Life’s A Journey, Appreciate Every Step

We spend a lot of our time at Bulldog creating learning environments for executive and innovation teams, unlocking creativity from within and helping them solve their own problems. As part of this work, we recently spent a weekend in the mountains of Breckenridge Colorado working closely with a good friend to map out the building blocks of an adventure-focused learning course for executives and individuals wanting to unlock their full potential and determine what’s next in life. We spent time talking through the big questions we all face and the meaning of life with our friend Dick Savidge, the ultimate outdoor adventure guide and professional counselor.

On Saturday morning we started out on a snowshoe adventure into the wilderness that would take us to 13,000 ft. We looked at the map and picked a route up, prepared the equipment we needed, and like life, we knew where we wanted to end up. What we couldn’t plan for were the variables and challenges along the way—we had no idea what tree wells we might fall into, and no idea just how serene and beautiful the scenery would be on our path to the summit.

We hiked through the snow, taking one step in front of the next, as snowshoes don’t allow you to do anything more. As we made every effort not to slide down the mountain path, I was reminded that snowshoeing along mountainous ridge lines on hard and then soft snow is analogous to our journey through life. We need to pay attention to the importance of each step we take or we’re likely to end up in the wrong place. With each step on the mountain there was silent time to think and reflect, and look at the breathtaking surroundings. As we climbed out of the tree line and the summit became dauntingly visible, the work it was going to take to get there became clear. There’s nothing quite like a mountain to put life in perspective, but we were going to the top and it was going to be a hard climb. Each step required determination and perseverance at 12,000 ft and the reward of getting to the top made me appreciate all of the steps it took to reach the summit. If we focus on the destination and ignore the importance of each step, we miss out on the very journey itself.