The Next Tree

One of my friends is a a graduate of West Point and a Captain in the US Army. He had a desire to attend Army Ranger School and was accepted. The course is sixty one days (make that sixty one of the toughest days of your life).  On the first day of Ranger School there were over three hundred fellow class members. On the last day there were just over seventy. The Ranger school is said to be the most physically and mentally demanding leadership schools anywhere. The graduates of this school are some of the most determined, tough and dedicated members in the armed services.

While talking about his Ranger school experience my friend was sharing the extremely challenging feats they were faced with on a constant basis. The pressure of surviving and moving ahead never let up. The trial was so difficult that his progressive thinking slowly went from getting through the course, to making it another week, to making it another hour, to making it another few minutes to just making it to the next tree which was only fifty yards away. He graduated with the seventy or so others and said he was much better for the experience. Because of this accomplishment he felt he was better prepared to lead. Because of the victory he experienced by reaching the next tree, he is now one of the select few Army Rangers!

In business we often think in terms of years or months down the road and while future thinking is indeed critical it can cause us to miss the next tree.  The challenges we face are simply not great enough to make us think with a greater sense of urgency, so we miss the small accomplishments that serve as a vital piece of the big stuff. While operating with this visionary focus is important it is not what is going to get us to the next tree. To get to the next tree we must do something every day and appreciate that those small victories will all add up to the larger gain. Taking one calculated step at a time, especially when it benefits the team, is not only critical to the mission, it is something we can look back on at the end of the day and know we got something worthwhile done. The future can be so far in front that it is not clear where we should head, but the next tree is more often than not, clearly within our field of vision. Move to the next tree, take a breath and move to the next tree...