quest and painting by numbers…, I know what I want to do and I have some clarity as to how I am going to get there, the actions I need to take to steer my sailboat in the right direction.
Do I have a chart that shows me where all the challenges and obstacles are, the exact route for my journey? No, I don’t but I am keeping a good eye out on my route and taking the time to reflect and ascertain where I am on a regular basis, so I don’t get lost or hit rocks!
This is where taking time out to reflect on my life progress is really key, as it allows me to make adjustments
Do you have clear goals in life, do you know what you want to achieve and how, or are you walking in the fog, rudderless and drifting at the mercy of the wind?
You may have noticed that in the four definitions above, I highlighted two words in bold text, What and How — for me these two words are crucial in setting your goals. Start with the what, and the how will follow, but remember to take small steps. I strongly believe that anything is possible in life if you choose to make it happen — we are beholden to our own limiting beliefs and sometimes by applying some lateral thinking, we soon see that the impossible can be possible. As long as you take steps in the right general direction and keep checking your course by reflecting, you can start to move towards your goal. If you are stuck, a good coach can help you to challenge yourself — you’ll be amazed at the ideas you come up with!
Don’t spend your life running around in the fog…stop, reflect and paint a picture of the quest that you want to go on.
ªI’ve amended the original definitions to better fit my story, an article explaining the concepts can be found here.
