Little Milestones plus Discipline

 Read this interview with Ash Dykes, the first Welsh man to trek the length of the Yangtze River and also watched his documentary on National Geographic.

Of particular interest to me is when Ash shared about Life lessons he picked on the way. He described how walking up to 16 hours alone put him in a kind of meditative state. "The pains become numbed and it all becomes quite tranquil and you're sort of in the zone." It also enabled him to do deep thinking, planning and focusing on his goals. 

Ash Dykes advocates breaking a goal into smaller milestones. He recounted how the goal of trekking the length of the Yangtze seemed so overwhelming with so many challenges. However breaking it into smaller sections and focusing how to achieve each of them was how he did it. He also spoke about managing expectations and self discipline as essential. He said "Although we can't always be motivated, we can be disciplined."

I think these are good advice. How often we want to achieve something or realise some long harboured dream in our life but shy of trying because it looks quite impossible. We moan the lack of finances, lack of training, lack of opportunities, waning fitness and energy, other commitments and a host of other reasons.

Maybe you need to get lost and run in circles to even know what you truly desire. It helps to remember (especially for retirees like us) that we no longer need approval from anyone. We can fail as many times as we like and we do not need to look good in the eyes of any. And of course it doesn't need to be something big or creative as what most social media advocate. If giving and serving your family brings you most joy and satisfaction, then that is the purpose which you are born with, that is the unfolding of your true self and that is your goal. Enjoy doing just that and stop comparing with others who seem to lead a more purposeful , more interesting or more 'whatever' life.

Above all I like Ash Dykes' advice about discipline. Without discipline we will languish in our dream day after day.

Like the lecturer on a short Creative Writing course which I attended said "Just get out a piece of paper and pen and write a paragraph a day". That is truly what Ash Dykes calls little milestones plus discipline.